"Cecilia" is a song by American musical duo

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

. It was released in April 1970 as the third single from the duo's fifth and final studio album, ''

Bridge over Troubled Water ''Bridge Over Troubled Water'' is the fifth and final studio album by American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, released on January 26, 1970, by Columbia Records. Following the duo's soundtrack for ''The Graduate'', Art Garfunkel took an acting ...

'' (1970). Written by

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

, the song's origins lie in a late-night party, in which the duo and friends began banging on a

piano bench A piano stool, also referred to as a piano bench or piano chair (depending on style) is a seat especially designed for use at the piano, which can provide more playing comfort than a normal chair. Its height is usually adjustable to accommodate ...

. They recorded the sound with a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

, employing

reverb In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...

and matching the rhythm created by the machine. Simon later wrote the song's guitar line and lyrics on the subject of an untrustworthy lover. "Cecilia" was a

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

in the United States, peaking at number four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

. On the ''Cash Box'' Top 100, it reached number one. The song also performed well in several other countries but failed to chart in the United Kingdom, where it was released as a single about six months after the album. It has been the subject of numerous cover versions, including those by American duo

Times Two Times Two was an American male musical duo composed of vocalists and keyboardists Shanti Jones and Johnny Dollar, both from Point Reyes, California. They wrote most of their own material and either produced or co-produced it as well. History T ...

and English singer

Suggs Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is a British singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the ska band Madness, which ...

, which became chart hits in numerous regions.

Background and recording

The song's origins lie in a late-night party attended by the duo and friends. The song's rhythm was developed by Simon, Garfunkel, and Simon's younger brother, Eddie. They recorded it for fun utilizing a

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

and employing

reverberation In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflection (physics), reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then de ...

. In doing so, they were able to synchronize their live rhythm with the reverberating sound on the recording. A friend grabbed a guitar, strumming and punctuating the rhythm with "aahs". Simon later found himself coming back to the tape and its infectious quality. While listening to the recording, he composed the song's guitar line. Simon found a section, the length of shortly over a minute, that he felt had a nice

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

. He and producer

Roy Halee Roy Decker Halee (born 1934) is an American record producer and engineer, best known for working with Simon & Garfunkel, both as a group and for their solo projects. Early life Halee grew up on Long Island, New York. His father, also named Roy ...

made a loop of this section, which was not an easy task before the advent of

digital recording In digital recording, an audio signal, audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or Color, chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is s ...

. The duo later recorded additional elements of the song at Columbia Records' Gower Street location in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, typically used for

string section The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family. It normally consists of first and second violins, violas, cellos, and double basses. It is the most numerous group in the standard orchestra. In ...

recording. Simon & Garfunkel dropped drumsticks on the parquet floor, incorporating their sound into the track. In addition, Simon played random notes on a

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

, as those elements would be compressed in the final version to where it would not be audible whether or not they were correctly played. Drums were played by veteran Wrecking Crew drummer

Hal Blaine Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. ...

.Hal Blaine, David Goggin, David M. Schwartz, ''Hal Blaine and The Wrecking Crew'', Hal Leonard Corporation, 2010, p. discography The lyric "making love in the afternoon" was among Simon's most explicit at the time. Simon states in the 2011 documentary ''The Harmony Game'' that, during the song's initial success, he came upon a recently returned

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

veteran. The man told Simon that soldiers heard the song and found it a sign of the country's changing mores. In 2008,

Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...

facetiously asked Simon why the narrator of the song would need to get up and wash his face after making love. Simon replied, "Well, it's the '60s, so I can't remember." In 2023, during an interview on the

Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was radio syndication, nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WINS-FM, WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The sho ...

, Simon mentioned that the opening of the song was not recorded on drums, and was actually 3-4 people hitting guitar cases near a

Nagra Nagra is a brand of portable audio recorders produced from 1951 in Switzerland. Beginning in 1997 a range of high-end equipment aimed at the audiophile community was introduced, and Nagra expanded the company's product lines into new markets. O ...

over 8-9 minutes, which gave off the slapback.

Composition

Simon has suggested that the "Cecilia" of the title refers to St. Cecilia, patron saint of

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

in the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

tradition, and thus the song might refer to the frustration of fleeting inspiration in songwriting, the vagaries of musical fame or in a wider sense the absurdity of pop culture. The song is generally interpreted as a lament over a capricious lover who causes both anguish and jubilation to the singer. St. Cecilia is mentioned in another Paul Simon song, "The Coast" (from his 1990 album ''

The Rhythm of the Saints ''The Rhythm of the Saints'' is the eighth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Paul Simon, released on October 16, 1990, by Warner Bros. In much the same way that Simon's previous album, ''Graceland'', released in 1986, drew upon Sout ...

''): "A family of musicians took shelter for the night in the little harbor church of St. Cecilia."

Release and charts

Simon & Garfunkel initially imagined "Cecilia" to be the first real single from ''

'', following an early release of "

The Boxer "The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a stan ...

" in April 1969. Columbia Records chairman

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

instead pressed the duo to instead issue the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

as the lead single. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described "Cecilia" as a "mixture of rhythm-chant vigor and Caribbean-rock excitement." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' called it a " Calypso type tune

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

will make imon & Garfunkelmore friends." ''

'' said that "everything about it is absolutely perfect." The song topped the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 in May 1970. The song peaked at number 4 on the ''

, spending 13 weeks on the chart. It also hit number 32 on the magazine's

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

chart. The single did not chart in the UK, despite being released as the follow-up to Simon and Garfunkel's number 1 hit "

", and most copies of the UK single misspelled the title as ''"Cecelia"'' on the label.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Times Two version

In 1988, a cover version by California-based dance duo

was released, peaking at number 79 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number one in New Zealand.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Suggs version

In 1994, English singer

went to work on his first solo project with producers

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

, who suggested "Cecilia" as one of the songs to work on. Sly and Robbie had previously worked with the English

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

duo Louchie Lou & Michie One on " Shout", and they brought the duo in on the recording. "Cecilia" appears on Suggs' debut solo album, ''

The Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a ...

'' released in 1995, and the song was released in April 1996 as the fourth single from the album. The song became the most successful single for both Suggs and Louchie Lou & Michie One, reaching number four on the UK Singles Chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cecilia (Song) 1969 songs 1970 singles 1988 singles 1996 singles Columbia Records singles Joe Dassin songs Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Reprise Records singles Simon & Garfunkel songs Song recordings produced by Art Garfunkel Song recordings produced by Paul Simon Song recordings produced by Roy Halee Song recordings produced by Sly & Robbie Songs written by Paul Simon Suggs (singer) songs WEA Records singles