The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

Paul Simon wrote "The 59th Street Bridge Song" in the specific mood of someone who has decided, for a morning at least, to slow down and pay attention. The 59th Street Bridge — the Queensboro Bridge — connects Manhattan to Queens, and the song is about the pleasure of standing still in a city built for movement.

Art Garfunkel's contribution was the warmth that made Simon's sophistication accessible — his tenor giving the songs a luminosity that Simon's voice alone couldn't have achieved. Together they created a sound simultaneously folksy and formally precise.

The song's appearance in Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967) helped define a new relationship between rock songwriting and cinema, making Simon & Garfunkel the unofficial composers of a generation's self-image.