Guitar Tricks Insider February/March Digital Edition | Page 43

ACOUSTIC FEATURE

“I have an easier
time expressing
myself in a song
than in real life.”

you. It’s natural that this should happen in my
development. I was a rock star at one point.
I had many years of being a rock star. I don’t
want to be a rock star anymore.”
And yet, maybe the tiniest bit of the desire
remained. “There’s this guy in the garage
where I park my car – a black guy in his fifties.
Somebody there must have tipped him off about
me. So one day he comes up to me and says,
‘Who are you? Are you famous?’ So I said, ‘Well,
yeah, you know, to a degree I’m famous.’ He
asked, ‘What do you do?’ So I’m trying to grope
for the broadest common denominator that
anyone would know. I said, ‘Did you ever hear
of Simon & Garfunkel?’ ‘No.’ Then I said, ‘Did
you ever see The Graduate?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you know
that song Aretha Franklin sang, “Bridge over
Troubled Water”?’ ‘Yeah!’ I said, ‘I wrote that.’
He called his buddies over. ‘Hey, he wrote that
Aretha song’”. ■

Aretha Franklin – “Bridge Over Troubled Water” performed live with Aretha on piano

FEB/MAR

DIGITAL EDITION

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