"Sail on silver girl/ Sail on by/ Your time has come to shine/ All your dreams are on their way" - 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', 1970.
See, that was the wildly irritating thing about Simon and Garfunkel. They could write stunningly beautiful poetry without even really caring about it, and then have the cheek not to give the world more when they were asking for it. Come to think about it more, why does everyone still love them so much? They're a pair of wind-ups.
After all, neither of them seemed to particularly give any kind of thought or attention towards the masterpiece that was 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'. Paul Simon asked, "Where did that come from? It doesn't seem like me" when he wrote it, and later added that "it doesn't feel attached to me at all". It makes you question why we even bother complimenting them on it.
And yet, even still, that song single-handedly remains one of the most precious shining gems in music history, that never fails to stir some kind of emotion, no matter how many times it is heard or played. No small part of that is obviously down to the power of the lyrics, what they mean to each person who comes across them, and how they resonate down the generations.
But without a doubt, one of the most intriguing images is of the "silver girl" encouraged to sail away and make all her dreams come true. Unquestionably, it's the most beautiful lyric of the whole song, yet at the same time, it does beg the question of what it's actually about. People have all sorts of theories, but Simon is here to dispel them.
Contrary to certain beliefs, the "silver girl" is actually a lot more innocuous and simple than many have made her out to be in their minds. No, it's not a reference to some sort of illicit drug trade: the meaning is genuinely a lot more pure than that. It was intended as a sweet homage to Simon's then-girlfriend and future wife.
"It's about my wife Peggy - who was not my wife at the time," he later explained. "She was starting to get prematurely grey hair. And that's why I wrote the 'Sail on, silver girl' line for her." Get your minds out of the gutter. It was a very wholesome act of romance - until Simon somewhat had to rain all over it.
Unfortunately for poor Peggy, on top of battling urban myths that the "silver girl" actually referred to heroin use and hypodermic needles, her future husband also wanted to strip her out of the song. As he brazenly said with regard to that final verse, "I never intended it to be in the song because, in my opinion, it doesn't fit."
After all, nothing screams everlasting love like your husband dedicating a stunning lyric to you, only to tell the world it "doesn't fit". And what do you know? They divorced five years later, thus also making her the muse for '50 Ways to Leave Your Lover'. "Silver girl" was getting her money's worth.
