Paul Simon: "El Condor Pasa"

El Cóndor Pasa (The Condor Goes by (or Flies by)) is a song from the zarzuela El Cóndor Pasa by the Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles written in 1913 and based on traditional Andean folk tunes.

It is possibly the best-known Peruvian song worldwide due to a cover version by Simon & Garfunkel in 1970 on their Bridge Over Troubled Water album. This cover version is called El Condor Pasa (If I Could). According to wikipedia, Paul Simon heard a version called "Paso Del Condor" by Jorge Milchberg, who is head of the group Urubamba, formerly known as Los Incas. Simon became friendly with the group through this song, and ended up touring with them and producing their first American album. Paul Simon personalized the song by adding his own English lyrics. On the Simon & Garfunkel version, Robles, Milchberg and Simon are all listed as songwriters.

Later that year, Perry Como released a cover of Simon's English version on his album It's Impossible, while Julie Felix took advantage of Simon and Garfunkel's decision not to release their version as a UK single, and had a UK Top 20 hit with it. Simon & Garfunkel did release their version as a single in the U.S. and it reached # 18 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the fall of 1970.


- Lyrics:

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.
I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

CHORUS
Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied to the ground,
he gives the earth
its saddest sound,
its saddest sound.

I'd rather be a forest than a street.
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet,
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.