What's the best "bridge" you've heard in a song?

Lots of folk songs.

 

One of my favorites is "Senses Working Overtime" by XTC. The bridge is cool enough in its own right ("And birds might fall from black skies..."), and when you come out of it, you've modulated up a whole step. Just so tasty.

 

Anyone notice the similarities in the bridges of I want To Hold Your Hand and From Me To You?

 

You're right - I was just going through it in my head without actually stopping to listen to it. I completely forgot about the "second bridge" or whatever you want to call it. The verse/chorus debate - I'm kind like call it what you want, it works - it's a fun song to try to analyze from a writing viewpoint.

 

He got that from the part that begins at 2:27 of this:

 

It's called going to the minor dominant. They got the idea from the bridge of Elvis Presley's hit "I Want You I Need You I Love You," although it's a very old composing trick, also appearing in "Marshmallow World."

 

I wouldn't think of it like rules for rules sake. More like if an added bridges detracts from The important melodic parts of a song, than maybe it's a bit much. The term middle 8 isn't a technical term but it does imply in its name "Middle 8" instead of "middle 8's" to be something only taking place once in a song. In the end you let your ears judge IMO. In an old school 3 minute single maybe two bridges musically different would detract from the important melodic parts. I guess one could separate the term bridge from Middle 8 based on the amount of times it's used in a song, a little nitpicky for me personally.

 

i took the second bridge out, it worked better. sometimes i need an external editor

 

Cool, and maybe you had a nice part left over for future use.

 

"Another Girl" utilizes that same modulation. Actually, this song, from a few years earlier, demonstrates that they were hip to that trick very early on:

 

Andy came up with another great one with “Then She Appeared”.

 

Taylor Swift used to be a master of bridges and her album Speak Now had them everywhere. Finest example for me would be “Last Kiss”.

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't think "Ode To Billy Joe" has a bridge. It's just verse/chorus all the way through, although the "chorus" might better be described as a "refrain," seeing as "Tallahatchie Bridge" are the only two words that repeat consistently.

 

Perhaps he was making a jokey allusion to the song's storyline?

 

Steely Dan - Green Earrings

 

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't think "Ode To Billy Joe" has a bridge. It's just verse/chorus all the way through, although the "chorus" might better be described as a "refrain," seeing as "Tallahatchie Bridge" are the only two words that repeat consistently.

Come to think of it, there is certainly irony in a song about a bridge not having one.

 

Good instrumental bridge. I guess you could say the middle of "Aja" is a very long bridge too.

 

"Everybody Loves A Clown" also falls into this category. I consider the instrumental break to be a "wordless bridge," because the melody and chords are a complete departure from the rest of the song. I'll bet there were even supposed to be lyrics in that part, but they just didn't have time to write them.

 

Andy Partridge of XTC was the master of the bridge. He's written dozens that belong in this thread. I'll single out one in particular because it goes a long way toward redeeming what is otherwise a rather annoying song - "Sgt Rock":

 

And there's The Turtles' recording of the McGuinn/Clark song:

 

ABACAB

 

As overplayed and cliched as it is now, the bridge in "Summer Of '69" is still just brilliant.

 

Pink Floyd - Pigs(3DO)

 

The Move - Fire Brigade

The lights across the street
Throw a rainbow in her hair
I'd love you all to meet her
I'll be there, I'll be there

 

This one is noteworthy for it's sheer size. If one were hearing the song for the first time, it would be natural to assume that the 3rd verse would start at around the 1:49 mark. Instead, the tune surprises the listener by adding a whole second half to the bridge, thus doubling it's length: