Songs with good/bad bridges

[Ron Obvious]

Hello all,

this topic came up today and caught me off guard. I know the "bridge" in a song only "works" about 30% of the time. I would like some opinions of some songs with GREAT BRIDGES. Songs where this special 3rd element, really makes the track much stronger. Maybe also some with BAD bridges that completely don't work.

Here are three to get things started.
Led Zep - Fool In The Rain
2:26 - 3:42
The Killers - When You Were Young
1:55 - 2:19
Jimi - Purple Haze
1:16 - 1:36

Good day

[RefD]

the only thing i love more than a good bridge is a good coda...tho that's not a fair statement cos if a song has both then i am in love with it.

i'll have to get back with my list later, i have a feeling this will require a little research.

[JGriffin]

I know the "bridge" in a song only "works" about 30% of the time.

I'd like to know what led you to that conclusion. I don't find that to be the case.

[percussion boy]

Admirable bridges:

"It makes no difference" (The Band)
"Be real black for me" (Donny Hathaway/Roberta Flack)
"Monk's mood" (Thelonious Monk)
"I've got a feeling" (Beatles)

Dubious bridges:

Can't think of any. You have to be smart to even write a bridge.

People who do fine without bridges:

Neil Young
Bela Bartok
Sufjan Stevens
Rappers too numerous to name

[;ivlunsdystf]

Define "bridge"

EDIT: Neil Young has written some good bridges. "Walk On", for one.

[mjau]

Badge, by Cream...the best bridge ever, IMO.
I've Got a Feeling is a good one, too.

[lyman]

Rappers too numerous to name

you're right, hip hop has yet to embrace the bridge as a songwriting tool.

[;ivlunsdystf]

I think Grateful Dead's "Estimated Prophet" has one of the coolest bridges of all time. especially the way they did it live. It goes from f# minor to d minor and there is a whole sung section ("my words fill the sky with flame" and all that) and then Garcia goes off in yet another key (G major?) and then the whole thing builds to a searing climax before dropping way back down in volume and intensity and the final verse starts.

That is everything a bridge should be, except that it's the Grateful Dead so lots of people here probably automatically hate it.

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I've always like the bridge/solo in the Beatles "In My Life" but the again they were pretty good at the whole songwriting thing.
Also, the "heavenly wine and roses" section from the Velvets version of Sweet Jane.

[Rodgre]

I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking that the bridge in "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys is one of the most perfect pop moments ever. It sounds exactly like a childhood heartbreak as played on a 12-string Rickenbacker.

Roger

[lysander]

The shift into 3/4 on "We Can Work It Out" is pretty cool.

Elvis Costello has written so many great bridges -- "This Year's Girl," "You'll Never Be A Man," "Beyond Belief" to name a few.

James Brown often used the bridge to create tension (as in, "are we ever going back to that original groove you had going there?).

[RefD]

Neil Finn (Split Enz, Crowded House) has written some great bridges in quite a number of his songs.

[;ivlunsdystf]

Back to the original poster: What's this about only 30% of bridges actually "working"? I think that percentage is significantly higher. Let's have some examples of some of those 70% of bridges that don't work, please.

I genuinely want to know what you mean, not particularly to argue with you but to find out your perspective.

Thanks.

[JGriffin]

Right now I'm not too fond of the bridge in "Don't Pull Your Love" by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, it just sort of leaves me cold.

But there's a great many bridges (or 'middle eight' as the Beatles called them) that work really well.

Structurally speaking, the bridge in Rick Springfield's "Jesse's Girl" is brilliant, as the character steps away from all the 'here's how great she is, and I want her' stuff to self-reflect: 'I look in the mirror all the time wondering what she don't see in me.'

[Jay Reynolds]

What about songs that need a bridge?
"Werewolves of London" is dying for one.
Or artists who avoid them like a plague? Sly Stone comes to mind.