# Bridges in songs that make you go "Ok, sure, yeah - I can relate to that. Good stuff! Right O!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390 "2018-11-12T03:16:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/1 "2018-11-12T03:16:53Z")
A bridge, in probably its coarsest definition, being a basic: verse/chorus verse/chorus bridge verse/chorus structure, also has variations, like - maybe one less verse/chorus. This can get problemmatic when dealing with annoying prog numbers comprising eight trillion different parts, and so, it’s like - which part’s the freakin’ bridge? Also, is there such a thing as an instrumental bridge that does _not_ have a solo in it? (talkin rock and pop, here) I would consider that a challenge, and the best I can come up with is [this](https://youtu.be/jyZc2Xqav_4?t=183). I was hoping to use [this](https://youtu.be/Uq0aeEYLkIE?t=34), but would it be agreed that that’s more of a refrain, because it appears again in the song? In classical music, wiki mentions bridge-passages. I would like to see some posts pointing out to me where the bridge-passages are in the more well-known pieces like _Eine kleine Nachtmusik_, some of the Beethoven symphonies, _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_, etc. I like the bridges in [_Making Plans For Nigel_](https://youtu.be/s29RKnB7l7o?t=101) and Niel Young’s cover of Don Gibson’s [_Oh Lonesome Me_](https://youtu.be/aDuu_Jc7pAA?t=117). (In the latter, I really like the backing vocals that eventually join in. Crosby’s?) (Stills does backing vox elsewhere, but here, the “burliness” of the vox makes me lean more toward Crosby.) Heh - so is [this](https://youtu.be/gSpW6MePb10?t=63) the bridge in Cream’s _Badge_? Anyhoo - any reach out to you that say “hey, what an awesome bridge I am”? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/2 "2018-11-12T03:26:50Z")
“Where’s that confounded bridge?” ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/3 "2018-11-12T04:33:11Z")
No crunging. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/4 "2018-11-12T04:53:36Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > A bridge, in probably its coarsest definition, being a basic: > verse/chorus > verse/chorus > bridge > verse/chorus > structure, also has variations, like - maybe one less verse/chorus. > This can get problemmatic when dealing with annoying prog numbers comprising eight trillion different parts, and so, it’s like - which part’s the freakin’ bridge? > Also, is there such a thing as an instrumental bridge that does _not_ have a solo in it? (talkin rock and pop, here) I would consider that a challenge, and the best I can come up with is [this](https://youtu.be/jyZc2Xqav_4?t=183). > I was hoping to use [this](https://youtu.be/Uq0aeEYLkIE?t=34), but would it be agreed that that’s more of a refrain, because it appears again in the song? > In classical music, wiki mentions bridge-passages. I would like to see some posts pointing out to me where the bridge-passages are in the more well-known pieces like _Eine kleine Nachtmusik_, some of the Beethoven symphonies, _Thus Spoke Zarathustra_, etc. In popular music, “the bridge” is a stereotypical section that shows up in the same way in the same place in nearly every song. Classical music doesn’t have “the bridge” in this predictable way, because classical music is much less rigid in format. Not that classical music avoids formula - there’s formula all over the place - but classical music has a huge number of truly different formulas, while popular music basically sticks to just the one you showed. So looking for “the bridge” in classical music is a bit like arriving on a far-off inhabited planet, getting out of your ship, and looking for their 1940s-style diner. They probably have many kinds of food, but you’ll have to look at their food for what it is, rather than stand around wondering why there’s no diner. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/5 "2018-11-12T05:04:06Z")
Missed edit window: But to find **A** bridge (as opposed to _the_ bridge) in classical music, listen for some of the same things you’d listen for in popular music: a part with some odd-sounding or contrasting harmony, then leading back into a familiar part. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/6 "2018-11-12T05:05:00Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > Classical music doesn’t have “the bridge” in this predictable way, because classical music is much less rigid in format. Not that classical music avoids formula - there’s formula all over the place - but classical music has a huge number of truly different formulas, while popular music basically sticks to just the one you showed. So looking for “the bridge” in classical music is a bit like arriving on a far-off inhabited planet, getting out of your ship, and looking for their 1940s-style diner. As already stated, classical music has bridge-passages: > [@](#): > > from [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_(music)): > Bridges are also common in classical music, and are known as a specific Sequence form—also known as transitions. Formally called a bridge-passage, they delineate separate sections of an extended work, or smooth what would otherwise be an abrupt modulation, such as the transition between the two themes of a sonata form. In the latter context, this transition between two musical subjects is often referred to as the “transition theme”;[5] indeed, in later Romantic symphonies such as Dvořák’s New World Symphony or César Franck’s Symphony in D minor, the transition theme becomes almost a third subject in itself. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/7 "2018-11-12T05:25:52Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > But to find **A** bridge (as opposed to _the_ bridge) in classical music, listen for some of the same things you’d listen for in popular music: a part with some odd-sounding or contrasting harmony, then leading back into a familiar part. That’s more or less a metric I try to go by when listening to classical music, and of course wiki goes on about different kinds of bridges and theme transitions and enharmonic and chromatic modualtioins, which I’ll admit is starting to get a bit out my wheelhouse, heh. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/8 "2018-11-12T05:45:38Z")
Funky, brief instrumental bridge in [_Burning Down the House_](https://youtu.be/_3eC35LoF4U?t=108) and a velvety cool one with Elvis Costello’s [_Shabby Doll_](https://youtu.be/RH005P1NvcA?t=146) ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/9 "2018-11-12T05:45:57Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > As already stated, classical music has bridge-passages: … and it’s not the same thing, and you don’t normally spend time looking for it in every piece you listen to. Bridge passages in classical music are often insignificant, or might not even be part of the form of the particular piece you’re hearing. They certainly don’t hold the universally important position that “the bridge” in pop music does. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bridges-in-songs-that-make-you-go-ok-sure-yeah-i-can-relate-to-that-good-stuff-right-o/824390/10 "2018-11-12T06:04:32Z")
Sure, I get it that the bridge has different manifestations (other than just the bridge-passage) _as well as_ varying levels of significance and relevance to any given classical work; I’m trying to get an idea (through youtube cites) of these different manifestations, along with aforementioned theme transitions and enharmonic and chromatic modulations - my ignorance could use a good tolchoking, there.