What's Up With the Bridges in Popular Culture?

Cafe Society
1

Why do so many popular songs have a bridge that differs so greatly from the chorus or verses? I’ve read a bit about the thirty-two bar form and verse-chorus form (I love wikipedia) but it’s something that has always intrigued me.

I get the feeling that the bridge is a point of tension in a song, which then returns to the verse or chorus to release the tension and return to the original feeling or mood. I’ve always felt that many movies, in particular romantic comedies, are similar in structure.

(A)The story introduces the characters, they meet
(A) Things go swimmingly, they are meant to be
(B) They break up/learn a secret/things go terribly
(A) But then all turns out well and they end up together

Is this just the way we like stories told? A comfortable structure? I got the whole rising tension to denouement in high school, so I recognize that, but I think the AABA structure is a bit different. It’s not rising tension, its sudden change that reverts to normalcy. Is it evident in other mediums/genres, or is this all in my head?

2

Bridge Over Troubled Water is a nice song.

3

Bridges of Madison County was kind of sappy, though.

4

Jeff Bridges just won an Oscar.

5

Lloyd Bridges is dead.

6

Nash Bridges was a very popular TV show, but I’m not a fan of Don Johnson.

7

Bridges? We don’t need no stinkin’ bridges!

8

Yes you do and I have one to sell.

9

What’chu talkin’bout, Willis?

10

It’s an interesting topic, and probably wouldn’t have gone so completely off the rails if you had supplied some example songs.

One of my favorite songwriters, Todd Rundgren, tends to use bridges and refrains more often than many of his contemporaries.

11

… who refrain from bridges.

12

Or better yet, written a more relevant header. You were on the right track until you failed to use the word songs.

13

Another Simon & Garfunkel song, I Am a Rock, was covered by the Red House Painters on their second self-titled album, which is often called “Bridge” due to the cover.

14

[Baloo]Woah there little bridges[/Baloo]

15

For a bridge that’s REALLY inappropriate for the rest of the song, listen to “Say You Say Me” by Lionel Richie. Most of the song is worthless sappy ballad material, but the bridge kicks ass. One DJ said that it’s like the bridge was beamed in from outer space.

16

Indeed, Billy Joe McAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge.

17

That’s because somebody spotted him on the 59th Street Bridge, feeling Groovy.

18

I remember Billy Joel was asked about this when he did Inside the Actors studio years ago. I can’t find a quote, but he compared a song to a dinner and said the bridge is a refreshing change of pace that makes the rest of the song more enjoyable by giving listeners a break from the main theme.

19

Just don’t get too big for them…
Ohhhh, bridges. Yeah, they’re useful.

20

Sure. A good chunk of Western classical music revolves around the idea of introducing a theme, playing with it, then introducing a sharply contrasting theme, often in a different key (a fifth away from the first theme’s key is typical), and then coming back to the original key. (See ternary form, for instance, as one example of this structure.)

So, yes, it’s typical in other genres to have contrasting elements. Granted, the role of the bridge in a pop song is not quite as expansive as a proper “B” section in a classical piece, (for this to be more analogous, the bridge would have to be as long as the verse/chorus, if we are considering them one section), but I feel it’s the same general idea.