Again And Again

Do you have a favorite song? Or, several favorite songs? Have you ever wondered why that song is your favorite? Could it be the words, the music, or is it something else? Do you find that your favorite song makes you feel a certain way?

I've got my own opinion, of course. I think that what makes a song unique is that one time only portion of the song know as the bridge. I know that the hook, which is usually found in the chorus and repeats several times throughout the song, is most likely what most remember.

Making a case for the bridge isn't an easy thing to do. A lot of today's music being classified as "hits," don't even make use of a bridge. What is a bridge any way? The bridge is a departure from the rest of the song. It's about four or eight musical bars long which is about two to four lines of words, and usually leads back to the chorus.

A strong example of a memorable bridge is from the song, "Just Once," written by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann and performed by James Ingram. It goes like this:

Just once I want understand
Why it always comes back to good-bye
Why can't we get ourselves in hand
And admit to one another, we're no good without each other
Take the best and make it better
Find a way to stay together

While this example is from a hit song that is now considered to be a classic, it may or may not represent everyone's taste. However, if you know the song at all, then you also know that the music from this part of the song goes off briefly in another direction before it returns to the "Just Once," chorus.

Another example would be from the Beatles song, "Yesterday." While not considered to have an actual bridge, the following section does work very well as one:

Why she had to go
I don't know, she wouldn't say
I said something wrong
Now I long for yesterday

Of course, Yesterday is also a classic and if you know the song, you know that here again, the music moves briefly away from the main part of the song before returning to Yesterday.

I realize that I haven't given any examples from today's top 40. And, while I may have listed only two classics, each of these songs continue to stand up to repeated listening. There must be something to be said about the power of adding a bridge to a song. Something that makes you want to listen to that song, again and again.