“If after two weeks you still can’t write your middle-eight, the best course of action is to see a psychiatrist” ―Ray Davies
Not including a bridge (or ‘middle-eight’) is another common mistake often made by new songwriters. The bridge can be an effective device for adding extra contrast to a song and giving listeners a temporary release from the heavily repeated phrases in the verse, chorus and hook.
The bridge can provide a whole different perspective—‘the view from the bridge’— by allowing you to introduce chord progressions, melodic phrases and lyrics that aren’t heard anywhere else in the song.
The bridge section is usually limited to four or eight bars of music and two or four lines of lyrics. It is commonly used only once—replacing what listeners might expect to be a third verse—before leading the listener into the repeated choruses at the end of the song.
The bridge itself can be repeated (especially in the verse-refrain format), but it rarely appears more than twice.
The standard formats for songs that use a bridge are:
1. Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, BRIDGE, Chorus, Chorus.
2. Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, BRIDGE, Chorus, Chorus.
3. Verse, Refrain, Verse, Refrain, BRIDGE, Verse, Refrain, Refrain.
Some hit songwriters make their bridge section melodically different by changing the length of the notes and making them either higher or lower in the scale than those in the chorus or verse. Other writers even include a slight key change in the bridge before leading listeners back to the chorus repeats.
You can surprise the listener by changing the lyrical cadence and even the rhyme pattern in the bridge.
This section can also be used to set things up lyrically for the end of the song, perhaps by adding a new dimension to your story line (such as a twist or a new revelation in the lyrics). However, unlike the chorus, the bridge should only be used to provide new information and not just re-state something that has already been said.
For example, the bridge should not include the song’s title. Keep the title line in the hook in the chorus.
And if you find your song is too short, a bridge is a great way to stretch it by an extra 20-30 seconds—whilst strengthening the song melodically and lyrically at the same time.
Of course, not all songs have a bridge section. There are many hit songs that are bridge-less. But if you’re heavily repeating certain musical phrases and lyrics to make your song catchy and easier to remember, you can prevent it from becoming too repetitive by shaking things up with a bridge.
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