When people think of their favorite songs, they often think of the choruses or the verses from the track. They think of the parts of the song they love to sing or the moments in the tune that helped them along at a point in their lives. But we like to think about the bridge.
You know, it’s that section of the song about two-thirds of the way in that breaks up the verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. Without a good bridge, a well-crafted track can fall apart in monotony. Indeed, these are three classic rock songs from the 1960s with bridges we adore.
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“A Hard Day’s Night” by The Beatles from ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ (1964)
The Beatles are one of the best at writing a bridge for a rock song. The group often started a track with the chorus to bring listeners in and then switched to the verses. But too many choruses can bring a track to implode in on itself like a house of cards. The Beatles, always excellent at creating balance in a track, looked to a bridge to make everything right. On this tune, it comes in for the first time around the 44-second mark. Paul McCartney sings, giving John Lennon a break, as a whole new vibe kicks in.
“Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys from ‘Smiley Smile’ (1967)
By the time the bridge kicks in on this track, you’ve been hypnotized about a billion times. The blissful, even eerie harmonies have put you into a trance. But then a bridge is needed to make everything seem whole and not repetitive. You don’t want to be taken out of the dream once you’ve been put into it. So, Brian Wilson and company created a lengthy bridge to break up the verses and the chorus. The result is a dream within a dream.
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by The Supremes from ‘The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland’ (1966)
Diana Ross. The Supremes. Oh boy, this is where to find music that will never go out of style. And “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by the Motown group is an all-time classic. But few think of the bridge when the song comes to mind, even though it’s essential to the track’s structure. The bridge hits around 1:20, and it makes you hear the song in a completely new way.
Photo by James Kriegsmann/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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