Bridges, African Beats, and Forgotten 80s Music

Exploring the greatest musical bridge and why your next musician will likely be from Africa

If you haven't paid attention to any of my song recommendations thus far, I wanted to mentioned that the new song that I talked about last week is now in the top 5 on Spotify's viral hits chart. So always read to the end if you want to convince your friends that you're on the cutting edge. Anyway, let's talk about …

Last week, I asked what they thought the greatest bridge of all-time was. Before I share your thoughts, I want to remind everyone what a bridge is. If a verse is where you tell the story and a chorus is where you restate the theme, then a bridge is a third section that introduces new musical and lyrical ideas.

A bad bridge can damage a song. For example, the bridge in Post Malone's 2018 hit “Better Now” mars the vibe of an otherwise serviceable pop-trap crossover. The problem is that the bridge is lazy. In fact, it's only two lines: "I promise, I swear to you, I'll be okay / You're only the love of my life". It's like the songwriters gave up and just wanted to add a 10-second pause before the last chorus.

Compare the bridge on “Better Now” to the bridge on “Easy” by the Commodores, a song suggested by a reader. The verses of “Easy” see Lionel Richie ready to move on from his no-good relationship (i.e. "Girl, I'm leaving you tomorrow"). On the soaring bridge, Richie describes what he's going to do with his freedom (i.e. "I wanna be free to know the things I do are right"). It's honestly not much longer than the Better Now bridge, but the lyrical direction combined with chords heard in neither the verse nor the chorus brings the song to a higher plane.

One reader sent in 5 songs that I think all have fantastic bridges. I'm going to defer to his descriptions because I really enjoyed them.

• America by Simon & Garfunkel: "This is a song about hopeful optimism, and the bridge shifts the song toward a feeling of emptiness. The bridge is so real, so gritty, and so raw."

• drivers license by Olivia Rodrigo: "This dreamy, raw song captures the moment where you have to accept your ex quickly finding love after a break-up"

• A Day in the Life by The Beatles: "This is a classic Paul McCartney composition of combining sections of unfinished works and making them form a cohesive song. It might be one of the most well known bridges and deserves mentioning."

• Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen: "This song, in general, does not waste its words. Both the music and lyrics capture these Springsteen's 'tramps'."

• All These Things I've Done by The Killers: "This song has this amazing chant ('I've got soul but I'm not a soldier') that I think really defines millennials. We're not wimps, but we don't really enjoy the violent nature of the world. We are also a generation filled with passion, but no direction. We're pulled in so many different directions at once."

What other great bridges did we miss? Reply to with your thoughts!  

A New One
Bandana by Fireboy DML & Asake
2022 - Afrobeats

---

Over the last decade, Latin music crossed over in the United States. In fact, Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny might be the biggest musician in the entire world right now. The galvanizing moment for Latin music transforming into American pop music was when the spanglish version of the song “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks.

In the coming years, we are likely to see the same crossover with African music. Not only have the major labels turned their attention to the African continent, but some stars, especially those from Nigeria, are beginning to gain large followings in the US. Given that Lagos, Nigeria is not only a cultural center but one of the youngest and fastest growing cities on the planet, the person who will make the afrobeat “Despacito” is likely making music as we speak. That person, could well be one of the two artists on this laid back groove.

An Old One
88 Lines about 44 Women by The Nails
1984 - New Wave

---

Released by a forgotten group from Colorado, this song begins with a preprogrammed rhythm found on a Casio keyboard. If the beat drives you crazy in the first 10 seconds, I have a bad news. It doesn't change for the next 5 minutes. But you're likely to get over the monotony - and maybe even come to enjoy it - when the droning vocal begins reciting, well, 88 lines about 44 women. Each of these lines is somewhere between tantalizingly humorous and disturbingly honest. Once they begin, you can't stop listening.

Zilla was an archetype
The voodoo queen, the queen of wrath
Joan thought men were second best
To masturbating in a bath
Sherry was a feminist
She really had that gift of gab
Kathleen's point of view was this
Take whatever you can grab

All lies and jest,
Chris Dalla Riva

Want to hear the music that I make? Check out my new EP.

Want to listen to more of my recent favorites? Listen to & favorite this playlist.