Who wrote/writes the best bridges?

No funny answers like Roebling either...
recently I have been diggin Joe Jackson's bridges

hell yeah, "different for girls" bridge is bliss

Burt Bacharach

andy partridge!

fave bridge of all time is on beach boys' "Wonderful" from Smiley Smile -- the song is moving along in full on, late-night emo beach boys atmosphere, and then suddenly breaks out into a psychedelic cocktail party. crowd ambience, great ragtime piano, mike love's "hey baba rebop" bass line, somebody going off on a "cool guy". the best part might actually be the chords leading up to the bridge, b.wilson diving off w/"na na na na na naaaaa....", practically defining transition.

Look, you can add this to the posts in character thread or whatever, but Billy Joel is the king of the bridge. (not even getting into the fact that he has a record called The Bridge.)

"Only the Good Die Young"
"My Life"
"Pressure"
"Tell Her About It"
Hell, even "A Matter of Trust"

Those are good bridges! You know what else has a great bridge is "The Longest Time".

I'll second Andy Partridge for sure. Also both Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer on many of their Posies songs, and their own solo work - specifically Stringfellow's 'Touched' rekkid and Auer's 'Songs from the Year of our Demise' - excellent bridges ...

Obvious answer, but Lennon and McCartney (leaning toward the latter).

Paul Weller is a bit nifty...

Nirvana had some good ones (thinking Dumb, On a Plain).

How the hell has there not been a Best Bridge(s) thread on ILM? Closest I could find is Great songs that are even greater because of the bridge.

because you can't seperate a good bridge writer from a good songwriter.

Jeff Bridges

because you can't seperate a good bridge writer from a good songwriter.

Dunno, Bowie's a very good songwriter and I can't think of a single song of his that has a bridge in the traditional sense.

I'm a little bit hazy about the exact meaning of bridge, BTW, I'm taking it to mean the same as middle 8 in the context of this thread.

Not the best by any means but, say what you will about Oasis, Noel writes a hell of a bridge. Or he used to at least (haven't heard anything other than flagship singles since Be Here Now)

Randy Newman is the correct answer

Or maybe it's James Brown

Actually, it's Andy Partridge.

Paul Williams.

"because you can't seperate a good bridge writer from a good songwriter.

Dunno, Bowie's a very good songwriter and I can't think of a single song of his that has a bridge in the traditional sense."

what i meant was the opposite example: good bridge writer, bad song writer, but whatever

And woa-a-oah-a-oah-o she said whyyyy
why don't we drive through the night and wake up down in Mexico

Sonny sits by his window and thinks to himself how it's strange that some rooms are like cages

Randy Newman's are - great - Elvis Costello's can be but they're super-self-aware but be that as it may his songs tend to come out of the bridge amazingly (see esp. "Oliver's Army")

Lloyd Bridges

Also both Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer on many of their Posies songs, and their own solo work - specifically Stringfellow's 'Touched' rekkid and Auer's 'Songs from the Year of our Demise' - excellent bridges ...

― BlackIronPrison, Friday, December 12, 2008 11:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ co-sign

Depends on your definition of a bridge. It can mean a little prelude to the chorus, or a Middle 8. Assuming you mean middle 8, then I've always loved:
The Jam - Strange Town (the Mr Sheen bit)
Beatles - No Reply (If I were you, I'd realise that I...)
Kinks - Shangri La (All the houses on the street have got a name...)

I second James Brown.

The Superunknown thread has reminded me that Soundgarden could pen a mean bridge. Let Me Drown is a case in point; it takes the song in a different direction but makes perfect sense.

always thought that writing bridges was one of the dismemberment plan's strengths

The Kinks- 20th Century Man is my favorite bridge, so Ray Davies.

Joe Pernice