I rarely talk about Taylor Swift. Why would I? Whenever someone brings her up, I lose interest and begin to drag food around my plate. Whenever someone goes as far as to praise Taylor Swift's songwriting, I ask them to relisten to the middle eight of "Blank Space". Because however catchy the song may be ("Blank Space" certainly qualifies), a bridge like that is a travesty. It is, in fact, all the argument that I need.
My infatuation with the middle eight started in early childhood, back when I first heard "We Can Work It Out" on my mother's first Beatles cassette. It did not take a genius to figure out that while the verses and the chorus were brilliant, it was the Lennon-composed bridge that made the song. It was so good, in fact, that they had to repeat it twice, further highlighting the importance of that particular songwriting contraption. I distinctly remember the video of Paul McCartney's first live performance in Moscow and how there were people having fits during the "Life is very short..." bit. I felt for them, I sympathised.
Which is not to say that every song requires a bridge. Absolutely not. But to me, the ability to write a great middle eight has always pointed to a masterful songwriter. I get annoyed when modern bands treat it superficially or come up with something so laboured one has to wonder why they even bothered. I guess I can easily imagine a situation when the rest of the song is so phenomenal it tramples the perfectly reasonable bridge (Pavements' "Major Leagues", for instance), but in most cases this neglect is criminal. Especially when a band forgets about the bridge entirely, and the song in question is simply begging for one.
Needless to say, the world is full of magical examples. Great bridges off the top of my head: the soaring one in Ray Davies' "I Go To Sleep", the clever one in The Byrds' version of "All I Really Want To Do", the dazzling and poetic one in Alela Diane's "Nothing I Can Do"... And then there is the onslaught of gorgeous middle eights in The Velvets' "I'm Sticking With You". And then there is, of course, the small matter of The Pixies' "Monkey Gone To Heaven", a song that is basically just a buildup for what could well be the greatest bridge of all time.
In other words, I am all for launching a petition to get great middle eights back into music business. You are a songwriter who can't write one? Get a different job or go back to school.
