Re. [Dixielandjazz] The Bridge

[Stephen Barbone]

I hear you Mike. Must be 1000 songs that have no middle eight, or third eight.
Some have bridges, some do not. I like "Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet", with its
32 bar verse and 16 bar chorus. Or "Cake Walkin Babies" with its 40 bar chorus,
or "Hard Hearted Hannah" with its 20 bar chorus, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find"
with a 22 bar chorus, etc., etc., etc., or the many strained songs like
Clarinet Marmalade, Sensation Rag, Ostrich Walk, The Pearls, The Chant, Bugle
Boy March, The Cascades, Pineapple Rag, Milenberg Joys, etc., etc.., etc.

So many songs, so little time. ;-)

Cheers,
Steve

Mike Durham wrote:

> Start a list? What a thought, Steve!
>
> Just for starters: two from the Fats Waller recordings: "Boo Hoo" (44 bars)
> and "Sweetie Pie" (38), King Oliver's "Tears"  at 40, and then there's "I'll
> Take You Home Again Kathleen" at 48 and "When I Leave This World Behind" at
> 36. And that's just the choruses!
>
> Mike D.
>
> >From: Stephen Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
>
> >Bill Gunter wrote: (polite snip)
> >
> > > Ps . . . the "bridge" is simply the third eight.
> >
> >While that might be the case in many popular songs adapted to jazz,
> >there are
> >also many songs that either don't have a third eight, or a when they do,
> >the
> >third eight is not really a bridge. Besides "Indiana" there are "Chimes
> >Blues",
> >(in fact just about all blues) "Copenhagen", "Panama", "After You've Gone",
> >"Darktown Strutter's Ball", "Up A Lazy River", "Flee As A Bird", "Didn't He
> >Ramble", "Muskrat Ramble", "Ja Da", "Struttin With Some BBQ", "South",
> >"Love
> >Songs Of The Nile",  etc.  (and "Somebody Stole My Gal" with it's 40
> >measure
> >chorus)
> >
> >For the song's third eight to be a proper bridge, the song construction
> >probably has to be "aaba" with each section being 8 measures. There must be
> >at least 500 songs that do not fit this pattern. Anybody care to start a
> >list?