Better Off: Take It To The Bridge! The Literal and Metaphorical Functions of Song Arrangements
Updated: Sep 26
Most bluegrass songs don't have bridges. But since I don't consider myself an exclusively bluegrass songwriter, I don't feel bound by this convention.
A bridge can make or break a song. This is especially true for he "middle eight", or B part in the 32-bar (A-A-B-A) American popular standard form. Two examples of memorable bridges from Tin Pan Alley, one with a descending and one ascending melody, are "Dinah" (1925) and "Honeysuckle Rose" (1929). If you’re not familiar with these songs, search up the Ethel Waters and Fats Waller versions, respectively. (No apologies for the earworms.)
With its imperative for freedom and change, rock music introduced more adventurous bridges. Some work well as music, others not so much. The difference, to me, depends on how urgently the last few bars of any bridge make us want to hear the song’s main part again. Anyone following James Brown's call to "take it to the bridge" knows the power of a key change, and just how good it feels to get pulled back to the top.
The pre-chorus is another American popular music invention that has yielded inexhaustible variations. One of my favorites is from "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Go Go's. In their documentary film, Jane Wiedlin says that she didn’t use music theory but just liked the way the chords sounded. I also really liked those changes since I first heard them, so much so that years later I wanted to try to get some of that same tension into a song of mine. The result was the bridge and introduction for “Better Off”.
To set up the chorus, "Our Lips Are Sealed" uses a V-I resolution, which is an elemental musical progression. The unique part of Jane’s song is that it approaches this from a half step up, using tones that are not in the home (diatonic) key of the song. For “Better Off”, I needed the bridge to pull us back to the chorus (e.g., V-I), and I also needed a way to get down to the "outside" chord tones from the verse. The D major to D diminished passage at the beginning of the bridge opened up the setup to the descending sequence that concludes with Eb, Ab, D, and finally, back to the home key of G.
Once I had the bridge worked out with a solid melody, I needed an intro, or kick-off part. Since the bridge has chords that are harmonically unique (Eb, Ab), I thought they would work as a little hook that would make them sound familiar when they came around again later in the song. This approach of foreshadowing a melody or passage has proved to be a handy tool for me in song arrangements as an introduction, a pre-chorus, a bridge, or even as an instrumental chorus.
Lyrically, “Better Off” paints a picture of a couple that are several years into an unhappy marriage. Maybe they met at college, and chose each other because they were from the "right" kind of family, or checked off some other boxes that satisfied the need for an acceptably attractive and/or well-off partner. The song’s narrator could be an ex-boyfriend, or the boy next door who never got a chance. In any event, he's sympathetic, if possibly delusional. He thinks he would treat her better and make her happier, even if he knows he couldn’t provide her with the lifestyle to which she is accustomed. At this point in the marriage, though, it seems like the golden handcuffs are firmly secured, and things only look to be going on one direction: down. If only they could take it to the bridge!
Better Off
Who’s to say that you’d be better off
If you were with somebody else
And when his car pulls in do you look at it
And wish it was somebody else?
You’re invisible by design
And he doesn’t know the tells when you pour your wine
He’s a cynical, pampered man
Did you really know the truth when it all began?
Who’s to say that you’d be better off
If you were with somebody else
And when he stumbles in do you look at him
And wish it was somebody else?
It’s a luxury and a crime
That someone with so much love could waste so much time
You fought at the ball, he stared at his phone
Could this mean tonight he’ll leave you alone?
Who’s to say that you’d be better off
If you were with somebody else
And when your cell phone rings do you look at it
And wish it was somebody else?
