This post is all takeaways, i.e. examples of songs with bridges. After hearing about the passing of Michael Nesmith I knew lots of the Monkees songs had bridges. It was something that was almost a songwriting meme in the 1960s, largely the result of Beatlemania. I’ve added Last Train to Clarksville, which interestingly has 2 bridges. Nesmith was not a writer nor a performer, but somehow we relate the guitar riff to him playing it. He probably played it live, but it was initially played by a session guitarist.
Speaking of memes, “confounded bridge” is a line from a Led Zeppelin song which was a meme at the time.
Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting ("Never to be wrong, Never to make promises that break...")
Last Train to Clarksville (Boyce/Hart) - It possibly has two bridges—one a middle "middle 8" (the "do do do" part) which is more of an instrumental verse, then the actual middle 8 (or 16) (the G-F vamp with vocal aahs), which leads back to the chorus, which is where bridges typically go.
One Way or Another - Blondie (Guitar solo leads to key and feel change culminating in the looped outro)
Under The Spell Of The Handout - Cody ChesnuTT (Meter/feel change from shuffle to cut time)
Take Me to Church - Hozier. (No masters or kings when the ritual begins...)
The High Road - Broken Bells. (It has a bridge but it falls off of it at the end. It needs a reprise perhaps.)
Back On The Chain Gang - The Pretenders (The powers that be...)
Pretty Good Year - Tori Amos (Well, what's it gonna take 'til my baby's alright)
Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John ("And I would have walked head on to the deep end of the river...") This is one of the longest bridges, with another extension at the end of it.
Towers of London - XTC ("I've seen it in a painting...")
Holding On For Life - Broken Bells ("Well you might belong to another time...")
Hold Me Now - Thompson Twins (synth arpeggios)
40 Mark Strasse - The Shins
Soul Cages - Sting (And he dreamed of the ship on the sea...)
Tomorrow We'll See - Sting (I know it's just not in my plan for someone to care who I am) [Sting also uses the bridge as a way to modulate to another key]
Let It Grow - Eric Clapton (Guitar Solo)
Love Me Again - John Newman (Meter change from 4/4 to 2/2)
Clocks - Coldplay (Verse is in Eb Mixolydian and the bridge is in Eb Dorian)
Veronica - Elvis Costello ("On the Empress of India..." section)
King For a Day - XTC ("You're only here once so you gotta get it right..." section)
At The Other End of the Telescope - Elvis Costello ("Lie down baby now don`t say a word...)
Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House (Finn's guitar solo)
Chocolate Cake - Crowded House ("And the dogs are on the road, we're all tempting fate...)
How Will You Go - Crowded House ("And you'll know I'll be fine...just don't ask me how it's going."
Englishman In New York - Sting ("Modesty, propriety, leads to notoriety...") In this live version, the bridge truly leads to somewhere else except back to a verse)
It's Alright For You - The Police (This actually has one long bridge with a little step in front of it: an abrupt modulation at 1:24 leading to a call-response solo by Andy Summers followed by a slide solo. The small step then becomes the outro vamp.)
No Reply - The Beatles ("If I were you I realized that I...")
I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down - Elvis Costello/Sam & Dave (The vow that we made...)
Psycho Killer - Talking Heads ("Ce que j'ai fais, ce soir la...")
Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding (Looks like nothing's going to change...)
I Can See Clearly Now -Johnny Nash (Look all around there's nothing blue sky...)
Love, Reign o'er Me - The Who (On the dry and dusty road...)
Oliver's Army - Elvis Costello (Hong Kong is up for grabs...)