Favorite Modulating Bridge

David · #1 10-30-2007, 11:44 AM

What is your favorite modulating bridge in a Fleetwood Mac song?

Mine is in Skies the Limit:

Sooner or later, I'll keep the promise I made to you
Sooner or later, it may be greater than we ever knew

Admittedly, pickings are slim in the case of Fleetwood Mac. Danny sometimes modulated in his choruses ("Heavy country blues keep a rockin' " &c. from Child of Mine). But modulating in the chorus doesn't give you that sense of traipsing down a new path for a short distance, which I'm looking for, not least of which because the chorus usually returns.

Sometimes in a Fleetwood Mac song, the tag modulates in a rather bizarre manner but it is enigmatic & attractive, as in the tag on Never Forget.

LiamMcConville · #2 10-30-2007, 12:04 PM

Can you explain to me what a Modulating Bridge is?

michelej1 · #3 10-30-2007, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiamMcConville

Can you explain to me what a Modulating Bridge is?

Yeah really. This is an elitist post. It's only for musicians. Us laypeople don't have a clue.

Once Cher said that Sonny wrote I Got You Babe for her to give her a modulating bridge because she envied one that Ronnie Spector did. And I think I have an idea of what Cher meant. There were two verses in the beginning of I Got You Babe and then this break where her voice soars "and when I'm sad, you're a clown and when I'm scared, you're always ar --o-o-o-ound." Then her voice swoops down again and it goes into a second part of the song, "so let them say your hair's too long . . ." I guess that's a modulating bridge. I'm not sure, but. . .I guess I can apply my shaky idea of what a modulating bridge is too Fleetwoot Mac.

I don't know. I think there must be some on Wild Heart. I'll have to reflect a bit.

Michele

LiamMcConville · #4 10-30-2007, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yeah really. This is an elitist post. It's only for musicians. Us laypeople don't have a clue.

Once Cher said that Sonny wrote I Got You Babe for her to give her a modulating bridge because she envied one that Ronnie Spector did. And I think I have an idea of what Cher meant. There were two verses in the beginning of I Got You Babe and then this break where her voice soars "and when I'm sad, you're a clown and when I'm scared, you're always ar --o-o-o-ound." Then her voice swoops down again and it goes into a second part of the song, "so let them say your hair's too long . . ." I guess that's a modulating bridge. I'm not sure, but. . .I guess I can apply my shaky idea of what a modulating bridge is too Fleetwoot Mac.

I don't know. I think there must be some on Wild Heart. I'll have to reflect a bit.

Michele

I'm thinking That's Alright myself.

Sarah · #5 10-30-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michelej1

Yeah really. This is an elitist post. It's only for musicians. Us laypeople don't have a clue.

Agreed. It seems unnecessarily snobbish. In plain English, a modulation is a change in key.

There are several "varieties" of modulations, but the basic idea that I think David is referring to with "modulating bridge" is that the song is bouncing along in whatever key for verse and chorus, breaks into a different key for the bridge to add in some interest, then reverts back to its original tonal center. As for Fleetwood Mac examples... I can't think of any off the top of my head, but if I come across one the next time I actually listen to FM, I'll post.

strandinthewind · #6 10-30-2007, 01:09 PM

It is hard to tell because LB is off key - but I think the Mirage live version of Sisters of the Moon where he sings "Some call her sister of the moon, some say illusions are her game . . . " -- it sounds like he means that to be a bridge and it sounds modulated to me. Again, it could just be him that is making it sound like that.

Another good example IMO is:

You were gone...you were gone from me
When I remember someone...I remember their dreams
In those dreams...that no one knows of
My destiny says that I'm destined to run...

from Enchanted and:

Well it's now you know
It's everywhere
You say...you seek the truth
I say all is fair
Don't send an answer
How many times...
Have you said...

from Gate and Garden.

Perhaps also:

Hold on
The night is coming and the starling
flew for days
I'd stay home at night all the time
I'd go anywhere, anywhere
Ask me and I'm there because I care

from Sara and

And the dream says I want you
And the dream is gone
So she stays up nights on end
Well at least there is a
dream left

from What's the Matter baby.

Anyway - food for thought.

**mylittledemon** · #7 10-30-2007, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

What is your favorite modulating bridge in a Fleetwood Mac song?

Mine is in Skies the Limit:

Sooner or later, I'll keep the promise I made to you
Sooner or later, it may be greater than we ever knew

Admittedly, pickings are slim in the case of Fleetwood Mac. Danny sometimes modulated in his choruses ("Heavy country blues keep a rockin' " &c. from Child of Mine). But modulating in the chorus doesn't give you that sense of traipsing down a new path for a short distance, which I'm looking for, not least of which because the chorus usually returns.

Sometimes in a Fleetwood Mac song, the tag modulates in a rather bizarre manner but it is enigmatic & attractive, as in the tag on Never Forget.

I'll agree with you on Skies the Limit. Never Forget is probably one of the better examples. I think youve, in a way, explained to me why I always liked that song so much.

michelej1 · #8 10-30-2007, 07:12 PM

Well, I'll say:

Your mood is like a circus wheel; you're changing all of the time.
Sometimes I can't help but feel that I'm wasting, all of my time.

Michele

carrie721 · #9 10-30-2007, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah

Agreed. It seems unnecessarily snobbish.

consider the source

Johnny Stew · #10 10-30-2007, 10:05 PM

Two of my favorites are from 'Behind The Mask' songs.

"In The Back Of My Mind":

"I remember your eyes burning bright,
Like we touched the Summer sun.
I can see your shadow standing there,
On the streets where we used to run...."

"Freedom":

"It's all in the eyes.
It's all in the way that you look.
It's all in the way that you say very little.
It's all in the way that you talk.
Look at me with daggers --
It won't do you any good.
All the looks that you've used on me,
Don't work now that you've fallen, fallen, fallen...."

But my all-time favorite would have to be the one in "Ghosts":

"To fill the empty spaces she's feeling,
She depends on her music like a husband.
And she knows it's no good to fall in love again.
One day they were lovers,
One day they were friends --
There was nothing else to say...."

seeknpeace · #11 10-31-2007, 09:27 PM

I find remarkable those instances where the modulating bridge emphasizes repetition in theme or contextuality or manifests that theme in a new light, as it does in "Sands of Time" or "Station Man," in which Danny Kirwan employs a modulating passage to drive home not merely the musicality but the iterative sense of the fleeting, temporal quality of existence (the former) or the barreling speed with which the future outpaces even our restless anticipation (the latter). Do you agree?

JazmenFlowers · #12 11-02-2007, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

But my all-time favorite would have to be the one in "Ghosts":

"To fill the empty spaces she's feeling,
She depends on her music like a husband.
And she knows it's no good to fall in love again.
One day they were lovers,
One day they were friends --
There was nothing else to say...."

I have to say I agree.

**jbrownsjr** · #13 11-02-2007, 12:20 PM

Heart of Stone...

Youre never too old to learn
Youre never too young to pray
Its never too late to learn
And hope for better days

HejiraNYC · #14 11-02-2007, 01:07 PM

There are a couple of instances I can think of where the bridge shifts the rest of the song into a totally different key:

"If Anyone Falls"

Well I'm never going to see you
Deep inside my heart.
I see your shadow... shadow... shadow 'gainst the wall...

And, of course HAEWAFY:

And the rain comes down,
There's no pain and there's no doubt.
It was easy to say I believe in you every day.
If not for me, do it for the world...