Songs Which Have A Middle Eight

Anonymous · Mon 28 May, 2007 09.24

Since when has it been fashionable to include a middle eight in a song?

I notice that when ABBA released "Thank You For The Music" in the 1970s they included the following bit in the song, about two thirds of the way through. Its tune is different to the chorus and the verses. Was this bit intended to be called a middle eight?

Ive been so lucky, I am the girl with golden hair
I wanna sing it out to everybody
What a joy, what a life, what a chance!

Then in 1987, Madonna released a single "La Isla Bonita" which included the following. Again, I take it this bit was a middle eight.

I want to be where the sun warms the sky
When it's time for siesta you can watch them go by
Beautiful faces, no cares in this world
Where a girl loves a boy, and a boy loves a girl

Why do songwriters put middle eights into songs? Does anyone know the first song (and when it was written / released) to have included a middle eight?

Sput · Mon 28 May, 2007 12.19

I prefer after 8's myself.

Anonymous · Mon 28 May, 2007 13.25

Sput wrote:I prefer after 8's myself.

Do you mean After Eight as in the chocolates (after-dinner mints)? If so, are you taking the mickey or what?

This thread is about songs which have a bit known as a middle eight, it's not a verse and it's not a chorus. It's some special bit on its own, which may well have a different melody to the verses and chorus. The purpose of this thread is to discuss:
Songs which have good (or bad) middle eights.
Why put a middle eight in at all
or anything else related to the topic.

Jovis · Mon 28 May, 2007 13.47

You can now get After Eight's in a tube.

Also, you can make the fondant stuff in the middle from icing sugar, some sort of flavouring and some egg. I quite like it, but not too much, it is a bit sickly.

Anonymous · Mon 28 May, 2007 14.15

Jovis wrote:You can now get After Eight's in a tube.

Also, you can make the fondant stuff in the middle from icing sugar, some sort of flavouring and some egg. I quite like it, but not too much, it is a bit sickly.

This is now my second time of pointing out that this thread is about MIDDLE EIGHTS in songs, not After Eights (chocolates).

Let's have some discussion about songs which have a middle eight in them.

Has everyone else here not even heard of the musical term "middle eight"? I first discovered it during Xmas 2006.

Gavin Scott · Mon 28 May, 2007 14.16

From Wiki (well, it's sometimes correct, isn't it?)

In popular music, especially occidental, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section. The bridge may be the middle-eight in a thirty-two-bar form (the B in AABA), or it may be used more loosely in verse-chorus form, or, in a compound AABA form, used as a contrast to a full AABA section, as in "Every Breath You Take". Very commonly the "bridge" is in a contrasting key to the original melody. More often than not, the "bridge" is a perfect 4th higher. For examples, see Richard Rodgers' "Mountain Greenery" and Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Meditation", just to name two.

Lyrically, the bridge is typically used to pause and reflect on the earlier portions of the song or to prepare the listener for the climax.

The term may also be used to refer to the section between the verse and the chorus. Although this is more commonly referred to as the pre-chorus, it is not completely incorrect, as often the transition between the two themes of a sonata form in classical music is similarly referred to as a bridge. A more formal way of describing this transition between two themes (in classical music structures) is by referring to it as the "transition theme".

The theme "The song that goes like this" from the musical play Spamalot spoofs in its lyrics the abuse of the bridge in romantic songwriting: Now we can go straight/into the middle eight/a bridge that is too far for me.

Anonymous · Mon 28 May, 2007 14.30

nodnirG kraM wrote:Those After Eights munchies are great - you'd feel a fool munching your way through a normal packet of them on a train after all. Like the sound of this fondant recipe - presume the flavouring is some form of mint essense? Perhaps a little vanilla in there too for good measure?

Not another comment about After Eights? This thread is about middle eights in songs, NOT After Eights.

Jovis · Mon 28 May, 2007 14.59

Mark, I can't remember the exact recipe, or the quantities. I think it is (it'd be ridiculous if it wasn't really) mint essence, and some egg white, and some icing sugar. It is rather nice, and just like the After Eight filling.

Philip Cobbold · Mon 28 May, 2007 15.28

Have they rebranded Mint Munchies as After Eights, or are they a seperate product?

Jovis · Mon 28 May, 2007 15.29

There's actually a slogan on the side which is, 'Mint Munchies, Made Better'. So I don't know to be honest.

Anonymous · Mon 28 May, 2007 15.37

This is getting ridiculous now. How many more times must I say this, this thread is to discuss MIDDLE EIGHTS in songs, NOT After Eight chocolates.

For those of you who want to discuss After Eight and similar products, I've deliberately just set up an After Eights thread.

Otherwise, if you have something to say about songs with middle eights (no connection with After Eights) in them, discuss it here.