Bridge by Queensrÿche

Album: Promised Land (1994)

Charted: 40

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Running to 3 minutes 27 seconds, this intensely personal song was written by lead guitarist Chris Degarmo. Though largely acoustic, it features a fine lead guitar solo which captures the mood of the piece.

Degarmo's father walked out on his family when he was a boy, and, in a similar scenario to Phil Lynott (who mentioned his father in code in the song "Parisienne Walkways") reappeared when his son had found fame and fortune. Lynott had never met his father, and what appears to have been their only meeting was a bitter disappointment to the Thin Lizzy frontman. DeGarmo's encounter was more of an attempt at reconciliation, but as the song says, the bridge was never built in the first place - "You never built it, Dad."
Degarmo's father died during the recording of the Promised Land sessions, and "Bridge" was released as a seven inch single as the B Side of "Disconnected". It deserved a better fate, but was probably too obscure to resonate with the record buying public. >>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
Chris Degarmo explained on Queensryche's website: "All of us are from what you'd call dysfunctional families, and that stuff, a lot of it's painful. It stirs up them emotions. But it's so enticing to try and tap as an artist... It was really a difficult song to write, but it really felt good to get it out. It's just too bad (my dad) never got to hear it."
Speaking more directly about his father to Kerrang!, Degarmo also said that "It felt good to get this one out, a sort of exorcism. I've been dealing with this issue for 31 years. The song tells the story of what actually happened. My Dad called me out of the blue a couple of years ago and we hadn't talked for decades. Suddenly he wants to strike up this relationship and forget about the past and I couldn't have it. I couldn't deal with it! It didn't make sense to me and I had to write a song about it! Strangely enough, he passed away when we were recording the album, but I had pretty much made my peace with him."

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