Songfacts®:

• The "Bridge of Spies" is the Glienicke Bridge in Germany, which connects Potsdam with Berlin. During the Cold War, the Potsdam side was controlled by communist East Germany, and the Berlin side was part of West Germany, which was aligned with the United States and other NATO countries. Since it connected enemy territories, it was used for the exchange of spies and prisoners.
  
  This song was inspired by the final exchange, which took place in 1986 (Germany unified in 1990) and involved Anatoly Sharansky, a Russian who was held in a Soviet prison, accused of spying for the US. The song is sung from his perspective, as he crosses the bridge to meet his wife.
• T'Paul lead singer Carol Decker wrote this song with the band's guitarist Ronnie Rogers, who was her boyfriend at the time. In America, their first album was issued as T'Pau, but elsewhere this song was the title track. Released as a single, it failed to chart, although the album went on to sell over 4 million copies in the UK.
• In 2015, a movie called Bridge of Spies, its title also taken from the Glienicke Bridge, was released. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Tom Hanks as a negotiator trying to broker a prisoner exchange. This song was not a part of it, which displeased Carol Decker. "So f--king annoying Spielberg did not put it on the soundtrack to his film!" she told Songfacts.