What?! No Bridge??

Jazz Standards have a 'bridge'..... probably one of the reasons they are deemed 'standard.'

I am currently working on updating my rep.
Two of the new (to me) songs are about the moon.

THAT, in itself, is somewhat cliche'.. but the songs are popular and timeless.

One of my favorite elements of the traditional standard is the bridge ...or the section that connects the verses in the song. Sometimes the bridge has a schmaltzy melody..

exa. "Teach Me Tonight".. if it weren't for that mid section... I may not have learned that particular song.

"The sky's a blackboard high above you

and if a shooting star goes by
I'll use that star to write I LOVE YOU
A thousand times across the sky."

The bridge in "Orange Colored Sky" is priceless... a veritable FUN spew of words
that literally keeps the singer on his/her toes!!

Do NOT let the pianist run away with the tempo on that song...
you WILL be 'in a spin' by the time you sing the bridge!

"... then the ceiling fell in and the bottom fell out,

I went into a spin and I started to shout!..."

The bridge in "It's Only a Paper Moon" is short and trite ... but in all fairness, the song was written in 1933:

"...without your love, it's a honky tonk parade

without your love, it's a melody played in a penny arcade."

....Back to my moon songs...

"Fly Me to The Moon" Bart Howard (1954)

"How High the Moon" Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis (1940)

I read through the lyrics, decided on a tempo, sang through the tune, checked the key
.. then... noticed the structure: AA [It is generally AABA]

"WHAT?? NO BRIDGE??!! Both songs about the moon, haven't a bridge?!"huh!

OK, then.

I'll let it go .. this time.