I am with you on that Mark. The bridge should take a different direction. In this case I am hearing not so much a different chord pattern, as I am more unusual guitar and or synthesizer sounds to give it an eerie quality with spoken words. I think this song warrants that type of treatment, but I would usually throw in a an odd chord or something, maybe temporarily change the key center in the bridge before returning to the next verse (or chorus).

What you said about the melody is correct, this is a very straightforward melody save for the interval leap I added in the chorus and if you stuck strictly to the 1/4/5 chords that could be done with what I have here it could be boring. The chord pattern which I have not discussed, but I am formulating in my mind uses the root major and relative minor, so a minor 6th chord plays a dominant role in giving the song some weight.

My goal here was to present a way to conceive a melody from the words. The melody alone will not define the song, but gives you a set of options to work from. Most people who write, especially guitar players, start with chords or riffs, and I do that sometimes, but I often find a more interesting melody by finding an unusual interval to inject into the song, then build a chord pattern around it. In this song I am not getting overly adventurous, but I don't think the style I am going for here needs it to be, for the song to be effective.

I will attempt to go through this exercise again with the other lyric proposed by Sam and I suspect it will get a more adventurous treatment, because I perceive it to be more melodic and less rock-n-roll riff based. As I stated before, it almost seems like a lullaby the way the lyrics read.

Jack
http://www.myspace.com/jackswainsongs