Not to be confused with the Arthur Miller play of almost the same name, View From A Bridge was the second single to be released from Kim Wilde’s second album, Select.  The song tells the story of a girl who discovers that her boyfriend is cheating on her so she goes to a bridge and considers jumping off.  Though it’s open to interpretation, the song suggests that she ultimately does just that.  This song is a good example of a song about something that no one should do in real life.  No one is worth jumping off a bridge for so if you’re thinking about doing it, don’t.

When it was released in 1982, it became on Wilde’s biggest hits in Europe and Australia.  It was especially popular in France.  If it was released today, at a time when we are all very aware of teen mental health and the dangers of suicidal ideation, this is one of those songs that would probably be very controversial.  I know that when I was growing up, there was tendency to laugh off threats of suicide as just teenagers being dramatic or looking for attention.  Luckily, that’s no longer the case today.

The video, fortunately, does not feature Kim on a bridge.  Instead, it features her and the band performing in a pink-tinted room.  This was a popular look for music videos in the 80s and the pinkness of it all helped to keep people from noticing how depressing the lyrics were.

The video was directed by Brian Grant, who was one of the go-to video directors in the 1980s.  He did videos for everyone from The Human League to XTC to Peter Gabriel and Duran Duran.  According to Wikipedia, he directed a total of 225 music videos during the 80s.  He has also directed several shows for British television, including the episodes of the Doctor Who reboot.

Enjoy!