| "Worst That Could Happen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by the Brooklyn Bridge | ||||
| from the album Brooklyn Bridge | ||||
| B-side | "Your Kite, My Kite" | |||
| Released | December 1968 | |||
| Genre | Rock, pop rock | |||
| Length | 2:58 | |||
| Label | Buddah | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Jimmy Webb | |||
| Producer(s) | Wes Farrell | |||
| The Brooklyn Bridge singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Worst That Could Happen" is a song with lyrics and music written by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by the 5th Dimension on their 1967 album of nearly all-Jimmy Webb songs, The Magic Garden, "Worst That Could Happen" was later recorded by the Brooklyn Bridge and reached the Billboard Hot 100's top 40, at #38 on January 4, 1969, peaking at #3 on February 1-8, 1969.[1]
The song tells about a man wishing well to a woman with whom he is still in love, but because the man was unwilling to settle down, she left him and is about to marry someone else who is more stable; the singer accepts the marriage but still feels that it is "the worst (thing) that could happen to (him)". It has been stated that, along with "MacArthur Park" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Worst That Could Happen" is about a relationship that Webb had with a woman named Susan.[2]
The song quotes Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" from the incidental music to A Midsummer Night's Dream at the end.
The Brooklyn Bridge version appeared on the list of songs deemed inappropriate by Clear Channel following the September 11, 2001, attacks.[3]
- ^ Joel Whitburn (1 July 1995). Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Hot 100 Charts, The Sixties. Record Research Inc. ISBN 978-0898200744.
- ^ "Worst That Could Happen by Brooklyn Bridge". Songfacts.com. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
- ^ Here Are The 164 Songs That Were Banned From American Radio After 9/11 - We look at the songs deemed too “lyrically questionable” to play on the radio right after the 9/11 attacks. Published by online music site Kerrang and Posted on September 11th 2019, 5:00pm. Accessed online May 5, 2020