Despite his father Lloyd pushing him toward acting since he was a child — even getting him his first role as an infant in the 1951 film The Company She Keeps — Jeff Bridges‘ first love was always music. “Whenever there was a part for a kid, dad would say, ‘Do you want to get out of school for the day?’ remembered Bridges in 2000.
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Born Dec. 4, 1949, Bridges and his brother Beau would often appear on their father’s shows Sea Hunt and The Lloyd Bridges Show in the late 1950s through the early ’60s. By the time he was 20, Bridges was writing songs and even sold two to Quincy Jones. Also a musician, Bridges later played the piano in the 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys and even performed with his band, the Abiders—named after his “The Dude” that “abides” character in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski—at a Los Angeles festival honoring the 1998 cult film in 2014.
In 2000, Bridges released his first album, Be Here Soon, on an independent label, with co-producer Michael McDonald and David Crosby also featured on vocals. After starring as the alcoholic, one-time country star Otis “Bad” Blake in the 2009 drama Crazy Heart, and performing a majority of the soundtrack to the film, Bridges released his eponymous album in 2011, which featured several of his own songs.
“People like to put you in this slot or that slot,” said Bridges after releasing his self-titled album. “Everybody likes to assume that you can only do one thing, that you can’t possibly be good at two things. But since Crazy Heart was about a musician, and I kind of pulled that off all right, I thought, Hey, maybe people will accept me now as a musician. My timing could be right.”
By 2014, Bridges shared an Abiders album, and released Sleeping Tapes in 2015, an ambient, spoken word collection of songs, featuring music by Keefus Ciancia (True Detective). Throughout his career, Bridges has been nominated for seven Oscars—winning his first for Best Actor for Crazy Heart—but has always remained connected to music.
Though Bridges has worked with a collective of songwriters throughout his musical career, the actor, painter, and photographer is a well-versed visual artist, who has also written a number of songs himself.
Here’s a look at three songs Bridges wrote throughout his career.
Read our 2000 interview with Jeff Bridges HERE.
1. “Lost in Space” (1969)
Written by Jeff Bridges
Before he even landed his first lead role as an actor, Bridges already sold two songs he had written to Quincy Jones, including “Lost in Space,” which was featured on the soundtrack of the 1970 film John and Mary, starring Dustin Hoffman and Mia Farrow.
The film follows a young couple who meet one night at a bar, get immersed in talking about director Jean Luc Goddard’s 1967 black comedy, Weekend, and end up going home together. The story unfolds the following day when they get to know one another better and decide if they have a future.
Bridges didn’t star in the film, but he performed “Lost in Space.” The second other song Bridges sold to Jones is still unknown.
Lost in Space
I”m invisible
And the merriment goes on
Thousand people
Laughing, playing
I’m since fading
Beneath their laughter, I lay
2. “Falling Short” (2011)
Written by Jeff Bridges
On his self-titled debut album, produced by T Bone Burnett, Bridges wrote or co-wrote three tracks: “Tumbling Vine,” “Slow Boat,” and “Falling Short.” The latter acoustic ballad, featuring Rosanne Cash on backing vocals, is a revelatory story of facing one’s shortcomings and regrets.
“I guess it’s a little dark,” said Bridges about the song. “You ask yourself the questions, but you don’t know what the answers are going to be.”
Am I falling short or do I fly
While I miss the mark do I hit the sky
And in my wondering do I answer why
I’m alive
To make a space – bushwhack a path
Leave a sign – dodge the wrath
Of myself and leave the math to God
Falling short I’ve hit the spot
Of the place where I was shot
From the womb of my mother
I’ve fallen short but is there another
3. “Slow Boat,” Jeff Bridges & The Abiders (2014)
Written by Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett, and Thomas Cobb
Originally released on his 2011 self-titled album, Bridges plucked “Show Boat” for his 2014 Live album with The Abiders. Jeff Bridges & The Abiders—Live features several songs from Bridges’ own discography, in addition to covers of Townes Van Zandt‘s “To Live Is to Fly,” John Fogerty‘s “Lookin’ Out My Back Door,” and The Byrds’ 1967 song “So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star.”
The album also features another original by Bridges childhood friend songwriter John Goodwin, “Exception to the Rule.” Goodwin also penned several songs on the Jeff Bridges album, along with The Abiders’ 2020 single “My Welcome Mat.”
“‘Slow Boat,’ that’s a real interesting song,” said Bridges. “The tune has a lot of Crazy Heart in it. In fact, in the book Crazy Heart, Thomas Cobb mentions a song of Bad Blake’s called ‘Slow Boat,’ but there’s no lyrics or anything, so when we were looking at songs for the movie, I took a crack at writing. I played ‘Slow Boat’ over the phone to Bone [T Bone Burnett]. He loved it, but the song never made the movie.”
The river is wide
Deeper than deep
On one side they’re cryin’
On the other they’re asleep
And it’s all a dream
Least it seems like to me
Might never wake up
Listen to the steam
As the big wheel turns
Are we headed up stream?
The fog’s too thick
To really see
All I know is I still float
Slow boat
Photo by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
