Middle Eight – A short contrasting section in the middle of a pop song, usually eight bars in length

(Pronounced mih-duhl ayt)

To remember what middle eight means, use the following mnemonic:

The middle eight (middle eight) bars of the jail cell were a contrasting section.

A middle eight section of a song will deviate from the rest of the song, introducing a completely different melody. The purpose of this is to add an interesting atmospheric section to an otherwise formulaic song.