Gary, I saw Larry present this information in a workshop he did for our local NSAI chapter. One of my songs was picked to compare against the template he had extrapolated from his analysis of the hits. It was about 5 minutes long and obeyed almost none of the rules! He was much too nice to make me stand in the corner for the rest of the class, LOL.

Of course, rules are there to be understood and then judiciously broken. There is another video showing how country songs of the year do break these rules. Writing a great song might not always be the same as writing a hit.

http://songwriterjunction.com/larry-beaird-on-how-songs-of-the-year-are-different/

Interesting what you say about how a bridge can be introduced when the writer despairs of finding a logical denouement. Another way I sometimes do that is to vary the end of the last chorus, so that the chorus as a whole is still familiar enough but you can end the song on a twist.

"I may or may not be an enigma."
http://mysteriousbeings.com/
https://soundcloud.com/themysteriousbeings
https://www.facebook.com/mysteriousbeings/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTfa7oRxhligSvZjv0u_vjg