JPF Home Page Forums General Messages Songwriter Message Forum Verse/Chorus/Bridge structures, past & present.

I grew up in jazz and musical theatre. I've got about a cent and half to mention on the subject of these terms, so I hope you view my viewpoint with amusement, don't mean to stir anything up. I could be wrong.

If you look on old sheet music on music theatre songs or old jazz era songs ( like "I've Got A Crush On You" or "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" ), the term "verse", is always applied to a vocal intro section before the main song ( the melody which everyone associates with the song title ), begins. That section, the main section i.,e the melody that everyone associates with the song is labled "Chorus". This is because, on music theatre production, the chorus joins in on the main song. Sometimes, on these old sheet music pieces, the term "refrain" is used in place of "chorus". But nowhere on these old sheet music is "chorus" used to refer to a "section", it is applied to the entire AABA structure, where the A sections are just A1, A2, etc, and the B section is the bridge.

Now, during the late sixties, early seventies, I've seen these terms change, and, if a song is A A B A, each a section is now called a verse, and the B section is now called the Chorus, and if there is a C section, it's called a bridge. The term "verse" had another meaning, where if there were two or more lyrics to the AABA structure, it would be verse one, verse two, etc. This meaning is distinct from the "verse" term as it is applied to the vocal intro ( which is always sung freely without tempo ).

My theory that these terms evolved because songwriters in my age group ( late 50s/60s ) who were unfamiliar with music theatre, having learned pop songs during the early sixties, they started writing songs and remember seeing these terms on old sheet music, and assumed their meaning, and thus the "misunderstanding" of the terms led to there evolution in usage, i.e, it seemed logical that in the AABA song structure, the A section was a verse and the B section a chorus, and if there is a C section, it is the bridge. But if you use the term "chorus", to a person in traditional music theatre ( such as a librettist ) or to an old jazz musician, he will think you are talking about the "head", which is the entire AABA section, sans the "verse" ( the intro ).

This has been my observation over the years, though I could be wrong. Honk if you're confused

Very interesting take. Thoughtful.

I think that the present structure works pretty well. When I think of it and analyze it, it makes sense. For example, the bridge is well placed to break up and renew the song.

Tom

Aw, Humm,
I think most of us here haven't made any great study of terms used on songs over the last Century unless they have attended a musical school such as Julliard or Belmont or some other school I can't remember.

Isn't Jazz played the way you feel it and seldom played the same way twice? If so you may have just shot yourself in the foot with your post. Sounds like a great subject for discussion and study! Welcome aboard!

Pat, what you say is interesting. Having been involved in a lot of community theatre productions and working with older sheet music I think I know what you are talking about to some extent. You are probably right about the evolution of these music song terms. I do know from musical theatre involvement, the purpose of a refrain is to connect the emotions of the earlier chorus to a moment in either at the end of a music number or even used as an interlude at a later point in the show to reinforce a message or emotions of particular song number. Sometimes those refrains are uplifting, sometimes they may bring us back down depending on their purpose. In a song written for radio play,the challenge for a songwriter is to convey a story or message within 3-4 minutes. We don't have the luxury of time that the verbose novelists or even a play-writes have for building the story, unless you're Bob Dylan, who can say a lot in four minutes!

Pat, you're not alone...I love to look back on the history of this stuff too!

"Chorus" came first from Greek theater, where the chorus is "the people" onstage, the crowd that speaks as one and represents people as a group. Later on in musical theater, the chorus would join in and sing on the major musical refrains.

So in modern song terminology, the chorus is another word for refrain--the term came from the theater side of music, but the better term is refrain, because a chorus is the part of a song that repeats and usually stays the same. ("He's a lumberjack and he's okay...")

I don't think it would be correct to call the "B" of an AABA song a chorus...it functions more like a bridge--when a song takes a different direction that soon winds its way back to the main theme (sort of like a short walk out of the scene for a smoke break and then back to work).

Fun topic!

I think Pat is saying is that in jazz, the entire AABA section (or whatever structure is) is called the "chorus". If your chorus repeated 2 times, your song might look like this:

Intro ||: AABA :|| Outro

Yep he's right. In jazz, they call the whole cycle of a verse structure "the chorus"...so when someone steps up and takes a solo, they usually play a chorus or two.

Lyric-writing may influence the labels.

An introductory passage is often just instrumental, 10 to 14 seconds, just to set the beat and 'feel' of the piece.

In a lyric I define the Verse as having a 'function' of setting up the story. A 2nd and 3rd Verse continue that 'exposition' of the storyline.

Lyric-writers struggle with the 3rd Verse, The Third Verse Curse, where the story should come to some satisfying completion. They just don't have the literary skills to create the story, or don't wait for insight to complete the story.

Many abandon the quest, resort to a Bridge, a movement with a variant melody, and pivotal lyrical information for the storyline. A Bridge breaks the monotony which would result from a 3rd repeat of the movement of the Verses, or 2nd giving of the Chorus followed immediately by a 3rd giving, enabling a final giving of the stanza-type Chorus, to run out the time and complete the song.

I define a Chorus as having a function of summing up, making the point of what the storyline in the Verses has been setting up for.

There is a 'stanza-type' chorus, which has several lines, an intensified emotion over that of the Verses, and contains THE hook, that main, summary line that makes sense of the whole story.

I also define a 'refrain-type' Chorus, a melodic refrain, a single line of lyric/melody, usually ending each verse. A song with a refrain-type Chorus can become very repetitious. A Bridge serves the function I described, breaking the repetition, enabling a final Verse with a Chorus-refrain, and lyrically completing the storyline and musical structure.

'Coda' is the name of the final passage. It may be lyrical or instrumental.

Gary, your definition of song structure and how verse,chorus,and bridges relate is the best description that I have ever heard or read, and very simply put. With my song writing I usually have 3-4 verses. Many times I make myself abandon one of the verses to shorten the song, but sometimes it's difficult to discard the information that I feel is integral to the song's story or message. Although choruses act as a "hook" to grab your attention to a song, if they are over used in my opinion, you also tire of the song. I really like bridges for exclamatory points and digression from the songs pace, but only if the song needs that. Some songs have enough music and lyric movement that a bridge can alienate the listener too much from the song's mood or pace. I strive to write with a variety of styles of how I utilize verse, chorus, and bridges. Certain songs need to come full circle and repeat the first verse for affect. I would never want all my songs to be structured or paced the same. I think you can have a song without bridges and choruses altogether if it's arranged right. There are a lot of "chorus driven" songs, especially commercially written music without much real "verse" substance, such as a dance tune-but that may be that song's purpose, which is great. But the really good compositions have staying power and will stand out and be appreciated for years to come, like Lennon's "Imagine," or Led-Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven." Those songs will always be great, no matter what time period we are in. Singers & actors are performers and are called artists, and they truly are, but songwriters are the innovators of creating their art-form and arranging it on a canvas with words and music for generations to enjoy. What an ego trip it must be for the songwriters that "break through" and become heard.

I think that the bridge effectively acts like a third verse, but with a breath of fresh air that shakes things up a bit and re-draws the listener's attention.

Tom-Great analogy, I agree and many songs benefit from that arrangement. Although I like the bridge to digress from the verse story as either making a statement or expounding upon the verse story up to that point. I don't think that there are rules that dictate that however. -
steady eddie