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 confused





Last edited by pathardy; 12/04/11 06:22 AM.