# Hit rock songs with a repeated verse only (no chorus, no bridge) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 14, 2023, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036 "2023-05-14T17:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/21 "2023-05-15T11:42:45Z")
“Neanderthal Man” by Hotlegs The same four lines sung three times. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/22 "2023-05-15T11:48:36Z")
How about The Passenger by Iggy Pop (with some covers)? That seems to be an unending stream of the same chord changes and vocal parts. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/23 "2023-05-15T12:02:11Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > It may be very short, but the “You really got me / You really got me / You really got me” part is the chorus. Yeah, that would function as a chorus – I’d more call it a “refrain” than a proper chorus, but there’s tons of Beatles songs like that, where there’s no proper repeated chorus part. Like, look at “It’s a Hard Day’s Night.” It’s all just verse and bridge, or A section and B section, depending on how you want to label it. “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “Things We Said Today,” “Back in the USSR”, etc. It depends on what you call a chorus for some of those. “Back in the USSR” definitely has a repeated part, but it’s not a full-fledged chorus to me, more a refrain. But, yes, they had a lot of songs where each verse ended with a short musical line that repeated (what I call a “refrain”) but never was a full sing-a-long 8- or 16-bar “chorus” part. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/24 "2023-05-15T12:46:57Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, that would function as a chorus – I’d more call it a “refrain” than a proper chorus, but there’s tons of Beatles songs like that Right. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” is the classic prototype. Beatles musicologist Allan Pollack calls these songs with a “verse/refrain” (in addition to a bridge, a.k.a. “middle eight”), as opposed to songs with a “verse” and “chorus.” ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/25 "2023-05-15T13:11:46Z")
[“I’m 'enry the 8th, I Am.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFNoDsOmluA) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/26 "2023-05-15T13:34:49Z")
Despite what the singer claims in the song itself, that one’s technically chorus-only, not verse-only. (This we know because it’s an abridged version of a much longer song that _does_ contain verses.) ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/27 "2023-05-15T14:29:06Z")
Green Day’s Brain Stew is just verses and instrumental bits all with the same descending chord structure. I’ve always just considered Brain Stew as the intro to Jaded, but back in the day, I heard Brain Stew by itself on the radio most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/28 "2023-05-16T22:07:52Z")
What about songs with each verse repeated over and over again? Example 1 (repeated 5 times): [A Stranger (In Your Town) - The Shacklefords - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DRmYYm4e2g) Example 2 (repeated 5 times): [Tony Burrello - There’s A New Sound (The Sound Of Worms) - 1953 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0psWy_XLP0g&t=37s) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/29 "2023-05-17T05:47:57Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > What about songs with each verse repeated over and over again? In what sense is it a “verse”, then? If the music and lyrics are the same, then as with “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” mentioned above, then it’s a repeated chorus, not a repeated verse. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/30 "2023-05-17T09:30:23Z")
> [@Mark\_Finn](#): > > What about songs with each verse repeated over and over again? > Example 1 (repeated 5 times): [A Stranger (In Your Town) - The Shacklefords - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DRmYYm4e2g) > Example 2 (repeated 5 times): [Tony Burrello - There’s A New Sound (The Sound Of Worms) - 1953 - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0psWy_XLP0g&t=37s) That may be a subject for another thread, but I think that [Killing In the Name](https://youtu.be/bWXazVhlyxQ) by Rage Against the Machine would qualify in what you’re suggesting. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2023, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/31 "2023-05-17T10:31:10Z")
Not a hit, but _Raining Blood_ by Slayer doesn’t have a chorus. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/32 "2023-05-18T00:21:04Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May” fits this description, I beg to differ. _Maggie May_ does have a Chorus (or is it a Bridge?). You led me away from home Just to save you from being alone You stole my heart and that’s what really hurts It also ends with a Coda. Maggie, I wished I’d never seen your face I’ll get on back home one of these days Ooh, ooh, ooh ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/33 "2023-05-18T00:28:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Despite what the singer claims in the song itself, that one’s technically chorus-only, not verse-only. (This we know because it’s an abridged version of a much longer song that _does_ contain verses.) Well, yes, and no. In the original yes. In the Rock version the Chorus has become the Verse. But that is a weird song. ---
**Author:** ![Steven\_Maven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steven_maven/32/3272_2.png) [@Steven\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steven_Maven)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/34 "2023-05-18T00:31:02Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > How about Simon & Garfunkel’s _Sound of Silence_? Or do the three repeated words at the end of each verse count as a chorus? I vote that the repetition is NOT a chorus, because it is the 4th line of each stanza. The structure of verse verse etc but no chorus is common (but by no means universal) in folk songs, both traditional and modern. Another example is, Traffic’s arrangement of _John Barleycorn (Must Die)._ ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/35 "2023-05-18T01:56:00Z")
Someone recently pointed out that “There She Goes” by the La’s was basically a verse in search of a chorus…or maybe it’s a chorus in search of a verse? ---
**Author:** ![Blindmellowjelly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindmellowjelly/32/13920_2.png) [@Blindmellowjelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blindmellowjelly)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/36 "2023-05-18T04:33:09Z")
Definitely not Hit, and ceratinly not mainstream. But most songs by Jandek are chaotic and primal and follow no classical construction. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8QSxraBukEc/hqdefault.jpg "Jandek - Painted My Teeth") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QSxraBukEc) ---
**Author:** ![Blindmellowjelly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindmellowjelly/32/13920_2.png) [@Blindmellowjelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blindmellowjelly)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/37 "2023-05-18T04:51:02Z")
I think I have heard many monotonous “prayer chants” or meditations- Germanic, Mongolian, Indian, Semitic, Chinese, Japanese, Inuit, Native North and South American, African, Aboriginal, and Oceana. These, seem to conform to some kind of meter but not really melodic, the chant bends to the musical. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/38 "2023-05-18T09:53:57Z")
I’m going to nominate _Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)_ by Eurhythmics. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/39 "2023-05-18T13:48:18Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, yes, and no. In the original yes. In the Rock version the Chorus has become the Verse. But that is a weird song I think that in order for a repeated segment to be considered a verse, the lyrics need to change substantially across repetitions. This distinguishes it from a chorus, where the lyrics are more or less the same on each repetition. So even in Herman’s Hermits’ abridged version of “I’m Henery the Eighth, I Am”, the eponymous segment is the chorus. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/40 "2023-05-18T13:51:37Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I’m going to nominate _Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)_ by Eurhythmics. It’s true it has no chorus, but it has a fairly long bridge where Lennox repeats “Hold your head up”, “Keep your head up”, and “Movin’ on” over and over. So definitely not a verse-only song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036.md?page=3)