# 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:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/41 "2023-05-18T14:25:04Z")
I think _“Never Goin’ Back To Georgia”_ by The Blues Magoos might qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/42 "2023-05-18T14:47:18Z")
Roy Orbison was the master of weird song structure. “Running Scared” is just a slowly intensifying narrative verse until it gets to something that _sounds_ like a bridge, but is, in fact, the finale. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WBAqXtaPZgQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Running Scared") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBAqXtaPZgQ) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/43 "2023-05-18T15:12:26Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > [@bordelond](#): > > > > The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” (#4 UK, #15 US) and “We’re Not Going To Take It” (#37 US) - both from _Tommy_ - don’t have choruses. I believe neither has bridges, as well. > > I believe both those songs have choruses. _Pinball Wizard_ has a bridge as well . Regarding “Pinball Wizard” … I’d regard “_That deaf, dumb and blind kid / Sure plays a mean pinball_” as repeated lines that end the verses, as opposed to a distinct chorus. “Pinball Wizard” also does have a coda, but I didn’t conceive of it as a bridge since it didn’t return musically to echo an earlier part of the song (hope that makes sense to those that know the proper terminology). The strumming between “_But I just handed my pinball crown to him_” and “_Even on my favorite table / He can beat my best_” seems really brief/quick to serve as a bridge, but I can see someone making the argument. “We’re Not Going To Take It” is a weaker case for fulfiling the OP. I had looked through the lyrics before proposing this song, and noted that there wasn’t a word-for-word repeating chorus before the “_See me / Feel me_” portion. However, there is a clear instrumental refrain with close sound-alike lyrics (“_Gonna break it / Gonna shake it / Let’s forget it better still_” and “_We forsake you / Gonna rape you / Let’s forget you better still_”). I can’t argue too vociferously that those parts _aren’t_ choruses. Once “_See me / Feel me_” starts, I regarded that as repeated verses – does the repetition instead make it a repeating chorus? Perhaps so. After that, I considered “_Listening to you / I get the music_” portion, through to the end, as pure unrepeated verses. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2023, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036/44 "2023-05-18T21:01:00Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > “Pinball Wizard” also does have a coda, but I didn’t conceive of it as a bridge since it didn’t return musically to echo an earlier part of the song (hope that makes sense to those that know the proper terminology). The strumming between “_But I just handed my pinball crown to him_” and “_Even on my favorite table / He can beat my best_” seems really brief/quick to serve as a bridge, but I can see someone making the argument. Isn’t the “How do you think he does it?…I don’t know…what makes him so good” bit the bridge? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-rock-songs-with-a-repeated-verse-only-no-chorus-no-bridge/984036.md?page=2)