# Hit singles with no chorus **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 11, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641 "2015-09-11T02:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/1 "2015-09-11T02:50:24Z")
At my grocery store today, I was pleased to hear [“Positively 4th Street” by Bob Dylan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc2yCWsR07U). As I was listening, I noticed that the song has no true chorus. Are there any other hit records that had no chorus or obvious refrain? For that matter, has any hit record been _just_ the chorus? ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/2 "2015-09-11T02:59:06Z")
Unchained Melody jumps quickly to mind. **ETA:** [Unchained Melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiiyq2xrSI0) ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/3 "2015-09-11T03:10:16Z")
Rod Stewart’s _Maggie May_ was the first one I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Richard\_John\_Marcej](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_John_Marcej)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/4 "2015-09-11T04:01:38Z")
Queen’s **Bohemian Rhapsody** comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/5 "2015-09-11T04:23:47Z")
Black Sabbath - Paranoid ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/6 "2015-09-11T04:24:01Z")
Stairway to Heaven Money ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/7 "2015-09-11T07:12:28Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Money And to flip it around completely, Pink Floyd had “Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)” which was nothing _but_ a chorus. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/8 "2015-09-11T07:22:35Z")
Rappers Delight Sugar Hill Gang ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/9 "2015-09-11T09:31:25Z")
Space Oddity - Bowie Well, a hit in the UK at any rate. I don’t think it did so well in the States. Bonus trivia; like Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s one of those songs whose title does not appear in the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/10 "2015-09-11T09:40:12Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Space Oddity - Bowie > > Well, a hit in the UK at any rate. I don’t think it did so well in the States. > > Bonus trivia; like Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s one of those songs whose title does not appear in the lyrics. Actually, neither do Positively 4th Street, Rapper’s Delight, Unchained Melody nor Maggie May (Maggie is mentioned, but not Maggie **May** I believe) Hmmmmm ---
**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:** [September 11, 2015, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/11 "2015-09-11T09:59:12Z")
Beatles, “Love Me Do” Like “Another Brick in the Wall,” it could be parsed as having a very short chorus (the title, sung at the end of each verse), but many would say it lacks a chorus. (“Love Me Do” does have a “middle eight,” though – some call this a “bridge,” while others use the word “bridge” for a short phrase between the verse and chorus in some songs – but most just consider such phrases as part of the verse.) ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/12 "2015-09-11T12:42:05Z")
_Sound of Silence_ Simon and Garfunkel ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/13 "2015-09-11T12:47:40Z")
Not sure if it’s a “hit” but “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega was the first song that popped into my head. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/14 "2015-09-11T12:51:27Z")
Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/15 "2015-09-11T13:01:28Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Not sure if it’s a “hit” but “Tom’s Diner” by Suzanne Vega was the first song that popped into my head. Same here although I wasn’t sure if the "Do do do do"s between verses counted as a chorus ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/16 "2015-09-11T13:03:21Z")
“Nautical Disaster” by the Tragically Hip was and remains a popular song in Canada, and has no chorus at all, never repeating any line. And the title doesn’t appear in the lyrics. Maybe there’s a pattern here. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/17 "2015-09-11T13:05:28Z")
Would it be accurate to say that “Hey Jude” saves the refrain for the end of the song? ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/18 "2015-09-11T14:26:28Z")
The great\*\* Up The Junction\*\* by **Squeeze** was deservedly a big hit in the UK. Doubt it did so well in the US. Very British song. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/19 "2015-09-11T14:48:08Z")
“Ringo,” a spoken-word number one hit by Lorne Greene. Granted, every time he says “Ringo,” there are background singers that echo the word, but that’s not really a song chorus. ---
**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:** [September 11, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/20 "2015-09-11T15:01:16Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Beatles, “Love Me Do” I would say a good portion of the Beatles’ output, off the top of my head I’d say the vast majority, does not have a traditional “chorus,” but rather some kind of melodic hook like “Love Me Do.” But that depends on what one’s definition of a chorus is. A lot of Beatles songs have repeating lyrical content at the last few measures of a verse, for instance, but don’t have the typical 8 bars versse/8 bars chorus (or whatever the length is) that is common to most pop songs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641.md?page=2)