# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/41 "2015-09-12T00:21:55Z")
“In Dreams”? Can the “In Dreams” part be called a chorus if it doesn’t repeat? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/42 "2015-09-12T04:20:00Z")
“Ode To Billie Joe”. ---
**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 12, 2015, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/43 "2015-09-12T12:57:13Z")
Has anyone mentioned “House of the Rising Sun”? ---
**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 12, 2015, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/44 "2015-09-12T13:03:34Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I thought that I heard you laughing > I thought that I heard you sing > I think I thought I saw you try I could go either way on this one. On the one hand, it’s a classic “no chorus” song: the title is sung during a verse, and the phrase you cited there has the same rhythm and basic chordal sequencing as the (rest of the) verse. On the other hand, that phrase does have backup singing (a literal meaning of “chorus,” and often a marker of a refrain), and it is repeated verbatim, while the (rest of the) verse varies from verse to verse. Such ambiguities made many Beatles songs great, and some R.E.M. ones as well. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/45 "2015-09-12T14:12:46Z")
I Don’t Know How to Love Him Memory ---
**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 12, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/46 "2015-09-12T15:09:34Z")
…more on “Losing My Religion”: I misspoke. The maybe-chorus that Maserschmidt cited is similar to the (rest of the) verse NOT in rhythm nor in chords, but rather in MELODY. It’s clever songwriting. The same melodic pattern – three descending notes, the three lowest of a minor scale – are used in different ways throughout the song. (It manages to just avoid being boring). ---
**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 12, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/47 "2015-09-12T16:09:01Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I could go either way on this one. On the one hand, it’s a classic “no chorus” song: the title is sung during a verse, and the phrase you cited there has the same rhythm and basic chordal sequencing as the (rest of the) verse. > > On the other hand, that phrase does have backup singing (a literal meaning of “chorus,” and often a marker of a refrain), and it is repeated verbatim, while the (rest of the) verse varies from verse to verse. > > Such ambiguities made many Beatles songs great, and some R.E.M. ones as well. Yeah, I definitely would not call that a chorus myself, at least not in the usual pop sense. To me, it’s definitely a B section of music (that is, another section distinct from the A section, which is the verse in this case), more like a bridge, to be honest, but I’m just happy calling it a B section. To me, a pop chorus is a distinct section of song that can be sung in isolation, repeats, and usually contains the hook of the song. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/48 "2015-09-12T16:32:04Z")
A lot of blues songs I can think of off hand don’t have choruses. The challenge is not many of them became “hit” singles. ELO’s cover of _Roll Over Beethoven_ made #48 on the US charts. Is that high enough to be a hit? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/49 "2015-09-12T16:40:51Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I could go either way on this one. On the one hand, it’s a classic “no chorus” song: the title is sung during a verse, and the phrase you cited there has the same rhythm and basic chordal sequencing as the (rest of the) verse. > > On the other hand, that phrase does have backup singing (a literal meaning of “chorus,” and often a marker of a refrain), and it is repeated verbatim, while the (rest of the) verse varies from verse to verse. > > Such ambiguities made many Beatles songs great, and some R.E.M. ones as well. You’re right to be ambivalent. 🙂 > [@](#): > > This song has its origins in guitarist Peter Buck’s efforts to try learn to play the mandolin. When he played back recordings of his first attempts, he heard the riff and thought it might make a good basis for a song. Explaining how the song came together musically, Buck told Guitar School in 1991: " **I started it on mandolin and came up with the riff and chorus.** The verses are the kinds of things R.E.M. uses a lot, going from one minor to another, kind of like those ‘Driver 8’ chords. You can’t really say anything bad about E minor, A minor, D, and G > [@](#): > > In 2003, Stipe told Entertainment Weekly, “‘Losing My Religion’ was a fluke hit. It was a 5-minute song with **no chorus** and a mandolin as the lead instrument. So for us to hold that as the bar we have to jump over every time we write a song would be ridiculous.” ---
**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 12, 2015, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/50 "2015-09-12T22:44:22Z")
Great quotes, thanks! When the composers themselves can’t agree on how to parse their own creation, it’s gotta be a good song (or at least an interesting one). ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/51 "2015-09-12T23:42:15Z")
Does “Satisfaction” by Rolling Stones have a chorus? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/52 "2015-09-13T06:22:41Z")
Oh great! I’ve been wondering about this for a long time now: [Just to Satisfy You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l6PzcyNBOw) by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. Not being musically educated, the structure of this song confused me. Given what’s been posted so far, I guess this would be an example of a song that’s ALL chorus. ---
**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 13, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/53 "2015-09-13T10:59:16Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Does “Satisfaction” by Rolling Stones have a chorus? I’d say the first 8 bars (title phrase sung twice, plus the “and I try…” phrase and the more vigorous half-statement if the title phrase which follows) is a chorus, but it’s unusual in that it starts the song off. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2015, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/54 "2015-09-13T11:43:13Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Stairway to Heaven Not sure if you can really count this one as a “hit single”, as it wasn’t released as a single (except for limited-release promotional versions which couldn’t have made the charts). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/55 "2015-09-13T15:59:55Z")
The OP doesn’t specify hit **SINGLE**. (pick pick pick) “Bad To The Bone,” George Thorogood, or anything else he’s done. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641/56 "2015-09-13T16:07:28Z")
My bad (sorta), the OP doesn’t say hit **SINGLE** , but the title does. Oh, confusion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-singles-with-no-chorus/730641.md?page=2)