We all know them: great songs that run out of steam after two, sometimes one great verse. Either the song has a really short run time, goes to an extended instrumental fill or repeats the same verse too many times.
I’m thinking of Supertramp’s Crime of the Century right now; two great short verses and a lot of instro fill. Then there’s Jimmy Buffett’s Last Mango in Paris, which feels about two verses short of a full story and fills with repeats. Journey’s When the Lights Go Down In the City; more or less adequate number of verses padded out with 786 na na’s. In Heaven There is No Beer, which cries out for more than one verse but delivers a truckload of la-la-la’s instead. And It’s the Right Time of the Night, in which Jennifer Warnes attempts to overcome a shortage of verses by belting out the chorus more and more loudly.
Oh, and then there’s almost everything by Pat Benatar, which takes one killer phrase/title that any other artist would take as a starting point, and repeats it until your ears implode.
Other songs you wish had more verses and less filler?
While living in New Hampshire, I traveled Highway 101 a lot, and this song inevitably sprung into my head. I noticed that, while it had a beginning and an end, it really needed a solid middle. So I wrote one myself (adding a little anti-police state propaganda, characteristically!):
BLACK DENIM TROUSERS (Leiber and Stoller)
He wore black denim trousers and motorcycle boots
And a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back.
He had a hopped-up 'cycle that took off like a gun.
That fool was the terror of Highway 101.
[Now, her dad thought Mary Lou should be forbidden to be kissed.
The town police chief said he’d be delighted to assist.
They hatched a scheme to jail him for a planted bag of pot
And tow away that motorcycle to the impound lot.
The chief received the call patrolling at the burger stand;
The whole town soon was buzzing with the word of what they’d planned.
“I’m sorry, Mary Lou,” she heard him say, “I’ve got to fly.
I love you, but without this motorcycle, I would die.”
Because with blue serge trousers and shiny leather boots,
A helmet, and a billy club and handcuffs at their side,
Plus sovereign immunity conveyed by badge and gun—
Who really is the terror of Highway 101?]
Steve Miller’s “The Joker,” subject of a famous Cecil column, fades out during the last line of a verse. Not exactly what the OP was looking for, but it does feel incomplete.
R.E.M. went through a phase where songs would have repeated nonsense syllables in lieu of words, at key parts of the refrain or verse. “Man on the Moon” comes to mind.
Was just listening to the tune this morning - a bit obscure, but Doug Sahm’s “Dallas Alice” is a good example; only two verses when it seems like there should be a lot more.
My roommate and I were just discussing Home by Phillip Phillips the other day for this very reason. He could have used another verse in the space where he put endless “oooohhh ooh oohhh oh oh ohoh”.
Some of these are getting into a parallel phenomenon - lyrics that are circular and can basically be repeated without end. “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics comes to mind.
