# What's the term for this in music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175 "2007-01-08T17:50:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 9, 2007, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175/21 "2007-01-09T14:37:24Z")
[QUOTE=waitingforvizzini] I think actually it might be a medley. Chicago has a song like that. It is so different that djs dont play the whole thing. [/QUOTE] The title of that one is _Hard For Me To Say I’m Sorry_. I’ve always called this kind of thing a “movement”, myself. For instance, Sweet’s “Love Is Like Oxygen” contains several movements. Other examples include Zebra’s “Whose Behind the Door?” and Styx’s “Come Sail Away”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175/22 "2007-01-12T15:41:10Z")
Just remembered the other two instance of this that have not been mentioned yet: – **My Paper Heart** by the All-American Rejects – **A Praise Chorus** by Jimmy Eat World almost does this, as the middle part seems nothing like the beginning and end, yet returns to the chorus at the end. So these, along with the Dashboard example I already mentioned, mean that emo-pop has proportionately the second-most, maybe even the most, examples of this aside from classical and classic rock, which seems a bit strange. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175/23 "2007-01-12T16:04:40Z")
[QUOTE=waitingforvizzini] I think actually it might be a medley. Chicago has a song like that. It is so different that djs dont play the whole thing. [/QUOTE] This isn’t a medley - a medley is when a musician takes a number of independent songs that were never intended to be together and strings them (or snippets of them) together into a continuous piece of music. There are changes to pacing, key, etc., but the works were not originally written as a single piece. Medleys are often thought of as cheesy - a tired way for an old artist to blow through their hits that they hate performing anymore, or for a lounge act to play a variety of songs… I bow to **tdn** ’s superior education but will use section or movement to describe the components of a song with this type of structure until I hear of a better word… ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175/24 "2007-01-12T16:17:22Z")
I would describe songs like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Station to Station,” “Happiness Is a Warm Gun,” etc. as having an _episodic structure_. Not a strictly musical term, but the most accurate description I can think of. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-term-for-this-in-music/387175.md?page=1)