Song Structure
Song Structure
Structure is a way of describing how something is put together. Everything has structure, from a tree: roots, trunk branches, leaves, to a house: foundations, walls, roof. Every romantic Hollywood movie you’ve seen follows a structure: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again. In technical film speak as this is known as rising action, climax and denouement. In fact, every work of art has a structure, without which the creator’s efforts would be sprawling, non-cohesive and rubbish.
All styles of music have structure too. If you listen to “You Can’t Hurry Love” By Diana Ross & The Supremes followed by “Yeah” by Usher, you’ll notice that that although almost four decades separate the songs, they both use the same, familiar structure. Each song begins with a short introduction, and then a verse quickly followed by a chorus and so on. We in the audience are not aware of this manipulation, but every hit writer is conscious of the construction of a song. And its structure should be apparent to any decent hit writer on first hearing! The principles of good balance and design in art never change, bare this in mind this as you make your own music.
The Basics
Most pop songs are around 80 bars long and are divided into various sections, each of which is usually 8 or multiples of 8 bars long. These sections are generally labelled alphabetically or given names (like ‘verse 1’) for convenience. Naming similar sections makes the structure easy to see. When a band gets together to jam, they would generally improvise and the band leader (this could be the singer, or maybe the guitarist, often just the player with the biggest ego) will say “Lets play the A section three times, go into the B section once, back to the A once then end with the C section once”. You could write that down as AAABAC so you knew what you had to do next.
Eventually, once melodies and words are established through the jamming process, these sections of the song may start to establish themselves as verses, bridges, chorus and maybe a middle 8. They have changed from simple instrumental sections into the building blocks of a song, but what do we mean by verse, chorus and the rest?
What’s a verse?
In the past, the verse sections of a song are where the story or narrative of the song is told. These days, verses are where the lyrical ‘ground work’ is done. They set the scene of the song, describe a situation, or tell us a story. Although the tune may stay the same, each verse usually has different words. Here’s a great an example:
‘Common People’ by Pulp
Verse 1
She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge,
She studied sculpture at Saint Martin’s College,
That’s where I,
Caught her eye.
She told me that her Dad was loaded,
I said, “In that case I’ll have a rum and coca-cola.”
She said “Fine.”
And in thirty seconds time she said,
Chorus
“I want to live like common people,
I want to do whatever common people do,
I want to sleep with common people,
I want to sleep with common people,
Like you.”
Well what else could I do -?
I said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Verse 2
I took her to a supermarket,
I don’t know why but I had to start it somewhere,
So it started there.
I said pretend you’ve got no money,
She just laughed and said,
“Oh you’re so funny.”
I said “yeah?
Well I can’t see anyone else smiling in here.
Chorus
Are you sure you want to live like common people,
You want to see whatever common people see,
You want to sleep with common people,
You want to sleep with common people,
Like me.”
But she didn’t understand,
She just smiled and held my hand.
Etc…
Each verse brings the story forward, and the chorus is basically the same words repeated.
What’s a chorus?
In the past, it was the bit where the audience joins in to sing along with the performers; chorus means ‘sung in groups’ from the Greek word khoros. These days, a chorus is more like an old fashioned refrain, and is usually defined (inaccurately) as the most memorable part of the song. Speaking more generally, choruses are the peaks of the song, and are often, but not always, identical to each other. It’s the repetition of the musical and lyrical ideas in the chorus that help to make the song memorable. Here’s one example:
“Rock DJ” by Robbie Williams
Verse 1
Me with the floorshow,Kickin’ with your torso
Boys getting high, and the girls even more so
Wave your hands if your not with the man
Can I kick it, ’Yes you can’
I got, ’Funk’, You got, ’Soul’, We got everybody
I’ve got the gift, Gonna stick it in the goal
It’s time to move your body
Babylon back in business, Can I get a witness
Every girl’ every man
Houston’ can you hear me
Ground control’ can you feel me
Need permission to land
Chorus
I don’t wanna rock’ DJ
But your making me feel so nice
When’s it gonna stop’ DJ
Cos you’re keepin’ me up all night
Notice once again that the verse sets the stage very well (it’s a kind of surreal rap), and that the choruses are identical.
What’s a pre chorus?
It’s the bit after the verse that gets us to the chorus. This section can also be called a ‘roll up’, or sometimes even a ‘channel’. Lyrically, the pre chorus remains the same for each occurrence, and builds a sense of anticipation for the chorus by heightening suspense or tension in various ways.
Take this example, where the lyric in the bridge creates a mildly shocking effect. Pink sings of Morphine and uses the word bitch, grabbing our attention instantly:
‘Just like a pill’ by Pink
Verse 1
I’m lyin’ here on the floor where you left me
I think I took too much
I’m crying here, what have you done?
I thought it would be fun
Pre Chorus
I can’t stay on your life support, there’s a
Shortage in the switch,
I can’t stay on your morphine, cuz it’s making me itch
I said I tried to call the nurse again but she’s
Being a little bitch,
I think I’ll get outta here, where I can
Chorus
Run just as fast as I can
To the middle of nowhere
To the middle of my frustrated fears
And I swear you’re just like a pill
Instead of makin’ me better, you keep makin’ me ill
You keep makin’ me ill
Verse 2
I haven’t moved from the spot where you left me
This must be a bad trip
All of the other pills, they were different
Maybe I should get some help
Pre Chorus
I can’t stay on your life support, there’s a
Shortage in the switch,
I can’t stay on your morphine, cuz it’s making me itch
I said I tried to call the nurse again but she’s
Being a little bitch,
I think I’ll get outta here, where I can
Chorus etc…
What’s a Bridge?
It’s the bit in the middle! .The purpose of this section is to add some new content into the later part of a song, or to revitalise a song that’s getting a bit stale. Often, the lyric in this part of the song includes some ‘revelation’, new content that may introduce a different angle on the lyric that keeps us interested. Take this example:
“Dance With You” by Lemar
Verse 1
When I saw you girl I knew,
You were something out of a storybook
And I told my heart that we gotta take one look
I imagine both you, doing what lovers do and me
Holding hands in the park making love girl after dark
The sounds of the birds and the bees, bringing you to your knees
Is all I wanna do yeah
Chorus
Dance dance dance dance
Dance dance dance dance, makes me wanna dance
I just wanna dance with you
I just wanna roll with you
I just wanna be the one who really gets to know you
I don’t care, and I don’t mind
I will spend the whole of my time
This is what it takes for me to hold it down and make you mine
Verse 2
Every bass man like the first
Taking us right back to the birth of our love
Seems to me as if I will never get enough
Thinking about the way that we first kissed – it was a night like this
We stayed together everyday
Ever since the…
The sounds of the birds and the bees, bringing you to your knees
Is all I wanna do yeah
Chorus
Bridge
the only thing between us is the floor
the DJ’s playing our favourite song
so lets not take to long
I wanna dance all through the night with you
dance dance daaaance, yeah
Chorus
This is a classic bridge; it is exactly 8 bars long, introduces a new lyric, new melody and new chord sequence. It performs its role very well, revitalizing our interest in the song after a ‘double’ chorus. A Bridge does not necessarily have to have words, it could just as easily be an instrumental solo. The most important aspect of the section is that it introduces new content to the latter part of a song. In the UK, a Bridge is known as a Middle 8.
Here’s an example of a Bridge without words:
‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ by The Darkness
Whats a tag?
A Tag is a memorable lyric that’s repeated throughout the song, usually after (or sometimes within) the chorus. It’s included to make song more catchy; easy to remember. Although not strictly part of a song’s structure per se, you will often hear hit writers (especially American hit writers) talking about Tags when they are referring to the especially memorable or key lyrical lines in a song.
The crucial attribute to a Tag is that it is repeated several times in the song, and 9 times out of 10 it will be the title of the song too.
Beyond Verses and Choruses…
So far, we have covered most of the structural components you will find in a contemporary song. Almost every song you will come across today will use some permutation of these building blocks, normally in a verse/bridge/chorus order.
But some songs don’t use a verse/bridge/chorus structure in the way we described above:
‘There She Goes’ by the Las
Notice that the whole song feels like one long chorus. In fact, the song follows a form more like this: AABABABABCBABA. It looks quite repetitious when written down like this, but our interest in the song is maintained by the band alternating between sung A and B sections and instrumental versions of the same. This can make for a very exciting, up-tempo feel. Notice how this song, which is actually quite ‘downbeat’ in its lyrical subject, feels happy, alive and fresh. This kind of structure is very common in instrumental dance music, such as Trance.
‘Yesterday’ by The Beatles
This song follows a form like this: AABABA
Sometimes, avoiding the verse/chorus structure and using a structure such as this can be a very good way of conveying a simple, strong lyrical message. There’s no escaping the fact that this is a song about regret, sadness and heartbreak, all subjects that have been done to death through the years. But ‘Yesterday’ still catches our ears and hearts whenever we hear it.
Great, but so what…?
What is the point of dividing a song up like this? Why is a chorus so important, and yet a massively successful song like “Yesterday” have no chorus?
I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to my baby brother last night and there are no sections in that at all. Why do we bother working at the structure of our songs?
Writing music in any style is based on two fundamental concepts: energy and hooks. When we talk about song sections, structure and all that, we’re really just describing a route map; the path a song takes to get us to its hooks and the flow of musical energy along the way.
