Songs with an all time verse that the chorus doesn't come close to delivering upon

Don't Stop Believin' has an all time verse that the chorus doesn't come close to delivering upon

― niels, Thursday, September 21, 2017 12:54 AM (seven years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think about this post sometimes.

What are other examples of front-loaded songs with an underwhelming chorus?

Funky Town

Closing time
Hard to explain
Gaucho

Serve the Servants

Lucy in the sky with diamonds

God Save The Queen

gaucho is majorly notm

"do it again" is closer

Your Love by the Outfield

Drop Dead Legs

Love Is The Drug

The Boys Are Back In Town

Heat of the Moment

How does the DSB chorus not deliver?

Love Shack

Return of the Mack might be one of these, though maybe an example of a song so good it doesn't actually need a chorus

Your Love by the Outfield

The Prep MC would beg to differ

Love Is The Drug

Are you calling the chorus "oh oh, get that buzz" etc. or the wordless "oh oh oh" parts? Cos I agree with the latter.

How does the DSB chorus not deliver?

I get the feeling a lot of people here don't like choruses that repeat titles over and over.

Message in a Bottle? awesome riff, great verses, insane drumming, real catchy prechorus, then the actual chorus is just "Message in a bottle...whoa....message in a bottle"...also the slowest part of the song

actually a lot of the Police's choruses on their hit singles just sound like placeholders. Can't Stand Losing You, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Spirits in the Material World...they all sound like they were written in 15 minutes

Are you calling the chorus "oh oh, get that buzz" etc. or the wordless "oh oh oh" parts? Cos I agree with the latter.

actually a lot of the Police's choruses on their hit singles just sound like placeholders. Can't Stand Losing You, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Spirits in the Material World...they all sound like they were written in 15 minutes

― frogbs, Wednesday, January 29, 2025 1:26 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

no, they put a lot of thought into "de do do do, de da da da." and "so lonely."

i don't necessarily think that repetition is necessarily a bad thing. the chorus to "roxanne" is repetitive, but it's also an incredible chorus.

also, i would say the chorus of "message" includes the "i'll send an s.o.s. to the world" part

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

return of the mac is a bizarre choice here, must be one of the catchiest choruses of the last few decades, all those little flourishes. you don't attempt and successfully execute a 'once again' mid-chorus in a shitty chorus.

let alone a "pump up the world"!

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic might be the ultimate shitty Police chorus following an awesome verse

he's nearly crammed a second chorus in there. that's the effect of the rehabilitation programme at her majesty's prison leicester.

xpost

i'm not complaining about the Return of the Mack chorus more in that i'm not sure if it really has one, it's very similar to the verse, maybe this is a lot more common than i think, it's just top of mind because I recently did a mashup with it

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic might be the ultimate shitty Police chorus following an awesome verse

hah, I was thinking of this as one of the examples where they actually do work in a good, distinct chorus

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

just think it's a little, uh ... precarious to go on a message board and disparage the choruses of big hits and songs that have endured for decades. by definition, those choruses are quite effective, regardless of anyone's good/bad assessment.

Who Let the Dogs Out

what does 'endured for decades' mean in this context? if every song i can remember is good then why are we even here?

The Beatles suck, actually

they were good before Ringo joined

Someone convince me the chorus of the Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer in the City" lives up to the verse

It was a big hit that has endured for decades QED

Actually I like that the chorus is in two parts, with different chord changes, and it doesn't rhyme "city" and "gritty".

Baby You're a Rich Man

Drain You by Nirvana

It's not like it was an anticipation-baiting buildup but following

Don't you remember, you told me you loved me, baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again, baby

with

Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby

felt like homer simpson crayoned over the lyric sheets.
https://frinkiac.com/video/S14E02/k7dNYKljiPciQtf17ezpecC6Fh4=.gif

damn this is the thread everyone goes to to be wrong

Looks that way.

Technically the chorus comes first, and Weird Al kind of has no choice once he's committed to doing song-length parodies, but the remainder of "This song is just six words long" is just filler.

The Boxer is the only one I can immediately think of, especially knowing that the li-li-li chorus is literally a placeholder.

Summer in the City is perfect, come on now.

"This song is just six words long" annoys me for another reason, it's seven words, the song it's parodying has seven words in the chorus, I think he should not have done it

The Boxer's chorus is perfect

Heat of the Moment

― unboxing helena (Matt #2), Wednesday, January 29, 2025 12:48 PM (seven hours ago) bookmark flag link

Right album, wrong song. The correct answer is "One Step Closer."

Dido - Thank You

Dua Lipa - New Rules

is it even a chorus?

I think Ariana Grande has a bunch of these tbh…

Also

Alicia Keys - Try sleeping with a broken heart

Lyrics aside, the verses sound like Prince and the chorus sounds like subpar Prince.

I'll second Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Always felt the verses deserved more than just shouting the song title in the chorus

don't necessarily think that repetition is necessarily a bad thing. the chorus to "roxanne" is repetitive, but it's also an incredible chorus.

Police were masters of the repetitive chorus. Personally I dug it, but live when every song incorporated Bob Marley’s “eee-aaa-oooh” thing it was insufferable.

Led Zeppelin - All My Love

Agree w/ Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds

Hard disagree w/ "Return of the Mack" and "Who Let the Dogs Out"

Yeah the verses are seductive and mysterious and then POM POM POM POM the circus arrives (I don’t even hate the chorus and enjoy the big fat bassline but still…) !

About “Lucy in the sky” !

ELO - Livin' Thing

the choruses to "Lucy in the Sky" and "Baby You're a Rich Man" are pretty similar

I was thinking that too. But somehow the baby you're a rich man chorus fits with the verses a bit better to my ears, and I think it's the better song as well

Don't Talk To Me About Love by Altered Images

Funky Town was the first example i thought of too. the verses are glistening and the chorus is a major stumble.

Crazy talk.

For me personally I immediately have to think of ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Queen - Radio Ga Ga. I don't really like either band to begin with, but with these songs, I like the build-up, the verses and bridges a lot; but I'm not a fan of the choruses at all.

Always felt like this about Walking In My Shoes by Depeche Mode. Specifically the chords it goes to after the first line of the chorus feel like a meandering let down after a great verse / prechorus setup.

Later day Oasis is rich in 'nice verse melodies, nothing choruses', and I guess that counts as highly generous round here

Wizzard's See My Baby Jive doesn't quite lift in the chorus like I want it to, if anything it takes a step down. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday is basically Roy giving it a second go and succeeding wonderfully.

I've always been on the fence about the Carpenters' "Superstar". The chorus is kind of great but only because it's so bad, if you know what I mean.

Yet another 'minor key verse / major key chorus' candidate, no doubt normal people feel the opposite about these sort of songs.

For me personally I immediately have to think of ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Queen - Radio Ga Ga. I don't really like either band to begin with, but with these songs, I like the build-up, the verses and bridges a lot; but I'm not a fan of the choruses at all.

― Valentijn, Thursday, 30 January 2025 11:49 (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah I agree. Similar thinking for Funkytown. I love the vocodered verse lines and the call-and-response with the little synth vamp, but then the chorus comes in and it's a bit lumpen

But the chorus has the guitar riff.

I think it annoys me because it's working up some sort of strange Kraftwerk-in-Minneapolis heat and then it switches to territory a bit more familiar. Usually I'm endeared by choruses that feel like they've wandered in from another song.

I am otm re: gaucho not because its chorus is bad but because its verse is too good

I think it annoys me because it's working up some sort of strange Kraftwerk-in-Minneapolis heat and then it switches to territory a bit more familiar. Usually I'm endeared by choruses that feel like they've wandered in from another song.

― you can see me from westbury white horse,

otm -- one of the decade's most grating choruses

"I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)" is one of my mine. That might be a minority view.

I wasn’t being serious with Who Let the Dogs Out, for a song so massively overplayed idk if people actually remember what the verses sound like!

wait are you all saying funkytown has a grating chorus. where am i

Wasn't "Since U Been Gone" written based on this idea? i.e. Max Martin heard "Maps" and thought: that verse really builds up a lot of tension, but then kinda squanders it. What if it went big instead?

To be honest tho the verses of Who Lets the Dogs Out are the best bit! HEYIPPIEIYO

(Actually the best bit is the outro when the Spanish guitar comes in)

wait are you all saying funkytown has a grating chorus. where am i

I am glad there is already a lot of Police discussion in this thread, I def think of them as the patron saints of this phenomenon

I am otm re: gaucho not because its chorus is bad but because its verse is too good

― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Thursday, January 30, 2025 8:16 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

No you are quite off the money, as Gaucho has one of the all-time great choruses.

The Boxer is the only one I can immediately think of, especially knowing that the li-li-li chorus is literally a placeholder.

I'm struggling with imagining the chorus of "The Boxer" featuring a wordy Paul Simon disquisition on the ups and downs of pugilism

the chorus is where we would’ve found out the boxer is a dog

I've always felt that "photograph, I don't want your..." was the weakest part of that Def Leppard song.

Cheap Trick, "He's a Whore". Kind of goes nowhere in the chorus, they could have dropped it tbh then given the song a better title.

I didn't actually realise that Cameo's "Word Up" had a chorus until I read the lyrics.

For the first time in about twenty years I remembered "I Wish I Could Fly" by Roxette. I remember liking it a lot when it was new - the orchestral arrangement wasn't what I expected from that band. It has a lovely bit about two and a half minutes in that only lasts for about eight bars. The video has a nipple! But the chorus just sort of emerges from the verse and doesn't have enough variation to stand out. It uses the same "dah-dah-dah-dah / dah-dah-dah-dah / dah-dah-dah-DAH / dah-dah-dah-dah" vocal rhythm throughout, which gets boring. And the middle eight sounds overblown.

Along the same lines as "Funkytown", I'm going to pick Rick James' "Super Freak". The verses and great! But the chorus makes the song grind to a halt, and it doesn't fit the rhythm. Also, the verses big up the subject of the song as a fun lady to be around - but then "she's alright!". What? She's alright? I don't want to hang out with a woman who's alright. I want to hang out with someone who has major emotional issues who likes motorcycles.

I mean, she's not super-terrific or excellent or great. She's just alright. Is she a super freak or not? Can I take her home to mother, or not? I have so many questions for Rick James. So many questions.

I too have questions. In fact, I started a thread years ago in an effort to determine what exactly were the "new wave magazines" referred to in the lyrics. I was an avid consumer of the music press in those days (Creem, Circus, Trouser Press, Sounds, etc. and what have you) but have no recollection of magazines that primarily focused on the "new wave."

I just now realized what he really means by “Room 714, I’ll be waiting” in “Super Freak.”

714 was the number that used to be on Quaaludes.

Damn, all these decades I thought he said she was the kind you read about in Newsweek magazine.

Tears For Fears "Head Over Heels"

Lots of Bacharach songs have unspeakably strong verses with comparatively disappointing choruses ("Always Something There To Remind Me", "I Say A Little Prayer")

One of the best melodies you can sing is a simple descending scale over a minor tonic. If you put it in your verse then your chorus is certainly fucked (Weezer "Hash Pipe", Gwen Stefani "What You Waiting For")

what! say a little prayer is an all time chorus!!!

for tff, “mad world” fits better than “head over heels”

Idk re “Prayer” the chorus is all top-of-the-singer’s range and the syllabic rate jumps precipitously. I like “San Jose” and “The Look Of Love” over songs with zero chill on their choruses

As for “Mad World” I measure the chorus as starting at “and I find it kinda funny…” and it’s v cool afaic

“Head Over Heels” has a totally nice chorus it’s just that the synth hook and verse melody are so incredibly beautiful

Head Over Heels is good all the way through, sorry

I've always felt that "photograph, I don't want your..." was the weakest part of that Def Leppard song.

― henry s, Sunday, February 2, 2025 7:45 AM (six hours ago)

that's the only memorable part!

i swear i think i live in this thread's bizarro world.

Idk re “Prayer” the chorus is all top-of-the-singer’s range and the syllabic rate jumps precipitously. I like “San Jose” and “The Look Of Love” over songs with zero chill on their choruses.

I would argue that *is* the whole point of the chorus (assume we’re talking about Dionne’s version, which I am probably in the minority for preferring over Aretha’s). The power of the song for me is that you have this woman going about her daily life, doing routine tasks, and yet all these *passionate emotions* are roiling around inside of her, and the sudden stridency and desperation of the vocals and lyrics in the chorus captures that.

It also helps that the outro of the song *is* very chill, so it goes out on a serene (but not untroubled) note…

the chorus is where we would’ve found out the boxer is a dog

Speaking of Paul Simon.

“50 ways to leave your lover”

Steve Gadd drumming on the verses is iconic, the lyrics paired with those chords that sound like they keep descending is very heartbreaking.

… and then enters the funky, childish chorus and ruins it all.

There must be ... fifty ways to let the dogs out
HOO. HOO HOO HOO

sorry if i started a thread that is causing pain to some posters, but it really is very interesting to see what ppl think fits this paradigm. many of these are deeply otm imo but i think we're all going to hear things somewhat differently

I was thinking that the Who's "can't explain" is a good example of a near miss -- if the chorus had gone on any longer, it would be a real drag and kill the momentum, but the fact it cycles through that progression only once and then gets back to the amazing verse riff makes it kind of genius

“There must be ... fifty ways to let the dogs out
HOO. HOO HOO HOO”

And everyone would know what I was barking about. Everyone would know exactly what I was barking about.

thought of a great one: I Me Mine

Good Times, Bad Times is a near miss. pretty underwhelming chorus but it thankfully doesn't overstay its welcome

thought of a great one: I Me Mine

― budo jeru, Saturday, February 22, 2025 5:02 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's actually kind of astounding when you think about it. there's this awesome, serpentine, creepy, foreboding melody and build-up into ... the beatles just taking a steaming hot blues rock shit on top of it all

but maybe it's not fair to take shots at album tracks from Let It Be, lol

Verse is so so good, but then...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGxA9fkVryA

"I Me Mine" is about as good an example of this as I can imagine, and your description is exactly otm. I can get with a lot of the blues rock by numbers stuff scattered across Let It Be and Abbey Road but that chorus is just completely devoid of inspiration.

"Good Times Bad Times'" chorus basically exists as a lead in to the awesome turnaround on the bass solo breakdown afaic. Its construction is actually pretty fascinating all over the place -- there's this iconic, screamed out first verse that has a super catchy melody and riff, but then rather than go back to either of them, he kinda speak-sings the second verse ("Sixteen I fell in love.."). The riff comes back in the outro, and the vocal melody never returns. Then possibly the peak of the song is the... bridge? "I know what it means to be alone"? Would you call that part the bridge? And then the triumphant end is mirroring the intro rather than a return to the chorus (probably a good hint that the chorus is indeed the weakest part of the song). Kind of feels like lightning in a bottle, sounds simultaneously as firmly stereotypical a classic rock song as there could be and yet nothing else sounds remotely like it.

and, i must add (though folks are presumably aware), that ^^^ is album 1 track 1. damn.

While I have Zep on my mind and this thread open, what do folks think about "Going to California"? To me it firmly fits here, but I can easily imagine those for whom the chorus is what elevates it from just a beautiful folk song to give it that darker, witchy Zep vibe. For me the verse is so achingly gorgeous that the shrillness of the chorus outweighs that effect, and certainly it doesn't have a comparable melody to justify itself imo.

This one may be sacrilege but I always thought of «  Good Vibrations » that way : the verses and all the rest deserve all the praises this song ever received. And then there’s the chorus, which is fun but…

that's a great example too yeah

Steely Dan "Josie" verses: brutal vamp groove ("Green Onions" smoothed out) with one of ChRainey's sickest bass lines ever loaned to the SD catalog, plus A++ lyrics

Steely Dan "Josie" chorus: a yawn, a whimper, a turnaround... with abysmal lyrics along the lowest lights of Fagan's career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppQUJOCsxj0

"...Gwen Stefani "What You Waiting For""

I completely missed it when it was new, but isn't the vocal melody on the verse borrowed from "Somewhere in My Heart" by Aztec Camera? But perhaps it was deliberate given that the album had a retro sound. I don't know. The chorus is an afterthought.

"Good Times Bad Times" sounds as if the band was trying to squeeze their sound into three minutes, as a kind of "this is what you're going to get over the course of the rest of our career" sampler.

Descending four-note scales as melodies pop up a lot. Major key, over I, starting on the tonic: "Silent All These Years". Major key, over IV, starting on the tonic: "Going To California", that Pearl Jam song ("Given To Fly" I think?). But the particular Gwen/Weezer thing is in a minor key, over i, starting on the fifth-- exactly the same melody, really. I've said this before but you can't really claim plagiarism over such basic bitch melodic devices. "You are my sun and my moon" is a common enough sentiment to have become PD, same with a melody that is a scale descending

Oh I know that Aztec song but it's also major key, would verify the pitch choice but I don't wanna watch another Youtube ad rn

I don't hear choruses in "Going to California" or "Josie", I would call them bridges, and thus hold them to lower standards.
The break in "I Me Mine" was originally only played once, it was Spector who repeated it so it went from bad to worse.

I don't hear choruses in "Josie", I would call them bridges

...

I know this board attracts some "I'm so unique" characters but lol c'mon my dude

Bear with me, but this random guy talks about how the entire song was formulated, written and arranged:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWJ11H4TdbI

ffwd to 5m32s when he talks specifically about the chorus

Led Zeppelin - All My Love

While I have Zep on my mind and this thread open, what do folks think about "Going to California"? To me it firmly fits here, but I can easily imagine those for whom the chorus is what elevates it from just a beautiful folk song to give it that darker, witchy Zep vibe. For me the verse is so achingly gorgeous that the shrillness of the chorus outweighs that effect, and certainly it doesn't have a comparable melody to justify itself imo.

I thought of this song straight away. But yes, the shrill bit is more of a bridge.

Always thought the chorus - or bridge - of Lady Friend by the Byrds doesn't match the sublime verses.

I was thinking about this, and Joy Division's "Warsaw" came to mind: really intense and intriguing verses, but then for the chorus, just a shouted "3-1-G". Sumner is playing a sick riff underneath, so I feel like Curtis could have done more with it.

Bringing it to mind, it sounds like "Popscene" blur.

It probably doesn't, really, but

I know this board attracts some "I'm so unique" characters but lol c'mon my dude

We're actually saying the same thing, you're saying it's a weak chorus and I'm saying it's not a chorus because it's not strong enough. The hook is obviously in the verse, who is going to start singing "she's the raw flame" when asked "how does 'Josie' go?"
I'll defer to Fagen that they considered this the chorus, and I suppose to them the bridge is the instrumental staccato bit right afterwards.

Let's be friends and call it a "bridgy chorus".

Pink Pony Club

Is there a name for this lazy kind of chorus? I've always gotten the ick with it, I'm sure there are hundreds of examples - where it's essentially the song title repeated or chanted with little melodic variation.

re joy division's warsaw. remake/remodel came on the shuffle yesterday and i thought of how it and warsaw are both track 1 first album/1st ep songs with a chugga chugga and obscure reference chanted number chorus.

xpost Yeah, like "Green Eyes" by Husker Du. Beautiful song and verses, but pretty lazy chorus.

re Josie no it’s not a chorus, do you know what a chorus is? Unique characters for sure!

marshall crenshaw "whenever you're on my mind" and (maybe) joe jackson "steppin' out"

both of which have choruses that borrow from parts of the song you've already heard without really moving beyond what you've already heard. "steppin' out" is still a sweet, uplifting chorus on its own, thus the "maybe," but i'm not sure it delivers on what the intro and verses promise.

choruses that borrow from parts of the song you've already heard

Might it not be fair to say that Jackson was employing a variation of the "start the song with the chorus" strategy? Before the first verse, the intro develops the chorus melody in an instrumental form. Then, when the chorus proper rolls around, you get the payoff of hearing it put to words. "Steppin' Out" to me has always been an exemplar of pop craftmanship at its very finest.

One of the things that turned me off early solo Morrissey was that he had a peculiar knack, or rather Stephen Street had a peculiar knack, because he wrote the music, or rather he had a lack of a knack... and yet "Everyday is Like Sunday" has a perfectly serviceable chorus, so perhaps it was deliberate. Who knows.

Lack of a knack for choruses. Choruses. e.g. "Suedehead" has a great verse, but it meanders. "I'm so sorry" feels more like punctuation than a proper chorus. "Interesting Drug" has a fantastic first verse, up until "they're saving their own skins / by ruining other people's lives", and then the entire rest of the song just seems to meander all over the place.

I mean, the melody of "there are some baaaaaad people on the rise" is simple and effective, but it's only used right at the start. Which is a shame because it's fantastic. It's the only Morrissey song that would work as a duet with Kate Pierson. But the rest of the song abandons it in favour of what sounds like vocal improv. It's just a big missed opportunity.

Might it not be fair to say that Jackson was employing a variation of the "start the song with the chorus" strategy? Before the first verse, the intro develops the chorus melody in an instrumental form. Then, when the chorus proper rolls around, you get the payoff of hearing it put to words. "Steppin' Out" to me has always been an exemplar of pop craftmanship at its very finest.

This in itself as a device in pop/rock is as much an issue as repetition - ie. not at all and something intrinsic to the form; the issue is how it is used

Hart sings the chorus to “Green Eyes” in a particularly poignant/wistful way to match the guitar and Crenshaw sings the chorus “Whenever You’re On My Mind” as a bright, melodic standalone phrase which is then complemented with the “I leave the world behind” line.

The above examples aren’t an issue as the writers complement the chorus melody with something that fits, thus making the song even better

"josie" is absolutely a chorus, and it's such a cool chord progression that i don't care that it is basically just a turnaround.

funny thing, post-katy lied dan songs don't really have vocal bridges

josie is a good variant of happy music sad lyric oxymusic, it’s tense verses with happy mellow chorus that hints at violence and chaos. peg is sweet, deacon is bitter, josie is a tricky in between. a very satisfying conclusion.

I feel like “Kyrie” by Mr Mister might fit in this category - verses imply something really epic might be coming, then the chorus comes along and it’s just thoroughly mid

I am only bringing this up because it just played in the silly sports bar that we are dining in tonight

"We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - The Animals

To a lesser extent the chorus of "Stand" by Sly Stone always feels weak to me compared with the insanely awesome verses.

this might earn my some FPs but "For What It's Worth" by BuffSpringf... feel like SS could have been a little less passive and gone a little harder to make his point.

the strut of “Love is the Drug” is so perfect in anticipating tense 80s post punky new wave, but then has that has 60s harmony turnaround that breaks the spell, that it is just right that it came out in 1975. And in 1980, Grace Jones and Sly and Robbie fixed it for the 80s, glossing over the spell-breaking part, letting it be the relentless groove monologue it wants to be.

Not sure what point Stills could go harder on. The song is pretty conflicted ("Nobody's right if everybody's wrong." "Mostly say 'Hurray for Our Side.'")

Subterranean homesick alien - really thoughtful verses about aliens & alienation with lovely melodic guitars, then thom yorke just belting 'uptight!'

"We Gotta Get Out of This Place" - The Animals

This is another example of a lot of the songs in this poll where the chrous taken on its own terms is fine (see also Funkytown), but coming off the verse feels a bit awkward and lumpen. You've got this incredibly funky intro with an irresistible bassline and light, shuffling, portentous rhythm (see Funkytown again), and it builds and builds - there's some real tension and excitement going on there. But then the chorus comes crashing into the room, the drums switch to a much less interesting and much more plodding gate, like a sprinter who's had to shift gait due to a change in terrain, and the dynamism of the vocal shifts to a repetitive chorus that is memorable but also a bit grating.

*gait twice

Eh, the "Funkytown" chorus rules, because of that pretty dramatic shift from frothy to full-on strut. Like, you wanted to get to Funkytown? Well now you're there!

Subterranean homesick alien - really thoughtful verses about aliens & alienation with lovely melodic guitars, then thom yorke just belting 'uptight!'

I love the way the shift down to F acts as a release from the pedal G of the verses...but here again, the chorus is obviously serving a different structural and dynamic role than it does in, to pick an obvious example, "Creep".

It's no 'all time verse' (it is good tho) but considering it's the song that comes to mind every time I see this thread bumped: Robbie Williams' Strong. For some reason it's Millennium's chorus that Robbie has more of a problem with.

"Love is the Drug" is the most convincing of these so far.

But is that really the chorus?

Funkytown chorus when the string stabs come in >>>>>>

I always think it would be nice to cover "My Wandering Days Are Over" on guitar.

I love the lines "I'm tired of listening to myself now / I'm tired of fixing things for Michael and the rest of them".

And I especially like the bit where he sings "You said it was a living hell / You said you were in hellll"

But then the chorus is all about a circus boy and a "disenchanted poney" and what the fuck? It goes on for ages too

I heard 'Bette Davis Eyes' in the supermarket this morning and thought of this thread

Mylo's In My Arms is a total rescue operation

Vast Halo OTM re: Steppin’ Out… I think it works beautifully

I also agree about that Belle & Sebastian song

As my contribution to this thread, I’ll submit R.E.M.’s “Can’t Get There From Here”

(great bridge in that song, too)

in it for the money by supergrass is chock full of really great verses with lackluster choruses that sound more like middle 8s. i want to believe that they just ran out of time.

oh and dog latin otm, re wandering days!

I like the "Can't Get There From Here" chorus, but mainly for Mills's "I've been there, I know the way" backing vocals. Stipe's parodic fusion of Mainer and Southerner is right on the edge of being annoying but it works for me more than some of his other efforts in that vein.

ut then the chorus is all about a circus boy and a "disenchanted poney”

when your favorite lyrical trope is 'the story of a beautiful underachiever’s embarrassing minor failures' you’d better really deliver, this is not a forgiving genre

but just when you thought the song was completely ruined, it dissolves into a dubiously jammy outro.

it was a good verse, they just couldn’t find a way out.

I mean... whenever I try to play it on guitar I get a frog in my throat (really!) during the "you said you were in hell" because that line is so bathetic and narratively unreliable and sort of sad, then I get to the chorus and realise I've got to just do this lousy silly thing for ages and I just peter out. "Michael and the rest of them...", that is amazing work. It's such a shame. Other than that it's among my faves of theirs

sometimes the verse is over and you just gotta make a break for it

The Libertines' Can't Stand Me Now, a stock choice for 'good song by an otherwise terrible band'. In fact I've rolled back round to enjoying it as much as I did at the time (important summer 2004 memories you see) but the chorus is still nothing. Which is distracting because there's a melancholy to most of the track which holds an extra weight with me.

I don't expect anyone will agree with me, but "Day Tripper". The key change into the chorus is fine, but each bit of the melody is weaker than the next, and every single time I hear "and I found out" I picture Lennon doing a Groucho Marx impersonation, wiggling a cigar and waggling his eyebrows.

the vocals on the verses of "Day Tripper" aren't exactly great either. that's a song that's carried pretty much entirely by the guitar riff and ringo's drumming.

I don't expect anyone will agree with me, but "Day Tripper". The key change into the chorus is fine, but each bit of the melody is weaker than the next, and every single time I hear "and I found out" I picture Lennon doing a Groucho Marx impersonation, wiggling a cigar and waggling his eyebrows.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, April 28, 2025 10:06 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i have no strong disagreement with your adding this song to the thread, but tbrr i can't imagine how that groucho imagine doesn't make you love it! i hope to call it to mind next time i hear day tripper

another point against the chorus, as i have noted elsewhere a day tripper would definitely buy a return ticket.

Rihanna's "Hard" might qualify here - absolutely overflowing with ideas except when the chorus kicks in. It keeps the momentum up but that's about all I can say for it.

another point against the chorus, as i have noted elsewhere a day tripper would definitely buy a return ticket.

― constant gravy (ledge), Monday, 28 April 2025 15:53 (five hours ago)

no but thats because they are talking about drugs

I was gonna say..

I can't say I agree with Day Tripper because it's pretty much an ABAB song where the verse and the chorus are connected in a way that make them parts of the same thing. Man, the Beatles were so on form at that part of their careers

it also has the virtue of having a very short chorus so we can get right back to the awesome guitar riff

If we're going to say anything about it, it's the riff that dominates the song and everything else just kowtows to it

I can't say I agree with Day Tripper because it's pretty much an ABAB song where the verse and the chorus are connected in a way that make them parts of the same thing.

Yes, a funny thing about the Beatles is how few songs with genuine choruses they have, and when they do have proper choruses they're often cheesy/terrible. Mostly their songs have the bit that functions as a chorus at the end of and in essence part of each verse, a kind of verse/chorus structure really, rather than a verse and a separate chorus. She Loves You is a famous example of a great chorus, but if I try to think of other songs with sections that are undeniable, standalone choruses, the ones that come to mind are Lucy (again) but then also Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Bungalow Bill, Ob-La-Di etc. Just glancing at the White Album tracklisting here for a representative sample and the only other pure choruses on that apart from the songs I just mentioned are in Don't Pass Me By and Cry Baby Cry. Case closed.

True, never thought of it that way. What is the chorus of Strawberry Fields, for example? It's just a line tacked on the end of a long, meandering verse. Mind you, Penny Lane, which is a lot more of a traditional song, definitely does

do blues songs have genuine choruses? do led zeppelin songs have genuine choruses? do cole porter songs?

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds

is, by any definition I know, a chorus.

that doesn't come close to delivering

a funny thing about the Beatles is how few songs with genuine choruses they have

True, but "Day Tripper" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" absolutely have explicit choruses. The verse of the latter is "Living is easy with eyes closed...".

yeah but "strawberry fields" is still that a-b-a-b pattern that dog latin was describing

Yeah I was wondering how SFF could be considered chorusless

Xpost ah I see the idea

I'd agree if we were talking about "I Want to Hold Your Hand", I don't feel it in the two I mentioned above. I mean of course a verse and chorus should dovetail naturally, that's one of the skills of songwriting.

Yeah the Lucy chorus is kind of not great compared to the verse...

What is the Strawberry Fields Forever chorus? Is it just the bit where he sings the title of the song? Or is it the "Let me take you down..." part? Maybe because the song starts with that part I have difficulty thinking of it as a chorus. But I guess there are a few Beatles songs that go straight in with the chorus

don't love that this thread like all others has become a beatles thread. but...

there are a lot of beatles songs with traditional choruses: "can't buy me love," "yellow submarine," "i am the walrus," "here comes the sun," "come together," "get back," "with a little help from my friends," "drive my car," etc. etc.

a funny thing about the Beatles is how few songs with genuine choruses they have

lol wtf

“Octopus’s Garden” (everyone’s fave)

"I'd Have You Anytime"

Led Zeppelin - "Out On The Tiles"

andy williams "can't get used to losing you." a nice chorus, just not the chorus the amazing tense jittery verse was setting you up for.

My contribution to this be "Something for the girl with everything" Sparks.

My answer to this question is always "Photograph" by Def Leppard. And then I get hollered at.

So go ahead, kick this ass. I'm not asking, I'm telling.

I don't know how to break these things down in terms of proper music theory, but Photograph seems to have 4 distinct melodic sections:
A) First part of verse ("I'm outta luck, outta love...")
B) Second section of verse. Or maybe pre-pre-chorus? ("I see your face every time I dream...")
C) Pre-chorus ("Oh, look what you've done to this rock 'n' roll clown...")
D) Chorus ("Photograph / I don't want your / Photograph....")

I'd rate these as C > D > B > A

B >>>>>>> A > C = D

Possible contender: Appleton - Fantasy
Mostly for the contrast between weird juddering in the verses and the airiness of the chorus. It feels like the former is going to set up something that kicks a lot harder than what ends up coming. It's the change in drums I think.

Perfect example of this i can't believe i never said it before

The Beach Boys - It's Gettin' Late

with all due respect to Steve Shasta, there is no universe in which enochroot's "A" section of Photograph is better than the "D" section. that is an absolutely mind-boggling opinion.

I gotta say, after hearing "Rock of Ages" on the radio over the weekend, there's another song with a pretty tight verse/bridge, and a fairly lumpen-by-comparison chorus.

depends which choir is singing it

I heard "Young Folks" playing in a restaurant a couple of days ago and it immediately made me think of this thread.

No Action by Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

Not quite the same, but whenever I get the song "O, Dana" by Big Star stuck in my head, it's always the verse "I got busted across the bridge / they rounded up every soul / now I'm on the East Side," which has this plaintive weirdness to it that I find much more memorable than the fairly generic rock chorus (also good though).