Song structure
For the song structure of classical song, see Art song §
Art song formal design.
Song structure or the musical forms of songs
in traditional music and popular music are typically
sectional, repeating forms used in songs, such as strophic
form and is a part of the songwriting process. Other
common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus
form, and the twelve bar blues (the latter is used in blues
and blues rock. Popular music songs traditionally use
the same music for each stanza of lyrics (as opposed to
songs that are "through-composed", an approach used
in classical music). Pop and traditional forms can be
used even with songs that have structural differences in
melodies. A common format is intro, verse, pre-chorus,
chorus (or refrain), verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge
(“middle eight”), verse, chorus and outro.
The formal sections found in songs have been identified
as the verse, chorus, bridge, hook, and refrain: “All songs
are put together with some or all of these parts in a par-
ticular pattern.”[1] The foundation of popular music is
the “verse” and "chorus" structure. “Pop and rock songs
nearly always have both a verse and a chorus. The pri-
mary difference between the two is that when the music
of the verse returns, it is almost always given a new set
of lyrics, whereas the chorus usually retains the same set
of lyrics every time its music appears.”[2] Both are essen-
tial elements, with the verse usually played first. Excep-
tions abound, with "She Loves You" by The Beatles being
an early example in the rock music genre. Each verse
usually employs the same melody (possibly with some
slight modifications), while the lyrics usually change for
each verse. The chorus (or “refrain”) usually consists of a
melodic and lyrical phrase which is repeated. Pop songs
may have an introduction and coda (“tag”), but these ele-
ments are not essential to the identity of most songs. Pop
songs often connect the verse and chorus via a bridge,
which as its name suggests, is a section which connects
the verse and chorus at one or more points in the song.
The verse and chorus are usually repeated throughout a
song though the bridge, intro, and coda (also called an
“outro”) are usually only used once. Some pop songs may
have a solo section, particularly in rock or blues influ-
enced pop. During the solo section one or more instru-
ments play a melodic line which may be the melody used
by the singer, or, in blues or jazz influenced pop, the solo Musically, “the verse is to be understood as a unit that
may be improvised based on the chord progression or the prolongs the tonic....The musical structure of the verse
verse played.
1 Elements
1.1 Introduction
"Jingle Bells"'s introduction Play intro or full song Structure: In-
tro, Verse I, Chorus, Verse II, Chorus, Verse III, Chorus, Verse
IV, Chorus, Outro.
Main article: Introduction (music)
The introduction is a unique section that comes at the be-
ginning of the piece. Generally speaking an introduction
will contain just music and no words. It usually builds
up suspense for the listener so when the downbeat drops
in, it creates a release or surprise. In some songs, the in-
tro is one or more bars of the tonic chord (the “home”
key of the song). The introduction may also be based
around the chords used in the verse, chorus, or bridge,
or a stock "turnaround" progression may be played, such
as the I–vi–ii–V progression (particularly in jazz influ-
enced pop songs). In some cases, an introduction contains
only drums or percussion parts which set the rhythm and
“groove” for the song. Alternately the introduction may
consist of a solo sung by the lead singer (or a group of
backup singers), or played by an instrumentalist.
1.2 Verse
Main article: Verse–chorus form
In popular music, a verse roughly corresponds to a poetic
stanza because it consists of rhyming lyrics most often
with an AABB or ABAB rhyme scheme. When two or
more sections of the song have almost identical music and
different lyrics, each section is considered one verse. It is
not to be confused with a pre-verse, which is an interlude
between the introduction of a song and its opening verse.
Although less common now, the pre-verse technique was
popular with the surf music of the 1960s.
nearly always recurs at least once with a different set of
lyrics”.[3] Lyrically, “the verse contains the details of the
1
2 1 ELEMENTS

“Jingle Bells"'s verse Play verse or full song

“Jingle Bells"'s chorus Play chorus or full song

song: the story, the events, images and emotions that

the writer wishes to express....Each verse will have dif-
ferent lyrics from the others.”[1] “A verse exists primar-
ily to support the chorus or refrain...both musically and
lyrically.”[4] a song is usually called 'a chorus.'"[7] “The chorus con-
tains the main idea, or big picture, of what is being ex-
pressed lyrically and musically. It is repeated through-
1.3 Pre-chorus out the song, and the melody and lyric rarely vary.”[1]
A refrain is, “a repeated line or musical phrase that ties
An optional section that may occur after the verse is a song together...A refrain is only a phrase, or a word,
the “pre-chorus.” Also referred to as a “build”, “chan- while a chorus contains many more words.”[8] A refrain
nel,” or “transitional bridge,” the pre-chorus functions to may be defined as a repetitive phrase or phrases that serve
connect the verse to the chorus with intermediary mate- the function of a chorus lyrically but are not placed in
rial, typically using subdominant or similar transitional a separate section and/or long enough so as to be con-
harmonies. “Often, a two-phrase verse containing basic sidered a chorus.[4] For example, refrains are found in
chords is followed by a passage, often harmonically prob- AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long", Paul Simon's
ing, that leads to the full chorus.”[5] Often when the verse "The Sound of Silence", and "Deck the Halls" (“fa la la
and chorus involve the same harmonic structure, the pre- la la”).[8]
chorus will introduce a new harmonic pattern in order to The element of the song that repeats at least once both
make the harmony reappearance of the verse harmonies musically and lyrically. It is almost always of greater mu-
in the chorus seem fresh. sical and emotional intensity than the verse. “The chorus,
which gets its name from a usual thickening of texture
from the addition of backing vocals, is always a discrete
1.4 Chorus section that nearly always prolongs the tonic and carries
an unvaried poetic text.”[9] In terms of narrative, the cho-
Main article: Refrain rus conveys the main message or theme of the song. Nor-
mally the most memorable element of the song for listen-
“The difference between refrain and chorus is not always ers, the chorus usually contains the hook. “If a song has
cut-and-dried; both refer to passages of unchanging mu- a chorus, then that song should exist because of that cho-
sic and text providing a periodic sense of return.”[6] “At rus, not the other way around.”[10] In popular music, the
times, the term 'refrain' has been used interchangeably chorus normally follows the verse, but there are notable
with 'chorus.' Technically, the refrain may be consid- exceptions including The Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love",
ered anything that’s not the verse....a song part that con- The Black Eyed Peas' "Imma Be", Pink’s "Get the Party
tains the hook or title and appears more than once in Started", and Linkin Park’s "Crawling".
1.8 Instrumental solo
1.5 Bridge
Main article: Bridge (music)
A bridge may be, “a transition,” but more often in popu-
lar music is, “a section that contrasts with the verse...[,]
usually ends on the dominant...[, and] often culminates in
a strong retransitional V”.[9] “The bridge is a device that
is used to break up the repetitive pattern of the song and
keep the listeners attention....In a bridge, the pattern of
the words and music change.”[8] For example, John Den-
ver's "Country Roads" is a song with a bridge while Stevie
Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a song
without one.[8]
In music theory, "middle eight" (a common type of
bridge) refers to the section of a song which has a signif-
icantly different melody and lyrics, which helps the song
develop itself in a natural way by creating a contrast to the
previously played, usually placed after the second chorus
in a song. (Typically, a song consists of first verse, pre-
chorus, chorus, second verse, pre-chorus, chorus, middle
eight, chorus). Such sections often consist of new chords,
but also frequently just alternate between two chords. It
is called a middle 8 because it happens in the middle of
the song and the length is generally 8 bars. Jazz players 1.9
also call this “the release”.
A typical song structure employing a middle 8 is:
.... .... .... .... ........ .... .... Intro-{Verse-Chorus}{Verse-
Chorus}-Middle 8-{Chorus}-{Chorus}-(Outro)
Middle 8s are often quieter than the remainder of the
song, in contrast with the solo, which is generally more
energetic. In slower songs, however, a middle 8 can be
used to generate energy. By adding a powerful upbeat
middle 8, musicians can then end the song with a hook in
the end chorus and finale.
1.6 Conclusion
“Jingle Bells"'s outro Play outro or full song
Main article: Outro (music)
The conclusion or outro of a song is a way of ending or 2 AABA form
completing the song. For example, through a fade-out or
instrumental tag. Main article: Thirty-two-bar form
1.7 Elision Thirty-two-bar form uses four sections, most often eight
measures long each (4×8=32), two verses or A sections,
An Elision is a section of music where different parts a contrasting B section (the bridge or “middle-eight”) and
overlap one another, usually for a short period. It is a return of the verse in one last A section (AABA).
3
mostly used in fast-paced music, and it is designed to cre-
ate tension and drama. For example, during a chorus later
in the song, the composer may interject musical elements
from the bridge.
1.8 Instrumental solo
Main article: Solo (music)
A solo is a section designed to showcase an instrumental-
ist (e.g. a guitarist or a harmonica player) or less com-
monly, more than one instrumentalist (e.g., a trumpeter
and a sax player). Guitar solos are common in rock music,
particularly heavy metal and in the blues. The solo section
may take place over the chords from the verse, chorus, or
bridge, or over a standard solo backing progression, such
as the 12-bar blues progression. In some pop songs, the
solo performer plays the same melodies that were per-
formed by the lead singer, often with flourishes and em-
bellishments, such as riffs, scale runs, and arpeggios. In
blues- or jazz-influenced pop songs, the solo performers
may improvise a solo.
Ad lib
In Latin, ad libitum means “at will"; this is often short-
ened to ad lib. An ad lib section of a song (usually in the
coda or outro) occurs when the main lead vocal or a sec-
ond lead vocal breaks away from the already established
lyric and/or melody to add melodic interest and intensity
to the end of the song. Often, the ad lib repeats the pre-
viously sung line using variations on phrasing, melodic
shape, and/or lyric, but the vocalist may also use entirely
new lyrics or a lyric from an earlier section of the song.
During an ad lib section, the rhythm may become freer
(with the rhythm section following the vocalist), or the
rhythm section may stop entirely, giving the vocalist the
freedom to use whichever tempo he or she wishes. Dur-
ing live performances, singers sometimes include ad libs
not originally in the song, such as making a reference to
the town of the audience or customizing the lyrics to the
current events of the era.
There is a distinction between ad lib as a song section and
ad lib as a general term. Ad lib as a general term can be
applied to any free interpretation of the musical material.
4 6 FURTHER READING
Examples include "Deck the Halls":
A: Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
A: 'Tis the season to be jolly.
B: Don we now our gay apparel,
A: Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.
3 Variation on the basic structure
Verse-chorus form or ABA form may be combined with
AABA form, in compound AABA forms. Variations
such as a1 and a2 can also be used.
AAA format may be found in Bob Dylan's "The Times
They Are a-Changin'", "The House of the Rising Sun",
and "Clementine".[11] Also "Old MacDonald", "Amazing
Grace", "The Thrill Is Gone", and Gordon Lightfoot's
"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".[12]
AABA may be found in Crystal Gayle's "Don't It Make
My Brown Eyes Blue", Billy Joel's "Just the Way You
Are", and The Beatles' "Yesterday".[13]
ABA (verse/chorus or chorus/verse) format may be found
in Pete Seeger's "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (chorus first)
and The Rolling Stones's "Honky Tonk Woman" (verse
first).[11] ABAB may be found in AC/DC’s "Back in
Black", Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville", The Archies's
"Sugar, Sugar", and The Eagles's "Hotel California".[14]
ABABCB format may be found in Smokey Robin-
son's "My Guy" and The Beatles's "Ticket to Ride".[11]
Also John Cougar Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good", Tina
Turner's "What’s Love Got to Do with It?", and ZZ
Top's "Sharp Dressed Man".[14] Variations include The
Pretenders's "Back on the Chain Gang" (ABABCAB),
Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" (ABABCBAB),
and Billy Joel’s "It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me"
(ABABCABCAB).[14]
4 See also
• Earworm
• Lick
• Ostinato
• Theme
• Vamp
5 Sources
[1] Davidson, Miriam; Heartwood, Kiya (1996). Songwrit-
ing for Beginners, p.6. Alfred Music Publishing. ISBN
0739020005.
[2] Everett, Walter (2008). The Foundations of Rock : From
“Blue Suede Shoes” to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes": From “Blue
Suede Shoes” to “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, p.145. ISBN
9780199718702.
[3] Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Re-
volver Through the Anthology, p.15. Oxford University
Press. ISBN 9780195129410.
[4] Cope (2009), p.68.
[5] Everett (2008), p.146.
[6] Whitesell, Lloyd (2008). The Music of Joni Mitchell,
p.151. ISBN 9780199719099.
[7] Watson, C. J. (2003). The Everything Songwriting Book:
All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs, p.86. Adams
Media. ISBN 9781440522666.
[8] Davidson & Heartwood (1996), p.7.
[9] Everett (1999), p.16.
[10] Cope, Danny (2009), Righting Wrongs in Writing Songs,
p.66. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9781598637472.
[11] Davidson & Heartwood (1996), p.8.
[12] Watson (2003), p.87-8.
[13] Watson (2003), p.89.
[14] Watson (2003), p.90.
6 Further reading
• Appen, Ralf von / Frei-Hauenschild, Markus
“AABA, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge, Prechorus —
Song Forms and their Historical Development”. In:
Samples. Online Publikationen der Gesellschaft für
Popularmusikforschung/German Society for Popular
Music Studies e.V. Ed. by Ralf von Appen, André
Doehring and Thomas Phleps. Vol. 13 (2015).
• Covach, John. “Form in Rock Music: A Primer”,
in Stein, Deborah (2005). Engaging Music: Essays
in Music Analysis. New York: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-517010-5.
• Covach, John and Boone, Graham, eds. Under-
standing Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis. Cited
in Covach (2005).
• Everett, Walter, ed. Rock Music: Critical Essays on
Composition, Performance, Analysis, and Reception.
Cited in Covach (2005).
• Forte, Allan The American Popular Ballad of the
Golden Era, 1924-1950: A Study in Musical Design,
Princeton University Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0-691-
04399-9.
 5

• Kaiser, Ulrich “Babylonian confusion. Zur Termi-

nologie der Formanalyse von Pop- und Rockmusik”.
In: Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie 8/1
(2011) – ISSN 1862-6742.
• Richard Middleton. “Form”, in Horner, Bruce and
Swiss, Thomas, eds. (1999) Key Terms in Popular
Music and Culture. Malden, Massachusetts. ISBN
0-631-21263-9.
6 7 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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Johnson, Brainy J, Nsaa, Gary, Arthena, Laug, WadeSimMiser, Mandarax, Alloy, Cuchullain, Drbogdan, Wahoofive, Chipuni, Pleiotrop3,
MZMcBride, ThatDamnDave, Bensin, RobertG, Jriddy, RexNL, Gwernol, Pigman, M3c4n0~enwiki, Gaius Cornelius, Rsrikanth05, Korny
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