To paraphrase Stephenson (2002: 121-143) is also to recount the accepted wisdom of the basic elements of popular song form A verse is a section that recurs musically with different lyrics each time, or in at least two instances. A chorus is a section that recurs musically with the same, or similar, lyrics each time. A bridge is a section of contrast—in verse-chorus form, it generally only occurs after we hear a verse and chorus, and often only after two verses and choruses; in verse-bridge form, it is the section that contrasts with the verse and for various reasons does not conform to our expectations of a chorus. In verse-bridge form, there is often a refrain, a line or pair of lines that breaks into the form at regular intervals, often as the last line of the verse.[1] There are other identifiable differences between these types of sections—for example, choruses and refrains commonly contain the title of a song, and backing vocals often enter at a song's chorus (hence the term). There are generally fewer words in a chorus than a verse as narrative detail gives way to summation or exhortation. Pre-choruses are identifiable as common bridges, of sorts, between verses and choruses.[2] There are also, of course exceptions to these guidelines, such as songs with successive choruses that offer different sets of lyrics. By and large, these definitions are workable and provide a basis for what is to follow, but I think it important to consider recordings that pursue strategies for structure that do not fit into these archetypes, and to suggest how such approaches might be collected into new categories. For this, I will use Susan McClary's idea of quest narrative' (2000).[3]
I am also interested in the idea that structure in music is not simply a linear phenomenon, but also articulated by the character of, and fluctuations in, what I will call 'sound-mass,' which may be as readily perceived three-dimensionally, as linearly. Moore's sound-box (2001: 120-126) is a descriptive frame comprised of three axes—vertical,
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- ↑ A good example of a refrain is the couplet 'Something is happening here, but you don't know what it is / Do you, Mr Jones?', from Bob Dylan's 'Ballad Of A Thin Man'. Note that a refrain is easily distinguishable from a chorus in that it does not constitute a new section.
- ↑ Pre-choruses are not included in Stephenson's formulation.
- ↑ Amongst the literature surveyed for this study, the approaches to the idea of narrative found in essays on Western art music differ greatly from that offered here. For example, Maus (1997) engages with writings that seek to chart the emotional content of pieces of music through the attribution of dramatic characteristics to musical gestures, such as melodies. Nicholls cautions against 'musical narrativization: an interpretative act in which a listener invents an explanatory response to events in a composition' (2007: 300). His own analyses are rather literal in the sense that popular songs that can be conceived of as containing dialogue or discourse between characters are examined for musical support or counterpoint to the storytelling. A similar approach is followed by Neal (2007), with particular attention to narrative or episodic story arcs and their intersections with standard variations of verse-chorus-bridge forms. None of these approaches is adopted here.
PORTAL, vol. 8, no. 1, January
