Name That (Part of the) Tune

It’s good to be back after a month and a half break. Glad you stayed with us in the meantime. I was going to do another Q&A, but it’s been called to my attention that some people don’t really know the exact structure of a song. So we’ll Q&A next week, this week we’ll look at the structure.

If you confuse a verse and a chorus, it’s not the end of the world. The cops won’t come knocking at your door, wanting to arrest you. Some people, those who have a University degree in Music Theory, might turn their noses at you or shake their heads, but that’s about the worst that can happen.

First of all, everything is convention. It’s art, not law. If we go back in time, we’ll realize that this all got started at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. There is a good reason for that.

Before the invention of the printing press, back in the 17th Century, music was reserved for a few people, troubadours, minstrels, who went from town to town as news reporters. They would make up songs recounting exploits of kings and heroes. At this time, music itself was not really an art, but more of an accompaniment.

It’s when Guttenberg invented the printing press that everything changed. Now it was possible to write up the news quickly, print it on paper, and send it by means of horse-riders to the next cities. In other words, the minstrels had lost their jobs.

This is when some people finally realized that music could be more than it was.

Through time, this brought us the Symphony, the Rhapsody and what-not. Now that more and more people were learning to play music, it was thought that it should be written down. But how?

Of course, if anyone had bothered to ask the minstrels, Tabs would now be the standard. On the other hand, how do you use Tabs with a flute?

Singing is the first area where someone came up with a writing form other than Tab. So it was used as a standard. With a few modifications. The original way of writing vocal notes used seven lines. Also, if you think about it, you’ll realize that the way music is written today, it is written in such a way as to favour the single note; you can’t sing a chord.

Standardization also came about for naming the parts of a song. Originally, all of this was developed in France and Italy. If you look at sheet music, you’ll realize that everything has either an Italian or a French name. That’s why. In song, these names have been translated and are usually used in a person’s own language.

The Skeleton

The basic parts of the song are: Intro, Verse, Chorus, Instrumental, Bridge and Outro.

Intro:

A short musical theme, usually copied from the verse, yet sometimes something unrelated, which is used to “open” the song. Sometimes it can consist of a spoken line or sung melody.

Verse:

This is the second main theme of the song. Lyrically, it is where the details of the story are given.

Chorus:

The main theme of the song. It will house the hook. Lyrically, it is where you put the point of the song, it’s reason for existing.

Instrumental:

Will be placed after a chorus (but not always), and often before a repetition of the chorus. It is normally the same music as the verse, but played without lyrics and with slightly different arrangements.

Bridge:

A sung part (usually) where the music consists of a mixing of the chords from the verse and from the chorus. Lyrically, it will add something of note to the story, something that is too important as to be just another detail. The bridge should come only once in a song. You may argue that even the Beatles had the occasional bridge that came around more than once, yet it is still not good practice.

Outro:

Usually the same music as the chorus, it will be repeated and faded out. Lyrically, if needed, lyrics will be ad-lib (improvised).

These, of course are not the elements that make up a Rhapsody or Symphony or an Instrumental piece. These are the elements that make up a song: Music and lyrics.

Now a song does not have to have all these parts in it. Often you’ll hear songs that don’t have an Intro, they start with both music and lyrics, directly into the verse. Some songs, like mantras, have only a chorus, repeating itself constantly.

Other songs have no chorus, only verses. Others will have two different verse outlines. These are often, mistakenly, called “pre-Bridge” or “pre-Chorus.” There is no such thing as a pre-Bridge or a pre-Chorus. This part is just another verse on a different theme.

Occasionally you’ll find a song that has no Outro; it just ends, just like that.

The bridge is a part which is often missing and that’s fine. If it doesn’t add anything to the song, there’s no real need to have one.

The instrumental part is also often missing. Or sometimes a song will have more than one.

As I said, it’s all convention. These are the basic outlines and when you write your song, you can chose the elements you want to have, the ones that fit the story you’re telling, or the event you are recounting.

But let’s look at some concrete examples.

Yes
Roundabout
Anderson/Howe

Verse:
I’ll be the roundabout
The words will make you out ‘n’ out
And change the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

Verse:
The music dance and sing
They make the children really ring
I’ll spend the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

Chorus:
In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we’ll be there and we’ll see you
Ten true summers we’ll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you’ll see I’ll be there with you

Verse:
I will remember you
Your silhouette will charge the view
Of distance atmosphere
Call it morning driving thru the sound and even in the valley

Chorus:
In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we’ll be there and we’ll see you
Ten true summers we’ll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you’ll see I’ll be there with you

Bridge:
Along the drifting cloud the eagle searching down on the land
Catching the swirling wind the sailor sees the rim of the land
The eagles dancing wings create as weather spins out of hand
Go closer hold the land feel partly no more than grains of sand
We stand to lose all time a thousand answers by in our hand
Next to your deeper fears we stand
Surrounded by a millions years

Verse:
I’ll be the round about
The words will make you out ‘n’ out
I’ll be the round about
The words will make you out ‘n’ out

Verse:
I’ll be the round about
The words will make you out ‘n’ out
And change the day your way
Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

Chorus:
In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky and they stand there
One mile over we’ll be there and we’ll see you
Ten true summers we’ll be there and laughing too
Twenty four before my love you’ll see I’ll be there with you

If we look at the chorus, the last line is “Twenty four before my love you’ll see I’ll be there with you”. Twenty four obviously relates to hours. Twenty four before, or a day earlier than expected, in other words, I’ll be home a day ahead of schedule.

It’s clear enough that the song is about driving home through the Alps. When I was three, we were driving through the Swiss Alps. At one point, my mother told us to look down. In the valley, ringed by mountains, was a lake. The day was sunny and radiant. The sky was reflected in that lake. It looked as though the mountains were actually coming out of the sky. It was quite a view for me to remember it so clearly so many years later.

So, “In and around the lake/Mountains come out of the sky” obviously refers to the same phenomena. I suspect this was really what inspired the song, the whole point of it.

The song contains several instrumental parts, a nice intro on acoustic guitar and lasts about twelve minutes. The outro is a vocal piece, ending, again, with a little bit on the acoustic guitar. No fade.

Now here’s one that’s a bit different:

Paul McCartney and Wings
Band On The Run
Paul McCartney

Verse:
Stuck Inside These Four Walls, Sent Inside Forever,
Never Seeing No One Nice Again Like You,
Mama You, Mama You.

Chorus 1:
If I Ever Get Out Of Here,
Thought Of Giving It All Away
To A Registered Charity.
All I Need Is A Pint A Day
If I Ever Get Out Of Here.

Verse:
Well, The Rain Exploded With A Mighty Crash As We Fell Into The Sun,
And The First One Said To The Second One There I Hope You’re Having Fun.
Band On The Run, Band On The Run.
And The Jailer Man And Sailor Sam Were Searching Every One

Chorus 2:
For the band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run

Verse:
Well, The Undertaker Drew A Heavy Sigh Seeing No One Else Had Come,
And A Bell Was Ringing In The Village Square for the rabbits on the run.
Band On The Run, Band On The Run.
And The Jailer Man And Sailor Sam, were searching every one

Chorus 2:
For the band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run

Verse:
Well, The Night Was Falling As The Desert World began To Settle Down.
In The Town They’re Searching For Us Every Where, but We Never Will Be Found.
Band on the run, Band on the run
And The County Judge, who held a grudge
Will search for evermore

Chorus 2:
For the band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run, Band on the run

Now this one is a bit different in the sense that it’s almost two songs: The first one being the first verse and Chorus 1. The rest being a second song. But that’s Paul McCartney for you. No one can deny his genius.

Chorus 1, you might say, comes along only once, then why is it a chorus? Because it is the point, the raison d’ĂȘtre of the first part of the song. If it had been longer, this part would have come along more than once.

As you can see, there is no bridge. The second part of the song is pretty straightforward. And you’ll notice that the chorus 2, “For the Band on the run…” is also contained inside the verses! Now that’s doing things differently.

I hope this has helped clear things up a bit for you. As long as it hasn’t gotten you more confused…

And thanks to Baldy for his help.