What's the chorus in a song?

Production Songwriting
1

So here is my question: is there any “standard procedure” to identify the chorus in a song?

I make this question cause sometimes, when I transcribe a song, it’s hard to me to tell if a certain part is the chorus, the verse, the bridge…

I used to play in a band and we used to disaggree about that as well. What one of us would call the chorus, for the rest would be the verse and the other way around.

I know it’s only a tag that you put to the different parts of a song to identify them, but anyways… just curiosity!

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2

There are always the exceptions out there so you can’t classify them all, I think. In Pop/Rock the chorus is repeated multiple times through the song. Some are obvious to tell between Verse and Chorus, others not so.

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3

JK is right there is no rule some songs don’t have a chorus or bridge.
As a general rule
The verses tells a story, the chorus is the melody between the verses. Some times every chorus is exactly the same. Some times the words are different but the melody stays the same.
The bridge usually changes the melody, a break in the pattern of the song.
Like all rules in music this isn’t writen in stone and artistic license applies

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4

One way to think of it is that the verses tell the story and the chorus tells you the conclusion or the narrator’s point of view. It’s a comment on the meaning of the song, the reason it was written.

I AM THE HIGHWAY
VERSE: . Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving, I feel, yeah

CHORUS:
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky

SATISFACTION (begins with chorus)
CH0RUS
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
'Cause I try, and I try, and I try, and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no

VERSE
When I’m driving in my car
When a man come on the radio
He’s telling me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination

Of course there are exceptions but this seems to be how a majority of songs work if they have a chorus.

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5

Hi José,
If you are already in to the Theory course, then there is a lesson ‘song structure’…module 4.2…,but maybe what has been explained here is enough for you,…
Have fun with it :sunglasses:

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6

It’s the part of the song where the lead singer holds the microphone out towards the audience :wink:

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7

Yeah, basically :sweat_smile: In the case of Metallica, it is the part before Hetfield goes “wooowwwoooo, ye-yeah!!!” :muscle:

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8

And next the yeah!!! is called the solo :grin:

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9

Exactly! :metal:

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10

Here you go.

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