Ancestors

Written by Alison Wilder on 2025-01-06 at 20:57

Serious question: would you still love your favorite songs if they were just, like, a single verse repeated three times in a row?

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Toot

Written by Wayne Myers on 2025-01-06 at 21:28

@alisynthesis Depends on the song: if it works, it works. I first thought you meant repeated lyrics, but reading the replies I see you mean the melody. I think. A ton of folk, blues and jazz does this; there's lots of examples in Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Conversely, there are some songs where it feels they just shoehorned that chorus in because There Must Be A Chorus and then did a different middle 8 bit because Those Are The Rules Bucko and.. if it doesn't need it, don't?

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Descendants

Written by Alison Wilder on 2025-01-06 at 21:34

@conniptions I'm thinking of a situation where you pretty much just have an A section. An A section can have lots of variation, but it only has one musical identity. To me that means one harmonic idea (probably repeated several times), melodies ideas that are all similar/related, and one rhythmic feel.

But yeah, I know what you mean about people shoehorning choruses in. I feel like 80s pop songs were like that. (Maybe not a coincidence, as they were making music almost the same way I am today.)

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Written by David McMullin on 2025-01-07 at 03:54

@alisynthesis @conniptions @terjefjelde

I’m surprised nobody mentioned blues yet. Can a whole song get by on just an A section? A whole genre can support generations of musicians for more than a century with just •the same• A section for everyone, for every song. And I’m not knocking it—I can listen to that A section go around and around for hours in the hands of good blues players.

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Written by Wayne Myers on 2025-01-07 at 04:39

@mcmullin @alisynthesis @terjefjelde I too am surprised :) At the blues jams I used to frequent, people would start getting grumpy if it was all 12 bars though - the repertoire is a good bit more diverse than that. Lots of AAAA structures though :)

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Written by Alison Wilder on 2025-01-07 at 12:42

@conniptions @mcmullin @terjefjelde The blues: the mother sauce of pop music!

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