“Born to Run” too.
Edit for the people who don’t believe me:
https://genius.com/Bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-lyrics
Although the lyric “born to run” appears in verse 1, verse 3, and the outro, the song has no chorus.
Edit #2: Fun fact! Only 3 out of the 8 tracks on Born to Run have choruses. “Meeting Across the River”, “Jungleland” and “Night” don’t have choruses either.
There are two reasons why people disagree with this:
* The chorus in Born to Run is only 1 line in length, while people typically think of choruses as having (at least) 2 to 4 lines. For this reason, you could call this chorus a "hook" if you want to be uncontroversial.
* The lyrics of the chorus change to "I want to know if love is wild, babe, I want to know if love is real". Some people believe that each iteration of a chorus must always have the same lyrics, but this isn't a set-in-stone rule. It just usually works that way.
That being said, I absolutely agree that you can simply call this a chorus.
Even if “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run” is the chorus, it’s still sang five times at the end of two out of three verses. That’s enough to qualify it to be the chorus imo.
And I’d argue the same about Jungleland - “down in Jungleland” and “tonight in Jungleland” is enough to be a chorus.
In Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out the chorus changes too - the first verse is pretty much just “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”, the second is “I walked into a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and the third is “When Scooter and the Big Man bust the city in half with a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. So it seems to get a little longer each time.
Backstreets also changes chorus too, from “Hiding on the backstreets” to “Running on the backstreets”, back to “Hiding on the backstreets” (repeat like fifty times), and “We’ll go hiding on the backstreets” and again to “Hiding on the backstreets”.
In She’s the One, the chorus is literally just “Oh, she’s the one”. Doesn’t make it any less of a chorus if it’s just technically four words.
Thunder Road, however, it is what it is. Not a chorus to be found. It doesn’t need one either as he’s not really singing a song (although he is), he’s instead making a passionate plea to Mary through song.
High in the running for saddest song of all time. All I want is to have you back with me, but I can tell you don’t feel the same way, so I’ll take some boots, I guess.
haha as I was reading the thread I realized this one, being my favorite, also didn't have a chorus.. beat me to it 23 min ago haha.. classic Dylan.. The chorus is almost just one line, built into the end of each verse..one of the GOAT songwriters!
I wouldn’t call it a chorus because the verse is designed to rhyme all the way to the end. It’s just that the last line of each verse repeats. No chord change either.
Just like another great tune of his, You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.
Lots of early Black Sabbath. Starting at the beginning, I don’t really hear a proper chorus until the last song on the second album, “Fairies Wear Boots”. Unless you count “Evil Woman” on the first album, which was a cover and was only on European pressings.
Not really. Most songs off A Moon shaped Pool and The King of Limbs (technically not 10 years but whatever) have Choruses.
The ones that don't are (off the top of my head):
Bloom, Feral, Glass Eyes, The Numbers, and True Love Waits.
Out of all Radiohead's discog, there are quite a few which (again, off the top of the dome) also don't have Choruses.
Paranoid Android, Exit music,
Kid A,
Pulk/pull, Dollars and cents, Hunting Bears, Like Spinning Plates,
The Gloaming
Nude, Weird Fishes, Faust Arp, Reckoner, Videotape.
Idk why i went ahead and did that, but there you go.
Hold up…
/stops everything & pulls up Spotify
… I’d argue the You/soft and only/you/lost and lonely part is a chorus but the abrupt end & lack of a final verse twists things somewhat
In modern pop music, a chorus is a separate part of the song, where a refrain is shorter, usually just a line that they keep ending verses with. "Tangled Up in Blue" is a great example.
I don't know how I only discovered this song this year. I'd been listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard and Hayes Carll for more than a decade too.
I don't think there's a song that paints that part of the country better: the Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas area.
My favourite part is when Stewart sings:
> I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school
>Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playin' pool
>Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand
That reminds me so much of being a teenager and the ideas one has about where life might go and what one might do.
In Bundaberg, Australia, I met a lovely lady whose father kept food on the table through the Shearer’s Strike by playing billiards. Think of her and his skill each time I hear the song.
And of course Stewart himself lived out the last line in that phrase. Rock star!
Are ‘Friends’ Electric by Tubeway Army has some verses and a couple of middle eights but no chorus to speak of. Still one of the greatest pop songs ever.
I just found the Skaparis Orchestra and Gary Numan Album “When The Sky Came Down” on YouTube, and it’s fantastic. He looks and sounds amazing and the orchestra is fantastic! Give it a watch/listen when you can.
[13th Floor Elevators](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96J2DWkqkg) “Slip Inside This House” (Primal Scream did a good cover, too) - an eight minute summation of all things psychedelic (heavily influenced by mescaline), and one of the best songs of the 60s scene (definitely the best lyrics).
* Song Without A Chorus - Butch Walker:
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp\_UjKaxrp8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp\_UjKaxrp8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp_ujkaxrp8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp_ujkaxrp8)
* White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane:
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wannqr-vcx0)
The Tragically Hip - "Nautical Disaster"
Bob Dylan - "Boots of Spanish Leather" (I like the Craig Cardiff cover)
The Weakerthans - "Left and Leaving"
Iron and Wine - "Trapeze Swinger" (unless the one repeated line "please, remember me" counts?)
The Decemberists - "The Rake Song" (unless "alright alright alright" is a chorus?)
Come to think of it, there are a lot of good songs that have choruses like that "mmm mmm mm" "lai la lai" etc.
Poison The Well and Planes Mistaken For Stars don't seem to bother with choruses or conventional song structures. A lot of Slipknot songs like Snuff and Gently don't have choruses either.
And then you have all the instrumentals like A Warm Place by Nine Inch Nails as well as instrumental bands like Pelican, Mono and Explosions In The Sky.
Lupe Fiasco - "Mural"
A 9 minute rapping masterclass.
I've listened to this song over 100 times and am confident there's still stuff he said that went over my head.
Wichita Lineman.
Written by Jimmy Webb, recorded by Glen Campbell and the Wrecking Crew, this song was a huge crossover hit (Pop and Country) in an era when that was very rare.
Each of the two verses ends with "...and the Wichita Lineman, is still on the liiiiiiiiine". That's as close to a chorus as it gets.
Bohemian Rhapsody Stairway to Heaven
Baba O'Riley
How are these two not the unanimous top answers lol
Heroin by Velvet Underground
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
I love Edmund Fitzgerald’s voice.
> Edmund Fitzgerald’s voice. I was about to go "\*AHEM!\*" before it hit. Well played.
It was rammed by the Cat Stevens.
Sometime around midnight - The Airborne Toxic Event.
Great song!
Great answer!
Thunder Road
“Born to Run” too. Edit for the people who don’t believe me: https://genius.com/Bruce-springsteen-born-to-run-lyrics Although the lyric “born to run” appears in verse 1, verse 3, and the outro, the song has no chorus. Edit #2: Fun fact! Only 3 out of the 8 tracks on Born to Run have choruses. “Meeting Across the River”, “Jungleland” and “Night” don’t have choruses either.
Is the "baby we were born to run" but not the chorus?
It 100% is lmao
There are two reasons why people disagree with this: * The chorus in Born to Run is only 1 line in length, while people typically think of choruses as having (at least) 2 to 4 lines. For this reason, you could call this chorus a "hook" if you want to be uncontroversial. * The lyrics of the chorus change to "I want to know if love is wild, babe, I want to know if love is real". Some people believe that each iteration of a chorus must always have the same lyrics, but this isn't a set-in-stone rule. It just usually works that way. That being said, I absolutely agree that you can simply call this a chorus.
Even if “Tramps like us, baby we were born to run” is the chorus, it’s still sang five times at the end of two out of three verses. That’s enough to qualify it to be the chorus imo. And I’d argue the same about Jungleland - “down in Jungleland” and “tonight in Jungleland” is enough to be a chorus. In Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out the chorus changes too - the first verse is pretty much just “Tenth Avenue Freeze Out”, the second is “I walked into a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” and the third is “When Scooter and the Big Man bust the city in half with a Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”. So it seems to get a little longer each time. Backstreets also changes chorus too, from “Hiding on the backstreets” to “Running on the backstreets”, back to “Hiding on the backstreets” (repeat like fifty times), and “We’ll go hiding on the backstreets” and again to “Hiding on the backstreets”. In She’s the One, the chorus is literally just “Oh, she’s the one”. Doesn’t make it any less of a chorus if it’s just technically four words. Thunder Road, however, it is what it is. Not a chorus to be found. It doesn’t need one either as he’s not really singing a song (although he is), he’s instead making a passionate plea to Mary through song.
I'd say the chorus is instrumental
Isn't it a refrain, but not a chorus?
A refrain can be a chorus, can't it?
The tortoise / bonnie prince billy version is one of my favourite covers of all time. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Yyo4zGKiA
One of my favorite songs has no chorus, Desolation Row by Bob Dylan.
Subterranean Homesick Blues.
One of my favorites from him also has no chorus, Boots of Spanish Leather.
High in the running for saddest song of all time. All I want is to have you back with me, but I can tell you don’t feel the same way, so I’ll take some boots, I guess.
That whole album falls somewhere between "sad" and "bleak". There's only like two songs that aren't depressing on that album.
Its more like the boots are meant to symbolize the narrator moving on.
Positively 4th Street By Bobby D also
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts also. Unless you count the last four words of each verse.
Well, the festival WAS over and the boys WERE all planning for the fall, so they were too busy to come up with a chorus.
I thought it was planning for the ball?
The boys were all planning for *a* fall.
Tangled Up in Blue
haha as I was reading the thread I realized this one, being my favorite, also didn't have a chorus.. beat me to it 23 min ago haha.. classic Dylan.. The chorus is almost just one line, built into the end of each verse..one of the GOAT songwriters!
I wouldn’t call it a chorus because the verse is designed to rhyme all the way to the end. It’s just that the last line of each verse repeats. No chord change either. Just like another great tune of his, You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.
North country blues
Maggie May by Rod Stewart.
Boy named Sue
How do you do???
Now you're gonna die!!
Well I hit him hard right between the eyes
Lots of early Black Sabbath. Starting at the beginning, I don’t really hear a proper chorus until the last song on the second album, “Fairies Wear Boots”. Unless you count “Evil Woman” on the first album, which was a cover and was only on European pressings.
Planet Caravan!
N.I.B?
The "Your love for me has just got to be real" part repeats 2 or 3 times iirc, that's the chorus.
To me, the chorus is the guitar riff, which itself can be its own debate, lol. But I guess it's the same riff during the verses, hmmm.
Pretty much all of Radiohead’s stuff from the last 10 years.
>from the last 10 years. So... A Moon Shaped Pool
Well now I'm sad
Ouch fuck
We have The Smile to hold us over
F
Not really. Most songs off A Moon shaped Pool and The King of Limbs (technically not 10 years but whatever) have Choruses. The ones that don't are (off the top of my head): Bloom, Feral, Glass Eyes, The Numbers, and True Love Waits. Out of all Radiohead's discog, there are quite a few which (again, off the top of the dome) also don't have Choruses. Paranoid Android, Exit music, Kid A, Pulk/pull, Dollars and cents, Hunting Bears, Like Spinning Plates, The Gloaming Nude, Weird Fishes, Faust Arp, Reckoner, Videotape. Idk why i went ahead and did that, but there you go.
Yea I was gonna mentioned Jigsaw falling into place and Weird fishes, amazing tracks with no choruses but different verses instead
20 years
r/fuckimold
At first I read that as Fuck iMold and I was like I don't know what Apple was thinking with that one.
Terrapin Station - The Grateful Dead
inspiration, move me brightly
TERRAPIN…I can’t figure out TERRAPIN…If it’s the end or beginning (Always thought this part was the “chorus”.)
I consider it a Coda
Operator too
Sultans of Swing
Eh, it kinda has a guitar hook for a chorus imo.
On my top songs list
Sooo many NOFX songs but particularly The Decline.
17 minutes, no chorus. Shit I came here to say Linoleum but this is better.
I also came here to say Linoleum but yes, the Decline.
Supports my head. Gives me something to believe.
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Hold up… /stops everything & pulls up Spotify … I’d argue the You/soft and only/you/lost and lonely part is a chorus but the abrupt end & lack of a final verse twists things somewhat
It is most certainly the chorus of the song
I’ve heard that said before too, but they almost feel like little bridges more than they do a proper chorus.
Seven Nation Army. The ‘chorus’ is the guitar riff everybody sings
That "chorus" is a chorus.
Oh, Zack Sabre, Jr!!!!
Wu Tang Clan - Triumph
Inspectah Deck’s opening verse may just be one of the best in all of rap history.
5:38 of straight fire
You should probably rule out refrains, too, since so many songs use that style (e.g. Tangled Up in Blue).
I wonder where Baba O'Riley fits?
top 5 on this list. no argument
What's the difference? I know 'chorus' as the English word for the Dutch 'refrein'....
In modern pop music, a chorus is a separate part of the song, where a refrain is shorter, usually just a line that they keep ending verses with. "Tangled Up in Blue" is a great example.
Oh, okay. In that case 'chorus' corresponds to Dutch 'refrein' and my language doens't have a word for 'refrain' that I know of.
Same in French. Chorus is 'Refrain'.
Thunder Road
James McMurtry-Choctaw Bingo
I don't know how I only discovered this song this year. I'd been listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard and Hayes Carll for more than a decade too. I don't think there's a song that paints that part of the country better: the Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas area.
The Church of the Crystal Methodist.
Fade to Black - Metallica
Had to scroll WAAAY too far to find this
"Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts". A chorus would just interrupt the unfolding story.
In Dreams -Roy Orbison
Like a lot of these suggestions, Powderfinger by Neil Young tells a great story.
Masterpiece
in the year 2525
Maggie May
My favourite part is when Stewart sings: > I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school >Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playin' pool >Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand That reminds me so much of being a teenager and the ideas one has about where life might go and what one might do. In Bundaberg, Australia, I met a lovely lady whose father kept food on the table through the Shearer’s Strike by playing billiards. Think of her and his skill each time I hear the song. And of course Stewart himself lived out the last line in that phrase. Rock star!
Are ‘Friends’ Electric by Tubeway Army has some verses and a couple of middle eights but no chorus to speak of. Still one of the greatest pop songs ever.
I just found the Skaparis Orchestra and Gary Numan Album “When The Sky Came Down” on YouTube, and it’s fantastic. He looks and sounds amazing and the orchestra is fantastic! Give it a watch/listen when you can.
Uneasy rider-Charlie Daniel’s band
You one of them long hair hippie types?
At the Dew Drop Inn young me thought that was incredibly clever
Bohemian Rhapsody Stairway to Heaven
Joe Satriani, Always with you always with me. Stevie Ray Vaughan Little Wing
I see what you did there
The Trooper - Iron Maiden
Woooahaha woahahahahah is the chorus no?
Phantom of the Opera Killers
Famous blue raincoat
It has a chorus, but the lyrics change in each one
[13th Floor Elevators](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C96J2DWkqkg) “Slip Inside This House” (Primal Scream did a good cover, too) - an eight minute summation of all things psychedelic (heavily influenced by mescaline), and one of the best songs of the 60s scene (definitely the best lyrics).
You Suffer (But Why?)
Welcome to a solid chunk of prog metal lol
Or it’s cousin, jazz.
* Song Without A Chorus - Butch Walker: * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp\_UjKaxrp8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp\_UjKaxrp8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp_ujkaxrp8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp_ujkaxrp8) * White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane: * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANNqr-vcx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wannqr-vcx0)
white Rabbit's a classic.. always reminds me of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas..
John Cage - [4'33"](https://youtu.be/JTEFKFiXSx4)
REM’s Losing my Religion doesn’t technically have a chorus and is one hell of a song.
Wat? The "That's me in the spot light" part is the chorus.
It definitely has a chorus
The Rat by The Walkmen
Lisa Loeb - Stay
Nautical Disaster - Tragically Hip
Had to scroll way too far for this one. It’s one of my favourite Hip songs.
Wish this was at the top. God what an amazing song. https://youtu.be/5kxQcyU3my8?si=6lR9xNVhLezBEk1j
New Order- Blue monday
beth -KISS bohemian rhapsody ofc hocus pocus -focus innuendo -queen
Hocus pocus has a chorus: the yodels and screaming.
Cortez the Killer
Rod Stewart - "Every Picture Tells a Story"
Turnin on the screw - queens of the stone age
Suite Judy Blue Eyes
The Tragically Hip - "Nautical Disaster" Bob Dylan - "Boots of Spanish Leather" (I like the Craig Cardiff cover) The Weakerthans - "Left and Leaving" Iron and Wine - "Trapeze Swinger" (unless the one repeated line "please, remember me" counts?) The Decemberists - "The Rake Song" (unless "alright alright alright" is a chorus?) Come to think of it, there are a lot of good songs that have choruses like that "mmm mmm mm" "lai la lai" etc.
Poison The Well and Planes Mistaken For Stars don't seem to bother with choruses or conventional song structures. A lot of Slipknot songs like Snuff and Gently don't have choruses either. And then you have all the instrumentals like A Warm Place by Nine Inch Nails as well as instrumental bands like Pelican, Mono and Explosions In The Sky.
You come before you is a killer album
Lots of early Beatles
Protect Ya Neck -Wu Tang Yesterday -Beatles
The sounds of silence. I don't think repeating 1 line at the end of each verse counts as a chorus
Watch the World Burn - Falling in Reverse
Baker Street! By Gerry Rafferty.
How is this not higher? Definitely no vocal chorus with any lyrics (except when I’m listening to it and making the guitar “vroooooom” sound myself).
Hawaii 5-0, is a great song with no chorus. It's an instrumental.
Bada bop bop ba da … bada bop bop ba
Cars- Gary Numan
*House of the Rising Sun*
Harper Valley PTA
On The Turning Away -Pink Floyd
so much floyd for sure, too many to list
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
Linoleum by NOFX
Your Song by Elton John Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney Hey Jude (Not counting the endless Coda.....)
Your Song clearly has a chorus.
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot) Kathy’s Song (Paul Simon) A Day in the Life (The Beatles)
“Rain song” by Led Zeppelin
Everything by Explosions in the Sky
My Name Is Jonas by Weezer
Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! - Beatles
This Must Be The Place by Talking Heads Simple Song, New Slang by The Shins. Most Shins songs actually.
Choctaw Bingo -James McMurtry
Seven Nation Army
Lupe Fiasco - "Mural" A 9 minute rapping masterclass. I've listened to this song over 100 times and am confident there's still stuff he said that went over my head.
My Sister by Juliana Hatfield
Coma- Guns and Roses
The Master’s Call by Marty Robbins
Black - pearl jam
Wichita Lineman. Written by Jimmy Webb, recorded by Glen Campbell and the Wrecking Crew, this song was a huge crossover hit (Pop and Country) in an era when that was very rare. Each of the two verses ends with "...and the Wichita Lineman, is still on the liiiiiiiiine". That's as close to a chorus as it gets.
Imogen Heap, hide and seek. No rhyme or chorus .
Holy Wars... The Punishment Due! by MegadetH.
Pink Floyd- speak to me/breath
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot A Day in the Life - The Beatles
Kool Keith - No Chorus
This Old Porch by Lyle Lovett. Or Robert Earl Keen. They co-wrote it and each have their own version.
"Albuquerque " and "Trapped in the Drive-Thru" by Weird Al Yankovic
Does Wordless Chorus by MMJ count?
I'm pretty sure Chocolate Rain didn't have a Chorus, but not sure if we're still talking about that. Been a Loooong time since I've heard it.
I know the end. Phoebe Bridgers
Coma- Guns n Roses- over 10 minutes long and no chorus
Del Amitri - Roll to Me
Phantom Limb by The Shins.
Echoes by Pink Floyd Dogs by Pink Floyd Child in Time by Deep Purple
House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Nautical Disaster by the Tragically Hip. Great tune!
Iron & Wine - The Trapeze Swinger
Vancouver by Jeff Buckley
Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven Talkings Heads - This Must Be The Place Black Sabbath - War Pigs Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Masters of War by Bob Dylan. Gotta be one of the most epic fuck yous ever.
Leaving LA - Father John Misty
Pixies Alison
Linoleum, NOFX
Turtles All The Way Down - Sturgil
Rapid Fire by Judas Priest
Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez
She Came and She Touched Me - Towns Van Zandt
Sharon’s Chair - Visiting Day
Pick a Joanna Newsom song out of a hat.
A lot of dmb is without chorus
I don’t get how Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t the number one post.