Hit songs without a chorus?

[Rufus]

Obviously discluding instrumentals, can anyone name any hit songs that dont have a chorus?

Paranoid by Black Sabbath immediately comes to mind !

[rcarlberg]

Bridge over troubled water?

[PeterG]

Bridge over troubled water?

It has a chorus, and it is sung 3 times:


Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down,
Like a bridge over troubled water,
I will lay me down.

[rcarlberg]

It has a chorus, and it is sung 3 times:

Well I *did* include a question mark because I wasn't sure.

[Superfly]

Bohemian Rhapsody

[Scott Bails]

Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

[PeterG]

Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

Love that song & it has a chorus sung twice:

Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight, people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night

[No Pride]

Love that song & it has a chorus sung twice:

Strangers waiting up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight, people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night

I'd call that a "pre-chorus." The actual chorus (or at least what I consider to be the chorus) is:

Don't stop believing,
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlights, people
oh oh ooooh

Now here's a couple of hits without a chorus:

Bus Stop (The Hollies)
Yesterday (The Beatles)

[rcarlberg]

Yesterday (The Beatles)

Yesterday has a chorus:

Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say
I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday

Repeated twice.

[PeterG]

I'd call that a "pre-chorus." The actual chorus (or at least what I consider to be the chorus) is:

Don't stop believing,
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlights, people
oh oh ooooh

No, the Don't Stop Believin' bit is the end of the song,the "outro". Here's the whole thing, the repeated chorus is as I wrote it, it starts with "Strangers waiting":

Songwriters: CAIN, JONATHAN / PERRY, STEVE / SCHON, NEAL

Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in south Detroit
He took the midnight train goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

(Chorus)
Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlights people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night.

Working hard to get my fill,
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice,
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

(Chorus)
Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlights people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night.

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to the feelin'
Streetlights people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on
Streetlight people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to the feelin'
Streetlights people

Chorus kicks in at 1.23 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcjzHMhBtf0

[GuitarGeek]

Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"

Actually, it does have a chorus, but you don't hear it until nearly 2 minutes into the song. Neal plays the melody first during the guitar solo, then after the third verse, they actually sing it.

[PeterG]

Actually, it does have a chorus, but you don't hear it until nearly 2 minutes into the song. Neal plays the melody first during the guitar solo, then after the third verse, they actually sing it.

They sing it first after the 2nd verse then again after the 3rd verse. I hate to sound nerdy about this song, but it's one of those songs I grew up with and have always loved & know inside out.

[JKL2000]

If you guys don't stop talking about Don't Stop Believing, I believe I'm going to start reporting your posts, and won't stop reportin'!

[PeterG]

If you guys don't stop talking about Don't Stop Believing, I believe I'm going to start reporting your posts, and won't stop reportin'!

[PeterG]

Although not a hit song, a very long and complex poem as song w/o chorus that springs to mind is Neil Young's Last Trip To Tulsa.

[arabicadabra]

I would say "Behind The Lines" by Genesis - I don't consider "It's written in the book" to be a chorus.

[Yodelgoat]

Stairway to Heaven

[Rufus]

Stairway to Heaven

Obviously a great song but was it a hit single & was it written with the intention of being one ?

A song writer intending to write a hit surely targets a catchy chorus cos that's what catches both DJ 's & the publics attention .
Some obviously don't play by the rule book, particularly rock bands and Bohemian Rhapsody is a good example & DP 's Fireball, Rush 's Tom Sawyer and Spirit of the Radio being others !

[Yodelgoat]

Obviously a great song but was it a hit single & was it written with the intention of being one ?

I don't know about the intention, but it WAS one hell of a hit.

- Oh, Happy birthday is one too, although one could argue that happy birthday is nothing but a chorus

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Stairway to Heaven

It makes me wonder. A very short chorus, but still...

[PeterG]

And that is why I politely replied "It has a chorus, and it is sung 3 times"

[Deano]

Private Investigations - Dire Straits (#2 in the UK)
Up The Junction - Squeeze (another UK #2)

[Yodelgoat]

5 notes? It doesn't rhyme. It is simply words and no identifiable change in the music repeated twice, each time with different music playing underneath - Its more like a comment. I personally would not consider that a chorus. I have heard many people before me say that there is no chorus in STH. It was not an original statement. I'm not looking for a fight. But its widely observed that STH does not contain a chorus. You could probably say the line "and she's buying a stairway to Heaven" as a chorus as well, or the words "A lady" (repeated at least 3 times in the song).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Chorus' generally contain a phrase, and an identifiable melody that is repeated, and considered distinct and separate from the rest of the song - and usually emphasized.

Its funny that we prog fans (generally speaking) don't easily identify choruses. I'll bet the tablature for STH does not show a chorus.

[No Pride]

^
I consider that to be the bridge.

[rcarlberg]

A chorus generally contains the title of the song and rarely moves to the relative minor (or major if it's in a minor key).

It does. Whether it's a "chorus" or a "bridge" I guess is open to interpretation.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Chorus' generally contain a phrase, and an identifiable melody that is repeated, and considered distinct and separate from the rest of the song - and usually emphasized.