Songwriting Tip of the Day #21

Tip #21: Write a story song without a chorus

When songwriters go to write a story song they sometimes run into the problem that they need to tell their story in less than four minutes.  One way to accomplish this is to get rid of the chorus, and let the only refrain be the hook! This will give you more time to tell your story!


Try this formula!

Verse
A
B
A
B (Hook)

Verse
A
B
A
B (Hook)

Bridge
A
A

Verse
A
B
A
B (Hook)

Here is an example of a chorus-less song!

The times they are a changin'

Bob Dylan

Come gather ’round people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You’ll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth savin’

 Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone

 For the times they are a-changin’

 Come writers and critics

 Who prophesize with your pen

 And keep your eyes wide

 The chance won’t come again

 And don’t speak too soon

 For the wheel’s still in spin

 And there’s no tellin’ who that it’s namin’

 For the loser now will be later to win

 For the times they are a-changin’

 Come senators, congressmen

 Please heed the call

 Don’t stand in the doorway

 Don’t block up the hall

 For he that gets hurt

 Will be he who has stalled

 There’s a battle outside and it is ragin’

 It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls

 For the times they are a-changin’

 Come mothers and fathers

 Throughout the land

 And don’t criticize

 What you can’t understand

 Your sons and your daughters

 Are beyond your command

 Your old road is rapidly agin’

 Please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand

 For the times they are a-changin’

 The line it is drawn

 The curse it is cast

 The slow one now

 Will later be fast

 As the present now

 Will later be past

 The order is rapidly fadin’

 And the first one now will later be last

 For the times they are a-changin’