Well here it is, my attempt at something that differs from a basic song structure. I was first thinking that I would make a song that didn’t have a chorus and it is possible for this demo to still fit that criteria. The song is made up of verses that eventually build up and change before going into a solo. The instrumental build up towards the end of the verses could easily be called a chorus but that would actually depend on the lyrics. Allow me to explain. If the lyrics were to repeat every time, then the build up would be a chorus but if the lyrics were to be different, then it would remain part of the verse. At the end of each verse there is a pause before the song enters a solo. When I someday write lyrics for this demo, I will put the refrain (line that repeats and is usually the song title) in that spot.

The second part of this song is hard to label. It starts out sounding like a bridge but never leads back to a chorus or verse. My idea when I recorded this part was to use it as a bridge at first and then have it lead into a part that sounds more like progressive rock and I still like the idea. This demo took the longest to record and I encountered a number of problems, one of which was picking up background noise when I recorded the acoustic guitar parts.

Song Structure: Intro-Verse-Solo-Verse-Solo-Verse-Interlude-B Section-Outro

“Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin

Length: 8:03

Genre: Rock/Hard Rock

Time Signature(s): 4/4

Album: Led Zeppelin IV

Released: 1971

About this song: This song is considered one of the greatest songs of all time by fans of rock and music in general. It is a song that starts off slow (with just one guitar) and then builds into an incredibly epic hard rock song. The main part of the song consists of verses and B sections that gradually build into one of the greatest guitar solos ever and a final verse that is much faster and heavier than the other verses. The “B Sections” could possibly be called “choruses” but feature a surprisingly small amount of repetition despite the only lyrics being “It makes me wonder” and do not mirror each other like “choruses” normally do. Interludes exist between many song parts and prevent the song from being predictable and the outro features vocals after all the instruments have stopped.

Looking at Song Structure

When I first started this inquiry, I expected to spend most of my time dissecting songs in order to get the structure/layout.  Meaning I would find the parts of the songs and the order they go in (verse, chorus, bridge…etc.). After dissecting over 10 songs, I concluded there was very little I could learn from simplistic music in regards to the layout. So I have decided to make some changes. Instead of looking for and dissecting hit songs across different genres, I have decided to take individual songs that have unique/complex layouts. Using the skills and knowledge I have learned during the inquiry, I will dissect these songs in much greater detail. I have decided to color code the different song parts and write down their length (in bars), that is the number that you see after every part.

“God Is Dead?” by Black Sabbath

Length: 8:52

Genre: Metal

Time Signature(s): 4/4

Album: 13

Released: 2013

About this song: This song won a Grammy for best metal performance in 2013 and it is a good example of black Sabbath’s style in regards to layout. This song has 3 choruses (just like many other simplistic songs I have looked at) but in this case, the song layout is not predictable whatsoever and avoids lyrical repetition by featuring a number of different guitar riffs to back up the vocals. This song also features some very lengthy verses (46 bars) and the chorus is fairly short in comparison (only 16 bars).

Here is my attempt at a slightly less intense rock song. One might go so far as to call it a “ballad”. It is rather predictable but this will be the first demo I wright lyrics for so perhaps its simplicity will come in handy considering this is my first time writing lyrics. This is also my first time playing keyboard for a demo so the keyboard part is VERY simple but still sounds cool. I hope to make at least one demo this year that isn’t a verse-chorus or verse-chorus-bridge song and so I will need to do a lot more recording soon. I look forward to using the skills I have learned to record a more complex demo.

The layout for this song is as follows : verse*-chorus-verse*-chorus-solo-verse-chorus

*First two verses are longer than the third.

At this point in my IDS I am almost done dissecting songs and I am now starting a series of blog posts that will show my findings. For this post, I will list the layouts/structures of 10 songs I have dissected. I chose these songs randomly, some are well known hits and other are much lesser known.  I also made sure they varied in length and in order to provide a variety of music. I dissected these songs myself so its possible they may not all be 100% correct and please note that I have excluded short instrumental parts that often occur between song parts that feature vocals in order to avoid over complicating my analysis. So here are the songs:

1. Under The Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers:

Intro (guitar only) – verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge*-outro

Length: 4:24

Genre: Alternative Rock

*Hard to say if one would call the conclusion of this song a “bridge” considering it is not followed by a final chorus. It does differ musically and lyrically from the rest of the song.

2. 21^st Century (Digital Boy) by Bed Religion:

Verse-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-solo-chorus-outro

Length: 2:49

Genre: Punk Rock

3. As I Am by Dream Theater:

Intro-verse-pre chorus*-chorus-verse-pre chorus*-chorus-solo-chorus-outro

Length: 7:48

Genre: Progressive Hard Rock

*both pre choruses have two different parts

4. Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix:

Intro-verse-verse-solo-verse-solo

Length: 2:53

Genre: Rock

5. Stan by Eminem:

Chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-chorus*-verse

Length: 6:44

Genre: Hip Hop

*variation in bass line

6. A Line In The Sand by Linkin Park:

Intro-Verse-instrumental break-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus-instrument break-chorus-solo-verse

Length: 6:35

Genre: Hard Rock

7. Scentless Apprentice by Nirvana:

Intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-verse-chorus

Length: 3:48

Genre: Grunge Rock

8. Hammerhead by The Offspring:

Intro-verse-pre chorus-chorus-verse-pre chorus-chorus-instrumental break-bridge*-outro

Length: 4:38

Genre: Rock

*Same as Under The Bridge, its hard to say if this part is a bridge or not because it is followed by the ending of the song.

9. Know Your Enemy by Rage Against The Machine:

Intro-verse-instrumental break-verse-bridge-solo-outro*

Length: 4:56

Genre: Rap Metal

*Outro features vocals

10. Heart Of Gold by Neil Young:

Intro-solo-verse-solo-verse-solo-outro*

Length: 3:07

Genre: Folk Rock

*Outro features vocals

At this point, I have recorded this demo and began working on lyrics. This song I have recorded has a “verse-chorus” song form. “Verse-chorus” songs are fairly simple considering that they bounce between verses and choruses and have no parts other parts, an example is Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.  I am also currently working on a demo that has a “verse-chorus-bridge” song form. “Verse-chorus-bridge” song form is the same as “verse-chorus” form but has a bridge part. A bridge is a part of a song that differs musically and lyrically from the rest of the song and is normally located after the second chorus. “Verse-chorus-bridge” song form is very common in pop music today, some examples are: “Counting Stars” by  One Republic and “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift.

The song layout for this song is as follows : intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-verse-solo-chorus.