repeating 1st verse

[lesmac]

Anyone have any thoughts on whether it's still cool to do this especially in country.

I think I read Ralph Murphy or someone saying it was an easy out.

My prospective song goes VS CH VS CH BRIDGE CH 1st VS OUT: out repeats the hook[title]

It FEELS right so it must be right?

[Len911]

Do you mean literally singing the whole verse again or just the first line?

Bore us and no chorus, lol?

I suppose if there was no resolution or nothing changed it might be okay.

It FEELS right so it must be right?

Almost never,

[lesmac]

Almost never,

I got everything I need…..almost

There are three choruses and the verses and choruses are totally different in feel and content.

Yeah it's a whole verse and there is no resolution either, he's still waiting for her to come around again. Fool that he is!

[Len911]

I can't think of a song that repeats the whole first verse again, though I can't really think well this morning period,lol, I can imagine if a song started with the chorus and ending on the chorus maybe.

For some reason, "The Grand Tour" popped into my head, though that's more of an AABA, it begins with, "step right up, come on in" and ends with the same phrase.

My prospective song goes VS CH VS CH BRIDGE CH 1st VS OUT: out repeats the hook[title]

I would say if your bridge has lyrics, then it's probably an AABA rather than a verse/chorus.

[melodymessiah]

any particular reason you wanna repeat your whole first verse? i agree with ralph murphy, it seems to be an easy way out. and it will make your song stay out, not stand out

[lesmac]

I think it's a bad habit I've carried for most of a lifetime. Probably a confusion of padding out short songs during performances / mixing up songs that start with the chorus and end with one. I can't really quote any examples but I've always felt it was acceptable, like putting bookends on a song.
With more extensive songwriting study lately I'm willing to accept it's not desirable unless the "guts" of the song has really changed the listener's point of view so much that they need to hear the first verse again in it's new light.
Thanks to you guys for emphasising it more too.
Will check my song length to see if I do need a new last verse or not have one at all.

[DooWahDiddy]

The only song that comes to my mind like that is Elton John's "Daniel". It arguably doesn't even have a chorus; the whole thing about "Daniel my brother, you are older than me..." sounds like a bridge to me. But even if we do call it a chorus, it goes VS VS CH INST CH VS1 (repeated).

A very unusual structure, but it undeniably works. And it's not like he did it out of necessity; his lyricist Bernie Taupin had given him a third verse to sing, but Elton felt it worked better to repeat the first verse so he scrapped it. So you never know; if you're writing for another artist it might not be a great idea, but if it's for you to sing and you're sure it works, then why not?

[mikeShort]

I would say this: the rule is don't repeat the first verse (and certainly not the whole first verse). Rules are there to be broken. But you need to have a really good reason to break the rule.

"The song is too short" is not a good reason. Crosby Stills & Nash (yeah, I'm dating myself) has a song "Just a Song Before I Go," AABA' (and, ironically, repeats the first half of the first verse) that clocks in at 2:14. Two verses, an instrumental (the B part), and half the first verse again.

I know a few songs that repeat the first line or so: Bring It On Home by Little Big Town comes to mind. But unless the rest of the song totally changes the color of that verse, we've heard it before, so what are you telling us?

So ask yourself "Why am I repeating the verse?" If you don't have an answer, or the answer is anything less than strong, don't do it.

[Dael]

It's all been said above, and it seems like this should always be the exception rather that the rules.

I recently read a really interesting interview with Greg Holden on the writing of "Home" the song performed by Phillip Phillips on American Idol.

If you have heard the song you probably noticed it repeats the second verse, and in my mind it works really well. I have been looking for the specific interview morning and just can't find it. Still the gist of his comment was he did not have anything else to say (the lyric message was complete) in the song and eventually settled on repeating the second verse.

I can see why he would repeat the second verse rather than the first, in my mind this actually strengthens the lyric.

So my thought would be, does repeating the first or any other verse make for a more complete song. If the answer is yes I say go for it.

[Geir]

We all know what the rules say about this, but I guess nobody told Lennon & McCartney about them back in the day, because they had quite a few verse repeats - even in some of their best songs.

I suppose they didn't know any better ....