General: What is the parts of a song named?

I

ICD Films

Well-known member
Yes... I dropped out music school :(

- Refrain & bridge... what more? "Verse", is that a valid word? (in swedish it more refers to the text).

The buildup just before refrain starts -- what's that called? Or is that the bridge? If so what's "the rest" called?

Hope I make sense :beer:
 
Intro, Verse, Chorus, Hook, Bridge, Outro. Those are the parts involved in song/music structure. You can have multiple verses and chorus repetitions. Your bridge is sometimes called the middle 8th. But it has to contrast from the body of the music, like in a different key or tempo or both.

The hook is the phrase or line that is repeated throughout the song and "hooks" the listener. Example "Ice, Ice, baby" in Vanilla Ice's song is a hook.
 
A typical rock/pop song would be "Intro> Verse-1> Chorus> Verse-2> Chorus> Lead guitar break> Verse-3> Chorus/Outro and/or fade
 
+1 to what everybody said above... It sometimes depends on what kind of song (genre/musical style) what the sections are called, or even if it is called a "song" or not, but what you are describing is "Form" or "Song Form."

In early American and Tin Pan Alley songwriting (and in Europe), the "verse" is a separate section (sort of a long lyrical introduction) to the rest of the song (which is often in AABA form from thence forward). But in pop music, the "verse," "A section" and "the part with different words" are synonymous; as is the "Chorus," "Refrain," "Hook," and/or "B section" (all mean the same thing... But _sometimes_, as in Jazz, the "B section" is called "the Bridge"). To most modern songwriters, the "Bridge" is a separate section from the verse and chorus (or, a "c section"-- no pun intended), which has different musical and/or lyrical material, often leading to a key-change to maintain heightened listener interest.

Clear as a cup of mud on a dark day in a Saharan sandstorm?

GJ
 
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