If you listen to a lot of pop and rock music like I do, you've probably noticed that most songs are similarly structured. They more or less go verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus, and in three minutes, you're out. A million great songs have been written this way, but some artists like to explore alternative song structures, often with great success. Here are six great songs with bizarre structures.
1. The Byrds - "Mr. Tambourine Man" (1965)
Though Bob Dylan's original "Mr. Tambourine Man" is structured in a traditional folk manner, with five choruses and four verses that simply alternate, the Byrds' jangle pop version is much simpler. The song opens with a chorus, and then one verse (the second verse of the original, actually), and then another chorus, and then...fade out. Granted, if the Byrds played the entire song it would end up being ten minutes, but having just one verse is very strange.
2. Joanna Newsom - "The Book of Right-On" (2004)
Joanna Newsom has written some sprawling, epically structured songs. However, the songs on her first album,The Milk-Eyed Mender, are shorter and more traditionally structured — with the exception of "The Book of Right-On." The song begins and ends with a chorus, but there are no choruses in between. Instead, there are alternating verses and bridges sandwiched in between the choruses.
3. Dinosaur Jr. - "Little Fury Things" (1987)
Most of the songs on Dinosaur Jr.'s You're Living All Over Me were written with unusual song structures, but the opening track "Little Fury Things" sets the course for the rest of the album. There's the roaring, paranoid opening, followed by a sweetly melodic chorus, and then the song's sole verse. After that comes a furiously strummed instrumental section, and then the song ends on a few more choruses. It looks bizarre on a lyrics sheet, but it flows beautifully on record.
4. The Smiths - "How Soon is Now?" (1984)
In theory, the songs that Morrissey and Johnny Marr wrote were quite simple, with most of them being just alternating verses and choruses, without bridges. The instrumental track to "How Soon is Now?" seems structured this way, until Morrissey lays his vocals down. At first, there's the traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus, but for three minutes in the middle, Morrissey stops singing verses, leaving them instrumental. When the choruses come back around, he sings new lyrics, instead of the previously established chorus. He returns to the chorus at the end, but for a couple of minutes in the middle it seems like Morrissey forgot he was recording vocals.
5. The Beatles - "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (1968)
"Bohemian Rhapsody" might be the most famous example of a multi-part song, but like most things, the Beatles did it first, with John Lennon's "Happiness is a Warm Gun," in less than three minutes. The song's opening section is a sinister mix of finger picking and screeching guitar jabs, which leads into a bluesy waltz, which leads to a brief hard rock riff in both 9/8 and 10/8 time, and then concluding on an extended doo-wop melody. Despite the complexity, it's the Beatle's best song, in my opinion.
6. The Flaming Lips - "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate" (1999)
The Flaming Lips magnum opus The Soft Bulletin is 50-plus minutes of heavenly synths, Zeppelin-esque drums, and some of the greatest melodies ever written. The band wisely saved the best for last, "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate." The song opens with a verse (or two, depending on how you count it), and then propels you into the album's best chorus, which is so majestic that the Lips keep you there for the rest of the song, until it fades into the instrumental album closer "Sleeping On the Roof." If I'm not mistaken, this is the same structure as Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up," only I'd much rather listen to this (no offense, Josh. You seem nice).
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