Comments on: THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE – “Voodoo Chile”

By: Mark G

Mark G — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:01:40 +0000

I dunno, they just seem hard to recognise.

By: ottersteve

ottersteve — Sat, 14 May 2011 18:41:17 +0000

Re: all of you above.

Thanks for all those tracks with unrepeated Lyrics Guys! I guessed that a few Dylan songs would qualify. There are a few of those songs mentioned that I should have known. But it does hold up my theory that songs with unrepeated lyrics as rare as hens teeth in the music world.

By: hilker

hilker — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:44:20 +0000

“Children’s Story” by Slick Rick.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:39:02 +0000

“Paid in Full” Eric B/Rakim

By: Gavin Wright

Gavin Wright — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:38:03 +0000

I’m thinking there must be loads of examples in hip-hop songs without choruses, ‘Triumph’ by Wu-Tang Clan springs to mind. Trying to think of a more recent one – was going to say ‘Roman’s Revenge’ but “starting to feel like a dungeon dragon” appears twice in the first verse.

By: hardtogethits

hardtogethits — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:56:10 +0000

Time by Pink Floyd

By: Mark M

Mark M — Thu, 12 May 2011 12:35:39 +0000

Squeeze’s Up The Junction – a classic story song – has lines that are variants (developments, in fact) on each other (three mentions of “the telly” but not that are exactly the same, I think.

By: Snif

Snif — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:20:03 +0000

Dylan’s “Changing Of The Guard”

By: Mark G

Mark G — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:08:29 +0000

Yeah, and Roxy Music’s “Pyjamarama”

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 11 May 2011 12:29:20 +0000

Tom you are confusing Happy Busman with Fashion Crisis Hits New York. Well not so much confusing as hoping to conflate to reduce the amount of F&W material in your head. I don’t think Happy Busman ever says Happy Busman in it. But it does repeat most of its lyrics at least once too.

By: lonepilgrim

lonepilgrim — Wed, 11 May 2011 11:21:27 +0000

Surprised nobody has mentioned ‘Virginia Plain’.

I feel that ‘Stardust’ should qualify. Even though the title is repeated it’s always in a different context rather than as a conventional chorus

By: Cumbrian

Cumbrian — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:49:27 +0000

I struggled with this off the top of my head. The closest I got was When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You? by Marvin Gaye which almost manages this but he repeats the title (just once) right at the end.

By: Chelovek na lune

Chelovek na lune — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:35:23 +0000

@84 – that was “Fashion Crisis Hits New York”, I think.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:30:00 +0000

A lot of Dylan’s songs – LR&TJOH, Desolation Row, High Water spring to mind – end each verse with a repeated phrase, though, working as a kind of refrain while avoiding the need for a chorus.

By: Erithian

Erithian — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:26:18 +0000

“repeating “what an iddly-diddly crazy world” an infuriating number of times”

was that just the Ned Flanders remix?

By: Mutley

Mutley — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:24:34 +0000

How about Bob Dylan’s Lily, Rosemary And The Jack Of Hearts from Blood on the Tracks? As with examples above, it tells a story. I should think Dylan has quite a few that qualify.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:20:46 +0000

ISTR the Frank And Walters tune repeating “what an iddly-diddly crazy world” an infuriating number of times, but perhaps that was one of their other numbers.

By: DietMondrian

DietMondrian — Wed, 11 May 2011 10:11:31 +0000

Lots of Arab Strap stuff, I think. Many are story songs.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:49:53 +0000

Oh, right I see now. Will have to think about that one.

By: chelovek na lune

chelovek na lune — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:15:29 +0000

So, a little bit of thought came up with these, with several near misses. I think all of these qualify

Ride – Unfamiliar
Ride – Like a Daydream
Ride – Chelsea Girl
Depeche Mode – Somebody
Judge Dread- Big Five
Frank and Walters- Happy Busman
Nick Drake – Things Behind the Sun

Almost:
Rod Stewart – The Killing Of Georgie – right up until the repetition of the final lines
Jesus and Mary Chain – Blues From a Gun – ditto

I suppose really, songs that tell a story (and don’t have a chorus with repeated lyrics) are what we are looking for. As he is one of the great “storytellers in song”, I’m sure there must be some Rod Stewart songs that do this…

By: chelovek na lune

chelovek na lune — Tue, 10 May 2011 19:39:55 +0000

Ah, durchkomponiert, you mean, but with regard to the lyrics. I see. Sure I could dig out some others. Big hits? Not necessarily. Will have to ponder it over.

By: ottersteve

ottersteve — Tue, 10 May 2011 18:55:27 +0000

Sorry about the confusion. If you read the lyrics to “Watchtower”, you will see that no phrase or line of the song is ever repeated in the course of the song. I know of no other song that does this.

In Bo Rhap. “Galileo” is repeated along with “nothing really matters”.

Not referring to the title of the song – just that fact that it entirely avoids any repetition of any line.

By: Mark G

Mark G — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:41:45 +0000

DO you mean “song titles mentioned only once during the song”?

“Nothing Really Matters” is not the song title, so I don’t follow.

By: ottersteve

ottersteve — Sat, 07 May 2011 15:56:47 +0000

Would anyone be interested in starting a thread concerning song lyrics that are never repeated during the course of the song?
The only example of this that I can think of is “All along the Watchtower” (hence putting this comment in the Jimi Hendrix slot). Be interested to know of any others.

Cannot count “Bohemian Rhapsody” as the line “Nothing really matters” is repeated at the end of the song.

By: wichita lineman

wichita lineman — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 10:44:19 +0000

I discovered a copy of this moody cover of All Along The Watchtower last week, released in March ’68 when John Wesley Harding was barely in the shops, and several months before Hendrix’s take. It’s the Nashville Teens, three years on from their last hit but still signed to Decca. They have the distinction of being the last record played in Mad Men, series 4:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBI6uM_rj_8