song structures

Verse, Pre-chorus and Chorus Song Structures

A pre-chorus is what it’s name implies – a section of music that occurs before the chorus. It is a transitional section, enabling the music to move forwards and “prepare” us for what is to come (the “hook” of the chorus). Hence sometimes songwriters refer to pre-choruses as “channels”. These sections can also be called "transitional bridges" or a "build", They can vary in length considerably, from just one line, to a whole series of lines. Let's look at a few of differing lengths:-

Don't Look Back In Anger

For example, consider the song “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, by Oasis:-

The verse and chorus sections have the same chord structure (based on C). Thus the pre-chorus in this instance provides us with a break from harmonic progression of these sections.

Imagine

“Imagine” (by John Lennon) is an example of a pre-chorus of just one line. Here it is:-
“Imagine all the people, living for today” (this is lyrically modified each time it comes round). The pre-chorus line begins on a shift away from C (to F chord), and the harmonic pace changes (the verse chords change at the beginning of every bar, the pre-chorus changes chords twice in each bar. This rate of change continues in the chorus section).

Never Be Lonely

“Never Be Lonely” by The Feeling has a pre-chorus of three lines, which begins with the words “At least there not lonely”. Here’s the opening chords of each section:-
Verse – (C)
Pre-chorus – (F)
Chorus – (Ab) !
So as with “Yesterday”, the pre-chorus begins on the sub-dominant chord of C major (F). However, something rather unexpected happens at the chorus, namely the chord of Ab – a complete contrast to what has gone before. This chord falls on the flattened sixth step of the scale of C major. Why does it work when it appears to be a totally unrelated chord? The reason is because it shares a common note -  C - with the tonic chord (Ab is Ab-C-Eb, C is C-E-G). At the end of the line, the music has returned to the chord of C, and so holds in check this sudden unexpected harmonic shift.

Here’s an example of a song combining the elements of verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge.
It’s “Last Request” by Scottish singer/songwriter Paulo Nutini.

Here’s the structure of the song, with the first chord of the section in brackets:-

Notice again how the pre is beginning on the subdominant (Bb – we are in the key of F), and the chorus returns to the tonic for it’s first chord. Both the pre-chorus and the bridge (which also begins on Bb) are relatively short being just two lines each.

The Coda

Songs can also combine some or all the aforementioned elements – the verse, pre-chorus, chorus and bridge, and even another section which is termed “coda” – (also known as an "outro") the ending material.

For example, the song "Trouble" (by Coldplay). Here's the structure:-

Again, I’ve shown you the structure of the song together with the first chord of each section.  Coldplay songs are often ambigious in the modality. What we mean by this is that we are often unsure whether or not the song is in a major or minor key. Although the verse starts on G,  the chord sequence moves through Em, Bm, and Am – chords that are associated with the key of E minor or B minor. There is no pre-chorus. The music leaps (almost from nowhere) into the chord of A, and then falls back to E minor, which is where it finishes for the end of the chorus.

So is this song in G major or E minor or B minor?

If the song was in G, we would expect to hear the dominant and subdominant chords of G major (D and C respectively) . However, these are absent in the material. So even though the opening chords to most of the sections are G, it is actually more rooted in E minor, and finally settles on B minor in the coda. This harmonic restlessness perfectly reflects the “troubled”  sentiment in the lyrics.