HOW THE PHRASES OF A SONG ARE ORGANISED

Most songs do not have all the possible elements. Some songs dispense with the introduction and go straight to the verse. Others may have a very varied and complex composition, with multiple elements. But all have some sort of phrases that are combined with each other in a structured way.

Some of the most common forms of organizing phrases in swing music are:

Let's see all them.

AABA (ballad form, 32-bar structure, Tin Pan Alley form)

This was the musical structure most used in jazz and popular music during the first half of the 20th century and as swing music developed at this time, the majority of swing music that we dance to follows this structure.

As a large majority of the most important composers and music publishers of that time were concentrated in a very specific area (an alley), in Manhattan, New York, and most of the songs that they composed followed the AABA structure, there are people who give this musical form the name of Tin Pan Alley (referring to the alley where the sound of the pianos played incessantly while composing the songs).

The Beatles, despite being the main group responsible for popularising other musical forms and leaving the AABA structure behind, still have many compositions that follow this classic form (some examples are Yesterday, A Hard Day's Night, Love Me Do, Ticket To Ride, Hey Jude or From Me to You).

This structure plays with repetition and contrast. The verse (A) is repeated three times to familiarise the listener with the song while the contrast is provided by the bridge (B). The bridge avoids monotony and involves a musical tension that necessarily calls for a new repetition of the verse in order to have the feeling of completing the complete musical idea.

In most cases within swing music, each of the phrases (either A or B) has an 8-bar length (4 eights, from the dancers' point of view). For this reason the complete structure usually has 32-bars.

Originally, many songs with AABA structure incorporated a verse that played the role of contextualizing the song. This made a lot of sense in songs (many of them in swing music) that were initially composed for shows. But when these songs became popular and, above all when they were played to dance to and were no longer in the context of a show, the verse lost its meaning (both from the point of view of contextualization and, especially, because the verse usually broke the dynamics of the song for dancers) and for this reason, in most cases, these verses were eliminated.

However, some songs have kept this explanation, such as “’Tain’t What You Do”.

In addition, this song has other elements (such as the interlude before the verse, or an incomplete chorus -without a B- just before a drum solo that lasts a whole phrase) which make its structure a little bit confusing (but very interesting). You can see it, if you want, in the next video.

AAA (simple verse structure)

The easiest form is the song that repeats the verse again and again. It is widely used in traditional music (for example in The House of the Rising Sun). Although the name may lead us to believe that the verse only repeats three times, it is necessary to understand that it is a generic form to say that it only has one phrase, it doesn't matter if it repeats itself twice or seven times.

A large number of the songs of the swing music we dance to follow an AAA structure, the phrases have a length of 12-bars (6 eights). That's why some people call the AAA structure a 12-bar blues structure. But, as we will see on the example page, this is not always the case since there many songs with an AAA structure that have phrases of 4-bars but also songs that have 12-bar phrases but do not have an AAA structure. Even more, there are a good number of songs that combine 4-bar phrases with 12-bar phrases.

You can find more information on how the songs evolved in the section of swing classics and jazz standards.

AB (verse–refrain or verse-bridge form)

It is very common feature of popular music is alternation between the verse, where certain facts are explained, and the chorus, where the participation of the listeners is invited, following a call and answer pattern. A good example of this structure is the famous Hymn of the Battle of the Republic with Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! or the gospel song In the Sweet By and By.

Since the 60s, a large part of pop, country and rock music has used this pattern. Unlike what happens in the formats AAA or AABA, that put the weight in the verse, it emphasises the refrain.

As we can see in the previous example, the verse (A) and the chorus (B) are clearly differentiated. But this is not often the case. Listen to the following example and you will see how the two sections are closely linked musically, to the point that they seem just one idea. In addition, the B usually does not have both the function of a refrain (with lyrics that are repeated identically in each phrase) but the one of contrast (bridge). So, next song has AB structure but, in this case, not constructured as verse-refrain but verse-bridge.

ABAB

This structure is identical to the AB form but in this case the first B doesn't finalise either melodically or harmonically. This means that in the first B, we do not have the feeling that the idea is over but we do have it once we get to the second B.

Bearing in mind that, despite being very similar, the two Bs often have small harmonic differences, some people prefer to call this structure as AB₁AB₂.

Watch the following video and try to perceive this subtle difference between the end of the first B and the second one.

ABAC

In this case three phrases are used and only the first, the A, is repeated. Thus, while in the ABAB structure the second and fourth phrases do not show any differences, or these differences are subtle, in the ABAC structure they are clear. Here is an example:

Structure with multiple sections

Nowadays popular music tends to use musical structures that use many more sections.

Swing music rarely follows this kind of more complex structure.

If you like you can watch this video where this structure is explained, very originally and clearly, using a pop song as a model.

If you want you can find some examples of swing songs where we have descrived the structure. You will find cases just like the ones we have just mentioned, but also many others.