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1->''"Katie Casey was baseball-mad,\
2Had the fever and had it bad,\
3Just to root for the hometown crew,\
4Every sou\
5Casey blew.\
6On a Saturday her young beau\
7Called to see if she'd like to go\
8To see a show, but Miss Kate said, 'No,\
9I'll tell you what you can do:'"''
10-->-- '''The first verse of''' "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
11
12The song is known only by its chorus. Few know of the ''existence'' of verses. If a verse is known, it's the related trope of the SecondVerseCurse. If the Chorus is really it for lyrics, it becomes a SingleStanzaSong. If it extends to the title, goes into RefrainFromAssuming. If the title is all people get in the chorus, can get into SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein.
13
14This is true of many songs from Tin Pan Alley days, which have verses which have been long forgotten by everybody but music geeks. It doesn't help that publishers often remove the verses of these songs to save pages. Original cast albums of older Broadway musicals also often removed the verses of songs, either to keep playing times down on LP (or, worse, 78 RPM) sides, or to make them more presentable as potential song hits. Also an EnforcedTrope in most TV advertisements that [[RepurposedPopSong use late twentieth-century pop songs]], apparently because the advertisers want to pay as few royalties as possible.
15
16See also TitleOnlyChorus, compare with SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein.
17
18----
19!!Examples:
20
21[[foldercontrol]]
22
23[[folder:Rock]]
24* Music/TheBloodhoundGang:
25** "The Bad Touch" by The Bloodhound Gang: "You and me, baby ain't nothin' but mammals/So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel."
26** This tends to be true of any other song that is mostly rap lyrics but has a more-or-less melodic chorus, in a sort of inversion of AWildRapperAppears. (Best known is probably DMX's "Party Up": "Y'all gonna make me lose my mind! Up in HERE! Up in HERE!")
27* Music/BruceSpringsteen's "Born in the USA" -- double the fun in that without the verses the meaning of the song changes completely. Occasionally leads to research failure when people neglect to ''listen'' to the song [[IsntItIronic before using it]].
28* Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes! Music/DavidBowie.
29* "Tubthumping" by Music/{{Chumbawamba}}. Best known for "I get knocked down, but I get up again". That song. It's a shame, because the verses would make the most awesome drinking game ever. I drink a whiskey drink, I drink a vodka drink...
30* An odd example of this is "Ohio" by Music/CrosbyStillsNashAndYoung. It consists of a chorus, a bridge, the same bridge repeated, then the chorus repeated again.
31* Music/DeepPurple's "Smoke On The Water". Some only stay for the guitar riff (which is outlawed now in most music shops), some stay a little longer for the pretty memorable chorus, but rarely does anyone know the verses. As one friend remarked: "There are verses?" Furthermore, just ask the nearest guitar player in your vicinity to play "Smoke on the Water". Safe to say at least 95% of people will know the "main" riff, less than 4% will have bothered to learn the verses and chorus, and maybe 1% will know the solo.
32** Most people know what the riff sounds like, but as Blackmore has pointed out, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWl0YJN5Xf4 very few of the people who play it do so correctly.]] This comes from people usually using generic barre chords rather than the more specific fingerings Blackmore used.
33** ''Child In Time'' does for keyboards what ''Smoke on the Water'' did for guitar. Most people who know the song only know the keyboard introduction, and a wordless chorus composed of tuneful screaming.
34* The closing refrain of "Ooh La La" by Faces ("I wish I knew then what I know now / When I was younger") is a StandardSnippet, but not many people could quote or even hum anything from the three minutes leading up to it.
35* "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Der Kommissar" by Neue Deutsche Welle artist Music/{{Falco}}.
36* "Where Did the Party Go?" by Music/FallOutBoy. Admit it, do you actually know any of the lyrics besides "Whoa, where did the party go?"
37* Hey, you know Music/GaryGlitter's "Rock And Roll (Part 2)"? You know, The Hey Song? Yeah, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDvG_BddYjc there's also a Part 1.]] Our European tropers are already going "WELL, NO SHIT" but they need to remember, only Part 2 got popular over in America!
38* Gary Wright: ♪Oo-hoo [[DreamWeaver DREEEEEEAM WEAVER]]! I believe you can get me through the NI-IIIIIGHT!♪
39* "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty is a weird example because the "chorus" everyone remembers doesn't even have lyrics.
40* "Paradise City" by Music/GunsNRoses: it has verses, sung more or less clearly (though [[MotorMouth really fast]]), but everybody remembers only the lyrics of the chorus: "Take me down to the paradise city, where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. TAKE ME HOME!".
41** [[SecondVerseCurse And even fewer people know the second verse.]] [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Except Masaaki Endo.]]
42* "Give Peace a Chance" by Music/JohnLennon. Since the chorus is only one couplet, repeated as necessary, that takes this trope near the limit. But it's understandable: the chorus is simple and timeless; the verses are tonguetwisters, and they are less timeless.
43** The "forgotten verses" effect is perhaps heightened by the fact that current live concert performances of the song by Music/PaulMcCartney as a tribute to his former bandmate include only the familiar refrain, usually as part of a medley with another song. (For example, since at least 2009, Music/TheBeatles' "A Day in the Life" has been the song that segues into the refrain of "Give Peace a Chance".)
44** "Hey Jude" is much the same...
45* Nobody cares about the verses to Music/{{KISS}}'s "Rock and Roll All Nite". Nobody.
46** See, that's the kind of talk makes people get wild. But that's okay - "you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy..."
47** This is a particularly odd case in that it's not unusual for casual listeners to know both (some of) the verse and the chorus, but ''think they're different songs''.
48* "Crawling" by Music/LinkinPark is infamous for its angsty chorus and little else; in fact most only ever know the first line,[[note]]''Craaaawling iiin my skiiiiin!''[[/note]] the second is brought up occasionally,[[note]]''These wooooounds, they wiiillll not heee-al!''[[/note]] and almost never the 3rd or 4th.[[note]]''Feeear is hooow I faaaall! Confuuuusing whaaaat is re-al!''[[/note]]
49* Music/MeatLoaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" is infamous for supposedly [[ThatMysteriousThing not specifying]] just what the singer wouldn't do. In fact, it mentions four such things, one in each... verse. (The confusion can be blamed on a combination of two things: this trope and the use of the word "but" instead of "and", since each of the mentioned actions is ''not'' a "good" thing one would do "for love.")
50* The [[AdaptationDisplacement better known version]] of The Nightcrawlers' "Push the Feeling On", which sounds nothing like the original, only has [[IndecipherableLyrics chopped-and-screwed]] LoopedLyrics. Few people know of the existence of the original lyrics.
51* "Closer" by Music/NineInchNails, to the point where most people refer to it as the fuck-you-like-an-animal song, which [[MisaimedFandom completely misses the point.]]
52* It's a bit of an in-joke in the {{Goth}} fandom that nobody remembers the lyrics of Music/TheSistersOfMercy's "This Corrosion" other than the "Hey now, hey now now now, sing this corrosion to me" chorus.
53* For many, "[[Music/{{Queen}} We Will Rock You]]".
54** And its near companion "We Are The Champions".
55*** As well as "Another One Bites The Dust."
56* "La Bamba" by Music/RitchieValens (and later covered by Los Lobos for the soundtrack of [[Film/LaBamba Valens' biopic]] starring Creator/LouDiamondPhillips).
57* For some, [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"]] are just those five words.
58* "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. (Can you remember anything other than "It's the thing to do"?)
59* Most people know only the title part of [[Music/SimpleMinds "(Don't You)]] [[Film/TheBreakfastClub Forget About Me"]], since that verse gets repeated multiple times at the start before the other lyrics begin.
60* "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam. It does have two verses, which may not have been remembered, partially because the first verse sounds too much like the chorus to Jerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart", but moreso because of its chorus immortalized as a sports anthem.
61* For many people, only the beginning of the song "[[Music/{{Survivor|Band}} Eye of the Tiger]]" is known, the lyrics are almost always forgotten. After its feature on ''Film/RockyIII'', several media used the song through the years [[BadToTheBone as a stereotypical boxing theme tune]] [[DeadHorseTrope often used for comedic effect]], and the rest of the song is almost never played.
62* The Troggs: "Wild Thing/You make my heart sing"...
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Alternate/Progressive/Punk Rock]]
66* "One Week" by Music/BarenakedLadies gets this somewhat. Each chorus is slightly varied, but the verses are not nearly as well known, not helped by being somewhat disconnected from the chorus, and generally sung very fast.
67* "The Great Escape" by Music/BoysLikeGirls, to most.
68* "Song 2" by Music/{{Blur}}. This example might be this trope ''squared''. How many people know words to the chorus other than "[[MemeticMutation WOO HOO]]"?
69* "Rock The Casbah" by Music/TheClash. How many people (especially outside Britain) even understand the words, let alone know the verses well enough to sing them? And yet, every time the chorus comes back we're all reciting: "[[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein Something something something...Rock the Casbah! Rock the Casbah!]]"
70* "Bring Me To Life" by Music/{{Evanescence}}, without a doubt.
71* Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" is often only known by its chorus, or really just the "I'm not sick but I'm not well" bit. And maybe the "Paranoia, Paranoia" part.
72* "Welcome to the Black Parade" by Music/{{My Chemical Romance}}. A lot of people don't know the verses, and they might not even know the chorus (WE'LL CARRY ON), but they will always recognize the G-note and the "When I was... a young boy..."
73* "This Is Not a Love Song" by Music/PublicImageLtd (PIL, not Public Image).
74* Music/{{REM}}'s [[Music/{{Document}} "It's the End of the World as We Know It"]] narrowly avoids because people get one or other line of the verses (mostly "[[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein LEONARD BERNSTEIN!]]").
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Pop]]
78* "I Want It That Way" by Music/BackstreetBoys.
79* Music/CyndiLauper's "All Through The Night"
80-->''We have no past\
81we won't reach back.\
82Keep with me forward\
83ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT''
84* The song "I Don't Know" by Erika is most remembered by [[TitleDrop its title present in the lyrics]] since it's [[BrokenRecord repeated more than ten times in the chorus]].
85* "Fancy" is an Music/IggyAzalea song ''featuring'' Music/CharliXCX, but the part people remember best is the poppy chorus by Charli XCX. Although the "I-G-G-Y" part is pretty well known as well.
86* Thanks to [[MemeticMutation the memes]], most people can't get other verses of the song "Hide and Seek" by Music/ImogenHeap rather than the part "hmm what you saaaay...".
87* "Firework" by Music/KatyPerry, to some.
88* "There She Goes" by Music/TheLas (later covered by Music/SixpenceNoneTheRicher) is this, since it doesn't have any verses.
89* "Macarena" by Los Del Río, with many Americans only knowing the "HEEEEEEEEEEEY Macarena!" bit. Doesn't help that the entire rest of the chorus is in Spanish -- as is the entirety of the original song; the one you're familiar with is the "Bayside Boys Mix", which added English verses.
90* "99 Luftballons" by Music/{{Nena}}, outside of "something, something, Captain Kirk" most Yanks only know "99 luftballons, blahblahblahblahblahblahblah, 99 luftballons".
91* "Music/GangnamStyle" by Music/{{PSY}}. The only words people know are "Oppan Gangnam Style" and "HEEEEY!!! Sexy LADY!" because everything else is in Korean. Also applies to "Gentleman" and "Daddy" to a lesser extent.
92* Toni Basil: "OH MICKEY, YOU'RE SO FINE, YOU'RE SO FINE YOU BLOW MY MIND, HEY MICKEY! HEY MICKEY!" If you're lucky, some might remember bits of the chorus or the "[[AccidentalInnuendo I'll take it like a man]]" line, but other than that, most people will only know the famously catchy refrain (or derivatives of it).
93* "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Music/WhitneyHouston.
94* [[Music/{{Haddaway}} What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more.]]
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Metal]]
98* Assuming they've never heard the ClusterFBomb bridge to Music/{{Disturbed}}'s "Down with the Sickness", most people will probably know "Get up! C'mon, get down with the sickness! Get up! C'mon, get down with the sickness! Get up! C'mon, get down with the sickness!". They may even forgo the rest for the title alone. Well, they know that part and "a-wah-ah-ah-ah."
99* "Soft" by Music/{{Motionless In White}}. If you've heard any part of this song, it'll be the "YOU'RE MINE, MOTHERFUCKER!"
100* While the verses of "Killing in The Name" by Music/RageAgainstTheMachine aren't quite as overlooked thanks to the ample repetition involved, almost everyone begins joining in once the bridge to "FUCK YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YOU TELL ME!" begins.
101* "Du Hast" by Music/{{Rammstein}}. Though it's actually the repeated lines of the verse most people in the US Know.
102* "Dragula" by Music/{{Rob Zombie}}. The verses are hard to remember (partially because they're mostly WordSalad), but then the chorus comes and everyone's digging through the ditches and burning through the witches.
103[[/folder]]
104
105[[folder:Electronic]]
106* Basshunter does this many times with his own songs, with examples ranging from the chorus-only "Vi Sitter I Ventrilo Och Spelar [=DotA=]" to not realizing "Jingle Bells" has more than one verse.
107* Is there someone who listen to the song "Big Enough" by Kirin J. Callinan without [[WatchItForTheMeme skipping]] to the part of the [[FanNickname screaming cowboy]]?[[note]]His name is actually Jimmy Barnes, a rock musician from Scotland[=/=]Australia known for his vocal techniques.[[/note]]
108* Music/OZone's "Dragostea din tei" (a.k.a. "[[RefrainFromAssuming Numa Numa]]") is this for some people.
109* Music/{{Cascada}}'s [[CoveredUp world-famous cover]] of Maggie Reilly's "Everytime We Touch" only retains the chorus of the original song, and has entirely new verses that are mostly forgettable. Several artists recorded complete covers of the song prior to Cascada's version, but none came close to its level of popularity.
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:Rap]]
113* Rising rapper B.O.B's first album had a lot of songs like this. Higher is a perfect example, and plays out like this: Verse 1->Chorus->long instrumental->Chorus again. His songs had short verses with long choruses. A song that worked with it was Ghost in the Machine, however, because it's an absolutely epic tearjerker, which is hard to find in Hi-Hop nowadays.
114* "Gasolina" by Music/DaddyYankee has this taken to an extreme - people only know the chorus, and they do so as [[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein "something something Gasolina"]] repeated 8 times.
115* The chorus of "Same Love" by Music/{{Macklemore}} is this compared to the rest of the song (which is mainly spoken). It's actually from a separate song called "She Keeps Me Warm" by Music/MaryLambert.
116* Spank Rock's "What It Look Like" is remembered only for its chorus:
117-->''Tell me what it look like\
118Tell me what it is\
119Tell me what it look like\
120Tell me what it is\
121Tell me what it look like\
122Tell me what it is\
123Tell me what it look like\
124Tell me what it is\
125Tell me with it''
126[[/folder]]
127
128[[folder:R&B]]
129* The chorus of "I Love the Nightlife" by Alicia Bridges is one of the most famous bits of the entire {{Disco}} genre ("I love the nightlife, I gotta boogie on the disco 'round"), so you're forgiven for thinking the song is just a celebration of Disco. In fact, the verses are a prime example of LyricalDissonance. The whole song basically boils down to "Our relationship sucks, I know you're flagrantly cheating on me, but I'd rather go dancing and not talk about it."
130* The infamous "Who Let the Dogs Out?" by Baha Men. The verses sound ''quite'' different from that chorus, to say the least.
131* The Four Seasons' "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me)" subverts this. The song contains six verses and no chorus with each verse topped off with the song's title.
132* KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)".
133* "I Got You" by Music/JamesBrown is commonly known by the opening lyrics "I Feel Good", which is the only part many people know.
134* Prince's [[Film/Batman1989 "Batdance"]] has ''got'' to qualify. While it is admittedly far more of a dance number than a "sing-along" song, most people are unlikely to remember more than about 10 percent of the lyrics at best (assuming they can remember it at all). It doesn't help that the lyrics come faster and faster as the song rolls on, until by the finale they are all being uttered simultaneously. In fact, the one line (besides the chorus) that ''everyone'' seems to remember is the very first one ("Oh, I got a live one here!") - and that's only because radio deejays loved to play it as an out-of-context gag soundbite for years afterward.
135* Music/TheTemptations: "War! Huh! Good god! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Everyone knows that, barely anyone knows the verses.
136[[/folder]]
137
138[[folder:Country]]
139* "Independence Day" by Music/MartinaMcBride sounds like a patriotic song during its chorus ("Let freedom ring / Let the white dove sing / Let the whole world know that today is the day of reckoning..."). Much like the "Born in the USA" example, the chorus is often played on July 4th as a patriotic gesture. The verses, meanwhile, give the chorus context: the "independence" is independence from an abusive husband, in the form of a murder-suicide by arson on July 4th, while their daughter (the narrator) is at a fair.
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Jazz]]
143* You're unlikely to hear the (unmelodic) verse of "As Time Goes By" because it wasn't used in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''.
144** The melody is all right; it's the lyric that's the problem. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc4iLg_3SGk Listen here.]] Needs no introduction, indeed.
145* How many people watching the Indianapolis 500 each year know that "Back Home Again in Indiana" has verses to go with the single chorus that was sung for the longest time by Creator/JimNabors?
146* "When The Saints Go Marching In"
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Other]]
150* For some reason, most hymnals print only the chorus of Andraé Crouch's "My Tribute" (which begins "To God be the glory, To God be the glory / To God be the glory for the things He has done…") and omit the verse (which begins "How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me?"). Some go even further and lop off the end of the song ("Just let me live my life / Let it be pleasing, Lord, to thee…") followed by the last half of the chorus a second time.
151** Other hymnals subvert this, since some hymns are written with verses sung by a song leader and/or choir, and the congregation joining in on the refrain. As a result, the hymnals in the pews have only the refrain printed, while the song leader/choir versions contain the entire song.
152* "Autumn Leaves", in its original French version as "Les feuilles mortes", had a verse, but only the chorus was translated into English; sheet music editions that included the verse left it in French.
153* "Daisy Bell", the song that HAL sings in ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', has verses. [[RefrainFromAssuming Nobody remembers it under that title]], either (HAL calls it "Daisy," but most people remember it as "A Bicycle Built For Two"), since only the verses mention a bell.
154** As do "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" and "Where Did You Get That Hat?"
155* Dominique[[note]]A song about Saint Dominic, a male saint.[[/note]] by Soeur Sourire (AKA: The Singing Nun) tends to mainly be remembered for its chorus.
156* [[http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/godblessamerica.html God Bless America.]] (The verse begins "While the storm clouds gather / Far across the sea," which reflects on the song having been first published in 1938.) Let Kate Smith show you [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQDW-NMaRs how it goes.]]
157* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOo-zKk0x4Q Hello, My Baby!]]"
158** Oddly averted by Music/IvorBiggun, normally known for his terribly bawdy songs.
159* "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am"; largely the fault of Herman's Hermits, who only sung the chorus in their (very popular) version. "Second verse, same as the first!" Apparently they performed only the chorus because that was the only part they knew. So it could have been a Chorus Only Song before they recorded it.
160* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKfxKtGLU8 "It's a Long Way To Tipperary."]]
161-->"Up to mighty London came an Irishman one day --
162-->As the streets are paved with gold, sure, [[HaveAGayOldTime everyone was gay!"]]
163* As with many children's songs,[[note]]And not just traditional nursery rhymes, either.[[/note]] ''Music/PuffTheMagicDragon'' (originally recorded by Peter, Paul, and Mary) is often sung this way.
164* That mainstay of the Last Night of the Proms, "Rule Britannia" has verses that no one knows, but they do know the chorus.
165* The [[ChristmasSongs Christmas Song]] "Silver Bells" is sometimes sung this way.
166** Many other Christmas Songs are examples as well.
167* The Bahamian folk standard "Sloop John B", AKA "The Wreck of the John B." AKA "I Want To Go Home", most famously recorded by Music/TheBeachBoys, is mostly only remembered by its refrain: "Hoist up the John B.'s sails, see how the main sail sets, call for the captain ashore, let me go home..."
168* An inversion of sorts: the StandardSnippet version of "The Streets of Cairo" uses the tune of the verse, not the chorus.
169* "Take Me Out To The Ball Game." The verses, as it happens, are actually quite interesting, centering as they do on a {{Tomboy}} who loves baseball (Interestingly, the song was written by a man who hated the sport and never went to a professional ball game in his entire life).
170* "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ta-ra-ra_Boom-de-ay Ta-rar-a Boom-de-ay!]]" (Although a lot of people know the melody of the verses as "UsefulNotes/LizzieBorden took [[AxeCrazy an axe]]...")
171* Music/WoodyGuthrie's "This Land is Your Land", which could be why [[MisaimedFandom everyone believes it to be such a patriotic song]]. It's a protest song - it's the essence of patriotism! To make things worse, when the song's verses are included, they are often limited to the first three--while the protest elements are present, they become more clear in the two later verses. (The very last one ending in "Is this land made for you and me?")
172* [[http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/lostverses/lostverses.php This page on ParlorSongs.com]] details the process in which verses of Tin Pan Alley songs became obscure.
173** Many songs from Tin Pan Alley days have verses which have been long forgotten by everybody but music geeks--so much so that guessing the song from its first verse became a parlor game.
174*** "Give My Regards To Broadway" is a good example of this.
175*** As are most songs written by the Gershwins.
176* "Yankee Doodle", of all things, has quite a few verses (specific regions and regiments came up with their own additional verses during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution), but nobody today remembers any more than the chorus.
177* Not many people know that "You Are My Sunshine" [[http://www.lyricsty.com/lyrics/d/doris_day/you_are_my_sunshine.html has verses,]] since they're nearly never sung.
178** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-bkprK2Sc The reggae version by Papa Winnie even more]]: the verses [[MotorMouth are sung so fast]] it's hard to remember anything other than the chorus.
179* Several national anthems exemplify this:
180** Does even UsefulNotes/CharlesIII know the other verses to "God Save The King"?
181** "Land Of Hope And Glory", as mentioned [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Hope_and_Glory elsewhere.]]
182** Das Deutschlandlied has verses which are known but no longer part of the national anthem due to their historical implications.
183*** And still others which were never part of the national anthem because they were considered inappropriate for something so solemn. "Das Deutschlandlied" was originally a drinking song for supporters of German unification, and was adopted as the national anthem after the nation of Germany came into existence in 1871.
184** Only half a verse of the old [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica South African]] national anthem survived the end of UsefulNotes/TheApartheidEra. This was incorporated into the new portmanteau national anthem and just to make the point, had some new English-language lyrics added about unity and freedom. [[note]]Replacing lines expressing [[AmoralAfrikaner Boer]] pride in taming a wild continent[[/note]] The rest, about the Boers trekking into and civilizing Afrika, was quietly retired.
185** "O Canada" has three verses, only one of which is ever performed.
186** Similarly, "The Star Spangled Banner" has four verses, but everyone just knows the first. Interestingly, the first verse ends on a question, asking whether the star-spangled banner still flies "o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." By ending on the first verse, we never find out if it still does. In Creator/IsaacAsimov’s short story “No Refuge Could Save”, a German spy is revealed by his knowledge of the third verse. Due to his training to seem like an American, he knew more of the national anthem than an actual American would.
187** The Dutch national anthem, the 'Wilhelmus' has fifteen stanzas, one for every letter in the name of 'Willem van Nassov', who was an important person in Dutch history (Nassov being an contemporary orthographic variant of 'Nassou', the modern spelling of his name.) Most Dutch people only know the first stanza. Some religious people know the sixth stanza as well, as it gets sung along with the first one on national holidays and days of commemoration in some churches.
188** Said sixth verse was also sung in ''Fanfic/PokemonXNimjaPlayTheGame'' in the episode "Dedicated To...". "''Mijn schild ende betrouwen zjit gij O God [[{{Pun}} mijn heer...]]''" [[note]] "Mijnheer" is what [[=OGiNiM=]] calls Nimja. [[/note]]
189* Many many folksongs and shanties and their ilk suffer from either this or the SecondVerseCurse. "Blackfly", "Canning Salmon", and "Northwest Passage" are three.
190* This is a common complaint regarding [[ChristianRock songs labeled "praise and worship"]] (or in more recent times, contemporary worship music); usually as a suggestion that the newer songs tend to have less depth compared to traditional hymns.
191[[/folder]]
192
193!!Other Examples
194[[folder:Anime]]
195* The opening theme of ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsipExvcHgM "Morning Grace."]]
196[[/folder]]
197
198[[folder:Film]]
199* A scene in ''Film/CanadianBacon'' has [[PowerTrio John Candy and the other two guys]] singing the chorus of "Born in the USA" and "Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}!" over and over again because they don't know the rest of the lyrics.
200* "When You Wish Upon a Star", as heard in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''.
201* The movie version of ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' famously opens with Creator/JulieAndrews singing the title song's refrain. Not only does the stage version include the verse, you can still hear its music in the movie's orchestral introduction if you listen carefully.
202* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'' appears resigned to this. It adds completely forgettable lyrics around the already well-known "Transformers, more than meets the eye" ExpositoryThemeSong, then ''removes'' them when the song is sung at the beginning of the movie, only playing them during the credits.
203* Several of the songs from ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'' have verses not used in the movie, including "Over The Rainbow", "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead", "If I Only Had a Brain/Heart/Nerve", and "The Merry Old Land Of Oz".
204** Even more surprising are songs that got cut out of the film ''entirely'', including "The Jitter Bug", "Happy Glow", and "The Ozphabet". (The musical stage version retains many of them.)
205[[/folder]]
206
207[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
208* The theme song for ''Series/TheJeffersons.''
209* "Boss of Me", the title song for ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' by Music/TheyMightBeGiants, was only used in full once on the show: an extended music-video-like opening for season 2's "Old Mrs. Old".
210* The chorus of the ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' theme song is iconic, but few people actually remember the opening verse--likely because only the chorus was in the opening of the show.
211-->"They've got a power and a force that you've never seen before.\
212They've got the ability to morph and to even up the score.\
213No one can ever take them down.\
214The power lies on their side!"
215** ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' reuses the theme, but gets rid of everything but the chorus and changes the lyrics slightly. The only lyrics are "Go go, Power Rangers," and "Rangers together, samurai forever" (in place of "you Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers").
216* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren", the song "Maiden Wine" sung by Creator/LeonardNimoy actually has two verses. It is usually cut for length on television. This song also suffers from IAmNotShazam since the name of the song is usually called "Bitter Dregs" and the mistaken assumption that those words are the chorus of the song but they only appear in the first verse.
217[[/folder]]
218
219[[folder:Theater]]
220* "Anything You Can Do" has a short verse, but it's not used in ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun''.
221* "I've Got You to Lean On" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle'' has two meandering ensemble verses that the original cast recording omits to simplify the song.
222* "How to Handle a Woman" from ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}'' has a rather long verse that didn't make it onto the original cast recording.
223* "The Sewing Bee" from ''Theatre/TheGoldenApple'' was reduced to a few choruses on the original cast recording (which was severely abridged in general).
224* "Children Will Listen" from ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' has verses not used in the show.
225* "On the Street Where You Live" from ''Theatre/MyFairLady'' has a deleted verse exclusive to the sheet music. The show precedes the song with a different verse not intended to work without the context of the surrounding dialogue scenes, so the original cast recording has no verse at all.
226* The verse to the title song of ''Theatre/OfTheeISing'' was printed in the vocal score, but with a note saying that it is not used. Few recordings include it.
227* "All The Things You Are", the BreakawayPopHit from the Broadway flop ''Very Warm for May'', originally had a lengthy verse that was cut down to six lines for the separately published edition. Few recordings bother to include any of it.
228* "Don't Rain On My Parade" from ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' has a brief opening verse ("If you live your life, life is bound to teach you...") that is not sung in the show.
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231[[folder:Video Games]]
232* The boss fight against the Cruise Chaser in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' has music with lyrics that is basically "Forward and back and then forward and back and then go forward and back, then put one foot forward" being sung several times in a row before the lyrics change. Because of how catchy the chorus is, many players sing it without singing the other parts of the song, if they even know about them at all.
233* In ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' each of the team theme songs are played this way when the teams have to fight each other.
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236[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
237* "Remember" from ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' is only a chorus song in the cartoon itself. The rest of the song is only depicted as mumbled background music, with only the chorus being clear. Years later the full song was leaked online and [[LyricalDissonance it's not quite as cheery as it seemed]].
238* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' features "The Heart Carol" as a chorus-only song in the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve Hearth's Warming Eve]]". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QQrhKRac64 The full version]], which has two verse sections, wasn't released until ''two years'' after the episode aired.
239[[/folder]]

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