Line #335 Main/SingleStanzaSong


1	->''"All the [=DJs=] keep complaining\
2	The tunes run much too long\
3	So I went and wrote myself\
4	a 26-second song."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/ShelSilverstein''', "26 Second Song"
6
7	A Single Stanza Song ''sounds'' like a case of SecondVerseCurse or a ChorusOnlySong, but there is one big difference: There really is only ''one'' stanza.
8
9	If there were ever other lyrics, they are lost to history. If these lyrics are repeated, it becomes LoopedLyrics (and if it repeats too much, BrokenRecord).
10
11	Contrast SecondVerseCurse, ChorusOnlySong and SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder: Alternative Rock ]]
18	* Aside from the rap break in the middle, ''Dirty Harry'' by Music/{{Gorillaz}} has only a single, six-line verse.
19	-->I need a gun to keep myself from harm
20	-->The poor people are burning in the sun
21	-->They ain't got a chance
22	-->They ain't got a chance
23	-->I need a gun 'cause all I do is dance
24	-->'Cause all I do is dance
25	* The title track of Music/{{Coldplay}}'s ''Parachutes'', which only runs 46 seconds.
26	** The full song: "In a haze, a stormy haze, / I'll be 'round, I'll be loving you always. / Always. / Here I am and I'll take my time, / here I am and I'll wait in line always. / Always."
27	* Music/TheyMightBeGiants:
28	** John Flansburgh did a few of these with his side project band Mono Puff: "Nixon's The One" has just 2 lines, "Dr. Kildare" has 4 lines of lyrics in the middle of an otherwise instrumental song, "Distant Antenna" has a single prose paragraph of text spoken over the music.
29	** "Minimum Wage" from Music/{{Flood\|TheyMightBeGiants}} consists of the title, followed by a "HYAH!" and a whip-crack, then a little over half a minute of instrumental music.
30	** Most of the songs in "Fingertips" from ''Music/{{Apollo 18\|Album}}'' are only long enough for one verse. Some are only long enough for a single ''line'', like "Who's That Standing By My Window?" and "The Day That Love Came to Play".
31	** There are several of these on TMBG's album ''Nanobots'', such as "Destroy The Past".
32	** "Michigan" and "Nevada" from John Linnell's solo project ''State Songs'' are both a single verse, although the latter is followed by six minutes of a diminuendo-ing marching band.
33	** "The Famous Polka" is about 75 seconds of instrumental music, followed by a single stanza:
34	--->A famous person wears the same size water skis as me\
35	She's got three cars, as many years I've lived in this city\
36	Her hair is blonde and mine is brown, they both start with a "b"\
37	But when the phone inside her rib cage rings, it's not for me\
38	But when the phone inside her rib cage rings, it's not for me\
39	''HEY!''
40	* "Elizabeth My Dear" by Music/TheStoneRoses. 30 words, less than a minute long, and extremely creepy.
41	* Music/{{Phish}}'s "The Divided Sky" has multiple composed sections and goes on for over ten minutes but the sole lyrics are, "Ah, divided sky, the wind blows high."
42	** This seems to be a trend with them, as several of their most famous songs - "You Enjoy Myself", "Run Like An Antelope" and "Weekapaug Groove" especially - are around 10 minutes long but have only one or two lines.
43	* Music/NineInchNails has two on ''The Downward Spiral'': "Big Man With A Gun" and the TitleTrack.
44	* Harry and the Potters' "This Book Is So Awesome" is something like 28 seconds long.
45	* This is one of the reasons why San Pedro band the Minutemen had that name.
46	* "[[Creator/AudreyTautou Tautou]]", the first track on Brand New's album ''Deja Entendu''. The lyrics are "I'm sinking like a stone in the sea/I'm burning like a bridge for your body"
47	* Music/ThePixies' "Stormy Weather" from ''Bossanova''. "It is time, oh oh, it is time for stormy weather." Over and over. Not even a stanza, just a line.
48	** From the same album there's "Ana", which does have a whole stanza - it's one six line verse repeated a few times:
49	--->She's my fave\
50	Undressing in the sun\
51	Return to sea - bye\
52	Forgetting everyone\
53	Eleven high\
54	Ride a wave
55	** The reason for this is that it's an acrostic - If you put the first letter of every line together, it spells "surfer".
56	* "Little Tiny Song" by Music/BarenakedLadies/The Brothers Creeggan:
57	-->Hey, I'm a cow, I'm curious\
58	Hey watch me now, I'm furious\
59	Hey, I'm a cow, I'm full of hate\
60	Hey watch me now, I'm on your plate
61	* "New Day Rising" by Music/HuskerDu repeats its title all throughout the song, in various styles, shouting being the most prominent. "If I Told You" is also an example.
62	* "Cigarette" by Music/BenFoldsFive.
63	* "Skeleton's Lullaby", a bonus track on Music/{{Ludo}}'s album ''Prepare The Preparations''.
64	* "Nature Anthem" by Grandaddy.
65	* "There She Goes" by Music/TheLas.
66	* "Tender Lumplings" on Music/OingoBoingo's final studio album:
67	-->O listen, tender lumplings, let me take your little hand\
68	I'll take you from this hell-hole to the promised land\
69	But don't blame me, O children, if those promises don't keep\
70	'Cuz promises, like lives, can be bought so very cheap
71	* Music/{{Feeder}} have two: "20th Century Trip" from ''Polythene'' (1997) and the inter-track "Space" from ''Silent Cry'' (2008):
72	-->Fading like someone who's given up on life\
73	You've gotta know, know how that feels\
74	People will always change, never stay the same\
75	We've got to believe, we've got to believe
76	* "Woods" by Music/BonIver is the same four lines repeated with increasing levels of orchestration.
77	--> I'm lost in the [[TitleDrop woods]]
78	--> I'm down on my mind
79	--> I'm building a still
80	--> To slow down time
81	* "A Lady" by Music/TallyHall. Most of the song is an arrangement of gentle, harp-like piano notes and "aahs" aside from these lyrics:
82	-->I know [[TitleDrop a lady]]
83	-->[[AlbumTitleDrop Good and evil]]
84	-->Showed me that I was a gentleman
85	-->Wait for the girl to blossom into
86	-->Colors that grow where you can
87	* "#1 Hit Jam" by Brian Jonestown Massacre is a five minute song where the only lyrical content is "Hey, you".
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder: Avant-garde ]]
91	* Music/{{Buckethead}}'s three/four-line, 26-second song, "Taxidermy Tots". The lyrics go "Mom says I'm the best at playin' with taxidermy / That's why I'm gonna taxidermy you / Shouldn't have said those mean things to me last night / (cough cough) [[CarefulWithThatAxe WHHHHAAAUUGGGHHHH]]"
92	* Music/TheResidents did a whole album of songs (about three dozen of them) that were one verse and one chorus long, all of which came in at one minute or less. They promoted it by buying time on a local Top 40 station and having the entire album played as advertisements.
93	* Yoko Ono's "Don't Worry, Yoko (Mummy's Only Looking For A Hand In The Snow)" is just "Don't worry" repeated over and over.
94	[[/folder]]
95
96	[[folder: Blues-Rock ]]
97	* Both of Blind Faith's hits, "Can't Find My Way Home" and "In The Presence of the Lord", consist of a single verse repeated three times with a solo between the second and third iteration.
98	* "People Are Strange" by Music/TheDoors is the same verse and chorus repeated three times.
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder: Christian Rock ]]
102	* Relient K's "Crayons Can Melt On Us For All I Care". The full lyrics are: "I just wasted ten seconds of your life."
103	[[/folder]]
104
105	[[folder: Classical ]]
106	* Every movement of J.S. Bach's ''Mass in B Minor'' is a Single Stanza Song because each movement is taken from a section of the Lutheran Mass. Such sections are made up of short phrases, such as "Kyrie eleison" (Lord have mercy).
107	[[/folder]]
108
109	[[folder: Comedy / Parody ]]
110	* "Harvey The Wonder Hamster" by Music/WeirdAlYankovic.
111	** ''Subverted'' in Weird Al's "This Song's Just Six Words Long," a parody of George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You." Harrison's song nearly fits this trope itself; Weird Al's version is not only longer than six words, but none of the stanzas repeat.
112	* Creator/SandraBoynton, children's writer, created "The Shortest Song in the Universe".
113	-->The shortest song in the universe\
114	Really isn't much fun\
115	\
116	It only has one puny verse\
117	... and then it's done!
118	* "This Song Is Boring" by Darryl Rhoades and the Hahavishnu Orchestra.
119	* Brazilian singer Falcão had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIjDvmdg27k "Ai Minha Mãe"]], a maternal homage whose entire lyrics are, translated:
120	-->Ah my mother, my mother\
121	Ah my mother, my mother\
122	Ah my mother, my mother\
123	It's my father's wife
124	* "The Day the Bass Players Took Over the World" by Music/TroutFishingInAmerica
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder: Country ]]
128	* The title and lyrics of Kenny Price's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X30l7A8-BRM This Is the Shortest Song in the World]]" by Kenny Price are identical, nor are the lyrics repeated.
129	* Roger Miller's "Husbands and Wives" is almost an example, as it consists of the same verse twice, but the first time around, he adds "A woman and a man, a man and a woman / Some can, some can't, [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment and some can]]." Music/BrooksAndDunn's cover plays it straight, since it does that line both times.
130	* Music/GeorgeStrait's "Heartland" and "I Know She Still Loves Me" are both only one stanza, although the former does repeat a couple lines.
131	* Many songs by Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers are this, as codified by their SignatureSong "All the Gold in California".
132	[[/folder]]
133
134	[[folder: Dance ]]
135	* "Don't Let the Man" by Music/FatboySlim:
136	-->...and the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"...
137	** The line is said twenty times in roughly four minutes.
138	** And pretty much any other lyrical song by him. "Right about now, the funk soul brother / Check it out now, the funk soul brother"
139	* Ondina's "Summer of Love" has four repeating lines of Euro-reggae toasting during its intro, a single eight-line verse stanza, the second half of which is repeated, and a TitleOnlyChorus.
140	* "Around The World" by More (not to be confused with the Music/DaftPunk song or "Around The World (La La La La La)" by ATC) has only a single non-repeating verse, followed by the bridge and chorus.
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder: Dance-Punk ]]
144	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm312ZiIrXU "HEY! HO! USE YOUR FLIPPERS TO GET DOWN!"]] - the entirety of the lyrics from Art vs. Science's "Flippers".
145	[[/folder]]
146
147	[[folder: Dark Cabaret ]]
148	* "672" by the Dresden Dolls: "Six-hundred-seventy-two (repeat 3 times) OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH / Some day they'll find about you too..." And no, Music/AmandaPalmer never explains what the hell that's supposed to mean.
149	[[/folder]]
150
151	[[folder: Disco ]]
152	* The Silver Convention had songs that had only six different words:
153	** "Fly Robin Fly":
154	--->Fly, robin, fly\
155	Fly, robin, fly\
156	Fly, robin, fly\
157	Up, up to the sky!
158	** "Get Up And Boogie":
159	--->That's right!\
160	Get up and boogie!\
161	Get up and boogie!\
162	''(instrumental line)''\
163	''(more instrumental, then)'' That's right!\
164	\
165	''(instrumental, then)'' Boogie!\
166	''(instrumental, then)'' Boogie!\
167	''(two more instrumental lines and then)'' That's right!\
168	''(etc. etc. etc.)''
169	[[/folder]]
170
171	[[folder: Electronic / Techno ]]
172	* Music/TheProdigy:
173	** "Smack My Bitch Up" consists of the eponymous lyrics over the same short techno loop about a zillion times.
174	** "Breathe" just has the one verse as well.
175	* "Poor Leno" by Röyksopp contains only a few repeated lines sung by Erlend Øye, one of the members of Kings Of Convenience.
176	* The Music/DaftPunk song "Around the World", as recited in [[http://www.dieselsweeties.com/archive/1766 this]] ''Webcomic/DieselSweeties'' strip.
177	** "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is pretty much just various permutations of:
178	--->Work it harder, make it better\
179	Do it faster, makes us stronger\
180	more than ever, Hour after\
181	Our work is never over
182	* "Old Piano" by Music/FrouFrou:
183	-->What's that you're saying there? Oh well,\
184	Rain rushing windowpane, oh well,\
185	Not sure what space I'm in, oh well,\
186	But I'm safe inside me here, oh well... oh well... oh well...
187	* "Five Ways To Run" by Music/TheCrystallineEffect:
188	-->You can watch in silence, the world go by\
189	You can feel the sadness that makes you cry\
190	You can take action for what is right\
191	You can inspire
192	* The lyrics of Eric Prydz's "Call on Me" consist entirely of a [[LoopedLyrics looped lyric]] {{sampled up}} from Steve Winwood's "Valerie".
193	* Music/{{Covenant}} has many, such as "Shelter", "Flux", "One World, One Sky", "The Men", "Kairos", et al.
194	* "Going Nowhere" by Music/CutCopy:
195	-->I can't think straight\
196	Help me now before it's too late\
197	Now what do I care?\
198	'Cause we're going nowhere...\
199	* The vocal version of "Galaxia" by Music/FerryCorsten's Moonman alias has just one verse plus the chorus.
200	[[/folder]]
201
202	[[folder: Experimental Rock ]]
203	* "European Son" by The Velvet Underground has two very short stanzas before launching into a ten minute jam.
204	[[/folder]]
205
206	[[folder: Folk ]]
207	* "White Winter Hymnal" by Music/FleetFoxes is one verse [[LoopedLyrics repeated three times]].
208	* Music/AHawkAndAHacksaw: "Laughter in the Dark"'s only lyrics are "Mean what you say, and say what you...". "For Slavoj"'s only lyrics are "I love you", repeated several times.
209	* "The Michael Jordan of Drunk Driving" by Music/AndrewJacksonJihad is just over 20 seconds and consists of four lines
210	* Al Stewarts "A Small Fruit Song" starts with one and a half minutes of fairly complex guitar playing before he starts singing, making one think that it gets to be a fairly long track if the intro is that long already. It abruply stops after only a single verse 20 seconds later.
211	[[/folder]]
212
213	[[folder: Funk ]]
214	* [[Music/GeorgeClinton Parliament]] had some songs like this. For example, "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" only has two lines:
215	-->Give the people what they want, when they want, and they wants it all the time\
216	Give the people what they need, when they need, and the need is yours and mine\
217	\
218	Throwdown\
219	Make me do the throwdown
220	** Sometimes this would overlap with SpokenWordInMusic; songs would only have a chorus, but someone would be speaking between each chorus.
221	[[/folder]]
222
223	[[folder: Grindcore ]]
224	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybGOT4d2Hs8 "YOUSUFFERBUTWHY?"]]
225	[[/folder]]
226
227	[[folder: Grunge ]]
228	* "Stain" by {{Music/Nirvana}}:
229	-->Well he never bleeds and he never fucks\
230	And he never leaves 'cause he's got bad luck.\
231	Well he never reads and he never draws.\
232	And he never sleeps 'cause he's got bad luck, yeah\
233	I'm a stain, I'm a stain, I'm a stain, I'm a stain
234	** As well as "School."
235	--->Verse: Won't you believe it, It's just my luck\
236	Chorus: No recess\
237	Bridge: You're in high school again\
238	Repeat as necessary
239	* {{Music/Soundgarden}}'s "I Awake", based on a brief note written to bassist Hiro Yamamoto from his girlfriend:
240	-->Woke up depressed
241	-->I left for work
242	-->You have a good day, good day
243	-->It's not your fault
244	-->I know it hurts
245	-->Remember, I love you, love you
246	-->Remember, I love you, love you
247	[[/folder]]
248
249	[[folder: Hard Rock ]]
250	* Bang Camaro pretty much is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHyg-pead3w this trope]]
251	[[/folder]]
252
253	[[folder: Hardcore Punk ]]
254	* "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by the Dropkick Murphys. One verse and one chorus repeated.
255	[[/folder]]
256
257	[[folder: Heavy Metal ]]
258	* "Power Of The Power Of The Power (Of The Great Sword)" by [[http://www.jamendo.com/artist/nanowar NanowaR]].
259	[[/folder]]
260
261	[[folder: Hip Hop ]]
262	* On Eric B. and Rakim's breakthrough hit "Paid in Full" Rak's rap is a single 24-line stanza with no chorus or break.
263	* Music/LindseyStirling's "Stars Align" is mostly instrumental, but has some vocals in the form of [[{{scatting}} da-ing]] followed by "when the stars align". This is repeated a couple times without changes.
264	* "You A Stupid Hoe" by Nicki Minaj. This is all she says, ad nauseam.
265	[[/folder]]
266
267	[[folder: Hymns ]]
268	* The Christian Doxology (Only four lines long).
269	* Several modern worship songs fit this bill.
270	** "Shout to the Lord." One verse plus one chorus. Repeat as desired.
271	** "Shout to the Lord" is practically a novel compared to some of the songs of the [[http://www.taize.fr/en Taizé Community]]. Check out "Jesus Remember Me" on [[http://www.taize.fr/en_article681.html this page]], for example. As meditation music, they're supposed to be repetitive and somewhat hypnotic to focus the worshipper on prayer.
272	* "Down to the River to Pray" is a weird example of this, it's almost like a single multiple choice stanza song. The words are
273	-->As I went down in the river to pray\
274	Studying about that good ol' way\
275	And who shall wear the starry crown/robe and crown?\
276	Good Lord show me the way!\
277	O sisters/brothers/fathers/mothers/sinners let's go down\
278	Let's go down, come on down\
279	O sisters/brothers/fathers/mothers/sinners let's go down\
280	Down in the river to pray
281	[[/folder]]
282
283	[[folder: National Anthems ]]
284	* The anthems of Japan, San Marino and Jordan each have four lines. They are the world's shortest.
285	* The national anthem of Germany is the third/last stanza of the 1841 poem "Das Lied der Deutschen" (also known as "Deutschlandlied"), whose three stanzas have been used in various constellations as national anthem since 1922.
286	* The Israeli national anthem is actually just a single sentence, and then another for the refrain, even though it runs about the typical length for an anthem. However, it also borders on SecondVerseCurse, because the words are actually taken out of a ten stanza song.
287	[[/folder]]
288
289	[[folder: New Age ]]
290	* The winning song of the Series/EurovisionSongContest in 1995 was Norway's entry, ''Nocturne'' performed by Secret Garden. The song consisted of just 24 words.
291	[[/folder]]
292
293	[[folder: New Wave ]]
294	* Ladytron's "Seventeen". ''They only want you when you're seventeen, when you're twenty-one, you're no fun. They take a Polaroid and let you go, say they'll let you know, so come on.''
295	** Ladytron tends to repeat lyrics in nearly all of their songs, but it's most noticeable in "Seventeen".
296	* The title of Music/ThePolice song "Voices Inside my Head" already forms half of the entire lyrics, the other half being "...echo things that you said."
297	[[/folder]]
298
299	[[folder: Pop ]]
300	* Herbie Hancock's "Rockit":
301	-->''Don't stop it\
302	Rock it\
303	Don't stop it''
304	* Herman's Hermits' "I'm Henry the Eighth I Am" -- also a LoopedLyrics song.
305	-->''Second verse, same as the first!''
306	* "Night Boat to Cairo" by Music/{{Madness\|Band}} has only one verse; the rest of the lyrics are just random interjections of the title and "All aboard!".
307	* Music/TearsForFears: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuhaoK7RQvQ Tears Roll Down]]" (the BSide of "Sowing the Seeds of Love") is mostly instrumental, but it does contain one stanza, and half of the verses is "Where tears roll down" repeated four times. [[note]]These lyrics would later be converted into a chorus for the single "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29IGXRtIaKg Laid So Low (Tears Roll Down)]]".[[/note]]
308	-->''Into that void of silence\
309	Where we cry without sound\
310	Where tears roll down\
311	Where tears roll down\
312	And when your mother's violence\
313	Sent your soul underground\
314	Where tears roll down\
315	Where tears roll down''
316	[[/folder]]
317
318	[[folder: Post-Metal ]]
319	* Most songs by the post-metal band Isis, despite being upwards of 8 minutes long in some cases, often have one verse, sang one time somewhere in the middle of the song.
320	[[/folder]]
321
322	[[folder: Post-Punk ]]
323	* The closing track on [[Music/LifterPuller Lifter Puller's]] first self-titled LP, "Mono", has only one stanza before entering a progressively louder and louder noise-rock section.
324	-->"We were talkin' on the hall phone
325	-->You said your boyfriend finally scored
326	-->Now I've got something they call mononeucleosis
327	-->But Ill stay up if you wanna talk some more."
328	[[/folder]]
329
330	[[folder: Power Metal ]]
331	* Several of the songs on Music/BlindGuardian's ''Nightfall in Middle-Earth''. One of them, "Nom the Wise" consists of just the spoken lines: "Thus he died, Nom the Wise. Lord of the Caves and Friend of Man. Fair and noble, most beloved of the Noldor race. He paid the price, he redeemed the Oath. Farewell, my friend, farewell." Another one consists of the single sung line: "A dark seed of evil is grown."
332	[[/folder]]
333
334	[[folder: Power Pop ]]
335	* Music/FountainsOfWayne's "Yours and Mine".
336	[[/folder]]
337
338	[[folder: Progressive Rock ]]
339	* The lyrics to the 2nd movement of "I've Seen All Good People" by Music/{{Yes}} are simply one line repeated several times.
340	** "White Car" from ''Drama'' has just four lines in it.
341	* Traffic's "Dear Mr. Fantasy" consists of one verse repeated three times.
342	* The single version of "Eve of the War" from ''Music/JeffWaynesMusicalVersionOfTheWarOfTheWorlds'' has just an EpicInstrumentalOpener and one verse:
343	-->''The chances of anything coming from Mars''
344	-->''Are a million to one, he said''
345	-->''The chances of anything coming from Mars''
346	-->''Are a million to one, but still they come!''
347	** Downplayed in the album version, which does still have only one sung verse, but features Creator/RichardBurton's spoken narration as well. And averted altogether by the 1989 hit remix, which has the narration but not the singing.
348	* The first song from Music/{{Kansas}}' first album, "Can I Tell You", is an eight-line stanza repeated twice, then [[RuleOfThree a third time]] after a frantic instrumental break. "Magnum Opus" also has a single stanza, only sung once, although the piece is a suite of short, unfinished pieces.
349	[[/folder]]
350
351	[[folder: Punk Rock ]]
352	* The Living End's 34-second song "Ready" features the lyrics:
353	-->Well if she's not that kind to you,\
354	Don't ya think we're through buddy?\
355	But is she the kind that you would buy the spirits\
356	Before you're ready, ready, ready
357	* Music/TheRamones:
358	-->I don't wanna walk around with you\
359	I don't wanna walk around with you\
360	I don't wanna walk around with you\
361	So why you wanna walk around with me?\
362	I don't wanna walk around with you!\
363	I don't wanna walk around with you!
364	** "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue":
365	--->Now I wanna sniff some glue\
366	Now I wanna have somethin' to do\
367	All the kids wanna sniff some glue\
368	All the kids want somethin' to do
369	** "It's A Long Way Back":
370	--->You all alone\
371	You by the phone\
372	It's a long way back to Germany\
373	It's a long way back to Germany
374	** "I Wanna Be Sedated":
375	--->Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated\
376	Nothin' to do and no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated\
377	Just get me to the airport put me on a plane\
378	Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane\
379	I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain\
380	Oh no no no no no
381	* Flipper's "Sex Bomb" - the only lyric printed in their album liner notes is "She's a sex bomb, my baby, yeah", and the vocals consist of variations on this one line, along with a few shouts of "Whoa!" or "yeah!" and a lot of [[CarefulWithThatAxe horrifying screaming]]. For about [[EpicRocking eight minutes]].
382	* Rocket From The Tombs' "Frustration" takes this to the extreme - the only lyric in the song is David Thomas yowling the title a few times.
383	[[/folder]]
384
385	[[folder: Rock ]]
386	* "Summer's Day Song" from ''[=McCartney=] II''.
387	* Music/TheBeatles:
388	** "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?" consists of the same six-line verse sung three times. All six lines are simply the song's title except for the fifth line, which is "No one will be watching us." A few tracks earlier in Music/TheWhiteAlbum there's the even worse of "Wild Honey Pie", where the only lyrics are "Honey Pie!" (aside from a stray "I love you")
389	** "Can You Take Me Back", the hidden song that immediately proceeds "Revolution 9" on the White Album.
390	** "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" uses three different arrangements using the vocals then follows with a jazzy piano arrangement with the sounds of harmuphing and coughing.
391	** "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" from ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' has a single verse ("I want you / I want you so bad / I want you so bad it's driving me mad, it's driving me mad", repeat) played three times (the second time as an instrumental) alternating with the chorus, which consists solely of the words "She's so heavy".
392	** The ''Abbey Road'' closer "Her Majesty" consists of a single verse and only lasts 23 seconds.
393	--->Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she doesn't have a lot to say\
394	Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she changes from day to day\
395	I wanna tell her that I love her a lot, but I gotta get a belly full of wine\
396	Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, some day I'm gonna make her mine, oh yeah\
397	Some day I'm gonna make her mine
398	* Sparks' "There's No Such Thing as Aliens". The lyrics consist mostly of the title, with two nearly identical stanzas in between.
399	* Music/DavidBowie's "Eight Line Poem" is... Well, an eight line poem.
400	** "Lightning Frightening", an outtake from 1971, is another example. One line repeated twice, chorus, lengthy instrumental part, repeat.
401	* "Guide Vocal" by Music/{{Genesis\|Band}}, off their somewhat lackluster ''Duke'' album, is just over a minute long, and is one of the nastiest breakup songs ever (with the exception of the outright AxCrazy "Vow" by Garbage).
402	* Music/PeterGabriel recorded several single stanza songs over his solo career.
403	** The entirety of the lyrics of "Fourteen Black Paintings" from ''Us'' are as follows:
404	--->from the pain comes the dream\
405	from the dream comes the vision\
406	from the vision come the people\
407	from the people come the power\
408	from this power comes the change.
409	** "Lead A Normal Life", from his third SelfTitledAlbum (aka ''{{Music/Melt}}''), is a single verse of lyrics sandwiched between a lengthy instrumental intro and outro:
410	--->It's nice here with a view of the trees\
411	Eating with a spoon?\
412	They don't give you knives?\
413	'Spect you watch those trees\
414	Blowing in the breeze\
415	We want to see you lead a normal life
416	** "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)", from ''So'':
417	--->We do what we're told\
418	We do what we're told\
419	We do what we're told,\
420	Told to do.\
421	We do what we're told\
422	We do what we're told\
423	We do what we're told,\
424	Told to do.\
425	One doubt\
426	One voice\
427	One war\
428	One truth\
429	One dream
430	* The [[LoopedLyrics ''only'' lyrics]] of Roky Erickson's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcGb24n9hvM "I walked with a zombie"]] are "I walked with a zombie last night" - that's verse, chorus, everything. Unless you count the backing vocals ("He walked with a zombie").
431	* "Passive Manipulation" by Music/TheWhiteStripes is Meg singing the following verse, looped for thirty seconds:
432	-->Women, listen to your mothers\
433	Don't just succumb to the wishes of your brothers\
434	Take a step back, take a look at one another\
435	You need to know the difference between a father and a lover
436	* Music/BobDylan's "All The Tired Horses" consists of the chorus girls singing the lines "All the tired horses in the sun/How'm I supposed to get any ridin' done?/Hmmm." This hasn't stopped [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory dylanologists]] from examining and interpreting them at length.
437	* "Colour My World" by {{Music/Chicago}} starts with a piano solo and ends with a flute solo, and has this verse in the middle:
438	-->As time goes on, I realize\
439	Just what you mean to me\
440	And now, now that you're near\
441	Promise your love that I've waited to share\
442	And dreams of our moments together\
443	Colour my world with hope of loving you
444	** Reportedly, Music/FrankSinatra expressed interest in covering the song, on the condition that composer James Pankow write a second verse. Pankow respectfully declined.
445	* "T-Bone" by Music/NeilYoung has 2 lines and various permutations of it:
446	-->Got Mashed Potato\
447	Ain't Got No T-Bone
448	** Even the lyric book itself tells you to repeat the line in order to save space.
449	* Music/SteelyDan's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCdKBHdPz30 The Fez]]" has one stanza repeated three times:
450	-->No, I ain't gonna do it without my fez on, oh no\
451	Don't make me do it without my fez on, oh no\
452	That's what I am\
453	Please understand\
454	I wanna be your holy man
455	* Music/FrankZappa's "Willie The Pimp" consists of one stanza, followed by a nine-minute jam.
456	* Music/BillyJoel's "Souvenir" is one stanza with a short piano motif on either end.
457	* Music/TheRadiatorsUS have the [[MinisculeRocking under-one-minute]] title track from their album ''Law of the Fish'':
458	-->Big ones eat the little ones;
459	-->Little ones got to be fast.
460	-->That's the law of the fish, now, baby�
461	-->You got to move-uh your ass.
462	* Music/LennyKravitz has a song on his first album called "Freedom Train" that goes like this:
463	--> It's on the freedom train
464	--> Come on and dance on the freedom train
465	--> It's on the freedom train
466	--> Come on and dance on the freedom train
467	--> It's on the freedom train, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
468	--> Come on and dance on the freedom train
469	[[/folder]]
470
471	[[folder: Rock and Roll ]]
472	* "Naked, If I Want To" by Moby Grape. Four lines (in an ABCB rhyme scheme), 51 seconds long.
473	* "Hey" by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band ("I knew we had/to say goodbye/when I felt that warmth/against my thigh.... HEY! is that you pissing on my leg?")
474	* "Runaway" by Del Shannon is one of the most awesome old time rock'n'roll songs ever, being the obvious genesis of hard rock (particularly punk). It also has a second verse consisting entirely of an organ solo with no words whatsoever.
475	* The Rock-a-Teens "Woo Hoo", famously covered by Japanese all-girl band The 5.6.7.8's in ''Film/KillBill Volume 1''. It goes only "woo-hoo, woo-hoo-hoo" over and over and over.
476	[[/folder]]
477
478	[[folder: Stoner Metal ]]
479	* "Lick Doo", the hidden track on Music/{{Kyuss}}'s Welcome to Sky Valley.
480	[[/folder]]
481
482	[[folder: Thrash ]]
483	* S.O.D. has "The Ballad of Music/JimiHendrix", consisting of a few seconds of the intro to ''Purple Haze'' followed by the words "You're dead".
484	[[/folder]]
485
486	[[folder: Traditional ]]
487	* "HappyBirthdayToYou" ''might'' be an example, unless the "How old are you now?" part counts, in which case it's SecondVerseCurse instead.
488	** The [[http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parab%C3%A9ns_pra_voc%C3%AA Portuguese version]] averts this. It's a full-fledged poem with four quatrains, although people usually only sing the first two - yet it's not uncommon in Portugal to sing the third one after the clapping.
489	* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_That_Never_Ends This is the song that doesn't end/ Yes, it goes on and on, my friend]]
490	* An old perverted Brazilian song: "coelhinho, se eu fosse como tu, tirava a mão do bolso e enfiava a mão no... coelhinho, se eu fosse como tu..." (translation with an added word to make sense: "bunny rabbit, if I were you sass, I'd take the hand off the pocket and into the...")
491	* Parodied by Neil Innes's "Short Blues", which abruptly ends after one line of lyrics.
492	[[/folder]]
493
494	[[folder:Zydeco]]
495	* Rockin Sidney's "My Toot-Toot" consists of one verse sung three times.
496	[[/folder]]
497
498	[[folder: Uncategorized ]]
499	* I Love Beijing Tiananmen is a strange example. the lyrics stay the same but the tune changes.
500	[[/folder]]
501
502	!!Examples from other media:
503
504	[[folder: Film ]]
505	* "Our State Fair" from Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein's ''Film/StateFair'' has a four-line refrain and no verse, not even an unused one.
506	* The song "I Am Sad, So Very, Very Sad" by Crash and the Boys in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' consists of only the words "''Soooooo sad!''". The song only lasts about five seconds. In the graphic novels, it's said to last less than one.
507	* ''Here's to you'', originally written by Music/EnnioMorricone for the movie ''Sacco e Vanzetti'', and later featured in the game ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots''.
508	-->Here's to you, Nicola and Bart\
509	Rest forever here in our hearts\
510	The last and final moment is yours\
511	That agony is your triumph
512	[[/folder]]
513
514	[[folder: Opera / Theatre ]]
515	* The musical ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'' has one when the students sing about Dear Old Shiz.
516	* The musical ''Theatre/SheLovesMe'' has the very brief recurring chorus "Thank You, Madam".
517	* In ''Theatre/{{Allegro}}'', the GreekChorus's recurring song "Poor Joe" is only 8 bars long.
518	* "Day By Day" from ''Theatre/{{Godspell}}'' has only about six lines of lyrics. "Prepare Ye" has only a single line.
519	** Much of Godspell is like this. The finale consists of 9 lines of lyrics, and "All for the Best" is two characters singing one stanza each on top of each other repeatedly.
520	* "I'm Like The Bluebird" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle'' is a Two Stanza Song. The stanzas are four lines long and nearly identical.
521	* The title song of ''Theatre/ThePajamaGame''.
522	* "Wintergreen for President" from ''Theatre/OfTheeISing'' has two lines of lyrics, not counting repetitions of the title or wordless snatches of other campaign songs:
523	-->He's the man the people choose;\
524	Loves the Irish and the Jews.
525	[[/folder]]
526
527	[[folder: Video Games ]]
528	* The lyrics to the ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'' song "thunder" are composed of two whole sentences (albeit stretched out over eight measures each), both of which are identical save for two words, and are repeated twice in the 2 1/4-minute game version and even more in the extended 5:43 version:
529	-->I'm drifting through the mists of love to find out where my heart belongs\
530	I'm drifting through the mists of love to find the place my heart belongs
531	* The credits song for ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime'' has only one verse and one chorus.
532	* ''VideoGame/RiverCityGirls'': "We're The River City Girls" has only one set of lyrics with no repeating lines, and the vocals end in 35 seconds of the 1 minute and 43 second song.
533	[[/folder]]
534
535	[[folder: Web Original ]]
536	* "A Bug Fell In Love With A Cat" by Music/SongsToWearPantsTo. In fact the title ''is'' the lyrics in their entirety. There's also "Don't Feel Bad", where the lyrics consist of the single line "Don't feel bad, it's better than being shot in the face".
537	* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fg5wiVkOn4 Red Like Roses]]", the Red theme from ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' has just one verse; the rest is instrumental.
538	-->Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest\
539	White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test\
540	Black the beast descends from shadows\
541	Yellow beauty burns gold
542	* ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'' has "Bad Horse (Reprise)" which runs for a few seconds of suddenly-appearing singing cowboys:
543	-->''He saw the operation you tried to pull today,\
544	But your humiliation means he still votes "[[{{Pun}} nay]]"!\
545	And now assassination is just the only way.\
546	There will be blood, it might be yours,\
547	So go kill someone!\
548	(Signed, Bad Horse)''
549	[[/folder]]
550
551	[[folder: Western Animation ]]
552	* The credits theme to ''WesternAnimation/TheRaccoons'', "Run with Us", was this at first, but was later [[ThemeTuneExtended turned into a full-length song]].
553	* Many, if not all of [[WesternAnimation/{{Jem}} Jem and the Holograms']] songs (and the ones by The Misfits, and The Stingers for that matter).
554	* The first song at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuers'', "The Journey", is mostly instrumental but with one stanza.
555	-->Who will rescue me?\
556	I'm lost at sea without a friend.\
557	This journey, will it ever end?\
558	Who will rescue me?
559	* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gla6FVEnJcg extended version]] of the theme from ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'' consists of the same verse and chorus repeated twice.
560	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SingleStanzaSong