History Main / DualMeaningChorus

* Sawyer Brown's "The Walk". In the first verse, the son is afraid to walk down the driveway to the bus on his first day of school, and the dad says "I took this walk you're walking now, boy, I've been in your shoes..." In the second verse, the son is now walking down the same driveway to drive off for a life on his own. And in the third verse, the son helps his now elderly dad walk down the driveway since he can no longer do it himself.

* Music/SteveWariner's "I'm Already Taken." The singer tries twice to win the affection of the girl he likes, only to be told she's with someone else and will have to wait. They eventually marry, and he overhears their son ask innocently ask if she'll marry him. She tells him she's already taken (by his father), and he'll have to wait (presumably for someone else.)

* Music/SteveWariner's "Two Teardrops." In the first chorus, the two teardrops--one of joy, and one of sorrow--are referring to a woman in love on her wedding day, and the old flame who attended but DidNotGetTheGirl. In the second, it's for a BirthDeathJuxtaposition, with the singer at the hospital celebrating the birth of his child and crying tears of joy, while the old man next to him has just lost his wife and is crying tears of sorrow.

* Steve Wariner's "Two Teardrops." In the first chorus, the two teardrops--one of joy, and one of sorrow--are referring to a woman in love on her wedding day, and the old flame who attended but DidNotGetTheGirl. In the second, it's for a BirthDeathJuxtaposition, with the singer at the hospital celebrating the birth of his child and crying tears of joy, while the old man next to him has just lost his wife and is crying tears of sorrow.

* Set up and then subverted, though not clear if intentionally or not, in Music/Mark Wills’ “Jacob’s Ladder” where the song tells of Jacob who, in the first chorus, loves Rachel and climbs up a ladder to see her in her room. When the chorus comes around the second time, it’s Rachel’s father recounting to Jacob and Rachel’s daughter how her parents fell in love when Jacob climbed the ladder to Rachel’s room. At this point the listener expects a third verse and chorus where Rachel has passed on to heaven and Jacob follows her by climbing the ladder but instead the song just ends.

* Music/JohnnyCash: "One Piece at a Time". The singer, a General Motors mechanic, resolves to steal the pieces to build one of the Cadillacs he covets. The chorus has him reveling over getting such a fancy car for free and declaring that he'll drive everyone else wild because no one else will have one. Once he's finally gotten everything, he realizes a problem -- the parts are from different years. The resulting mashup runs, but it draws odd looks and laughter rather than envy, putting a totally different meaning to the chorus.

** An albun cut, "Cowboy Cadillac," is intentionally written to be ambiguous as to whether the singer is referring to a truck or a woman. "She's the perfect picture of a perfect mixture 'tween a woman and a fine machine..."

* "Ordinary Life" by Chad Brock, about a man who [[DisappearedDad abandons his wife and child]] to chase his dreams. The first chorus outlines their routine, and he feels trapped by it. Their "ordinary life" is suffocating. The second chorus is from his wife's point of view, now alone with their young son, and the same routine is comforting. Their "ordinary life" is safe, secure. The third chorus is from the husband's point of view again. He's calling from the airport asking to come home. His new life has left him lonely; he misses his wife and son, and the familiarity of their "ordinary life."
* Music/DiamondRio's "Meet in the Middle." The first chorus is about literally meeting in the middle of their two houses when the singer and his partner were childhood friends, the second about metaphorically meeting in the middle and making compromises in their marriage.

* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "I Remember Larry": The last line of the chorus is "I'll never forget about [[ThePrankster Larry]], no matter how I try". After the final verse, this line goes from meaning "I'll never forget Larry's outrageous pranks" (which involved [[PantsPullingPrank revenge porn]], property destruction, and [[LaxativePrank bodily harm]]) to meaning [[OutDamnedSpot "I'll never forget]] [[spoiler:the fact that I stuffed Larry in a big plastic bag and left him for dead in the woods".]]

* "Ordinary Life" by Chad Brock, about a man who [[DisappearedDad abandons his wife and child]] to chase his dreams. The first chorus is about how banal their "ordinary life" is, and how he feels trapped by it. The second is from his wife's POV, now alone with their young son, and she finds the "ordinary life" comforting in its security. The third is from the husband's POV again, calling from the airport asking to come home; chasing his dreams has left him lonely and he misses the life he left behind.

* The first half of Music/{{Rush}}'s "[[Music/GraceUnderPressure Kid Gloves]]" is about how the [[SocietyIsToBlame callousness of society]] teaches children "that it's cool to be so tough," while the second half is about the toll this takes on everyone - "that it's tough to be so cool." The second chorus is inverted, and some of the lines are changed to fit the rhyme scheme, but most of the lines stay the same, and the structure remains intact.

Tired voice, worn out, every song a fight\\

* In "The Hiver" by Music/SteeleyeSpan, from the ''Literature/{{Wintersmith}}'' ConceptAlbum, the chorus goes "Locked in screaming awareness/Of everything, all the time./How we envy you humans/When you gently close your minds." For most of the song, this is the well-known ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' concept that HumansAreSpecial because they managed to invent boredom. After the last verse, "gently close your minds" refers to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever the other thing the Hiver can't do and humans can]].

* Music/{{Genesis}} – "Misunderstanding". The verses describe the singer's attempt to find his partner, whom he had apparently agreed to meet for a date, leading to the chorus "''there must be some misunderstanding; there must be some kind of mistake''". It references their communications in setting the occasion up ... until the singer finds her in the last verse and realizes she's been having an affair. The chorus repeats; now it's clear that it's a deeper critique of their relationship.

* Thomas Rhett's "Remember You Young". The first verse is about how he'll always remember the reckless fun his now-mature friends had when they all were younger. The second is about how when his own children grow up he'll always remember ''them'' young. Then the third verse is about going to heaven and God looking at you like a child.

* The song "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKdLJo2_6hQ Nina Doesn't Care]]" by Creator/SusanEgan starts out with the singer talking about how her daughter Nina "doesn't care" that her mother is a glamorous Broadway star, contrasting her high-flying career with the simple joys and annoyances of parenthood. But in the last chorus, the meaning shifts to talk about how when everything is going wrong, "Nina doesn't care" because to her, the singer is just 'Mom'.[[note]]This song is written straight out of Egan's real life.[[/note]]

Thank God, Nina doesn't care...

* ''Shadowlands'' from ''Theatre/TheLionKing'' has as the last line of its chorus “though it may take you so far away, always remember your pride” and when Nala is singing it “I will remember my pride”. It’s referring both to the Lion pride she’s part of and as a plea to remember her dignity and courage as she leaves to find help to fight Scar. It fits even better when you learn the song was inspired by a deleted scene where Scar banished her for refusing to be his queen.