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"I whupped Batman's ass
I whupped Batman's ass
I whupped Batman's ass
I whupped Batman's ass."
Wesley Willis, Take a wild freaking guess.

A music trope. A song whose chorus consists entirely of the song title, repeated over and over again, perhaps with slight variation. Particularly common in modern pop music, this can be good marketing, as the listener will tend to notice and remember the song title. It's hard to pull off depending on the song structure and the syllables. However, it has a higher potential of becoming an Audience Participation Song.

Compare Title Theme Tune and Chorus-Only Song.


Examples:

  • Every song ever written by Wesley Willis.
  • "Friend of Mine" by LO Hess comes very close - with the chorus consisting entirely of the repeated line "You're never gonna be a friend of mine"
  • Static-X - "Reptile"
  • "Say (What You Need to Say)" by John Mayer
  • "Sunday Bloody Sunday" by U2.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat in D Major includes a movement titled "Omnes generationes" (All generations). This movement consists of the choir singing the words "omnes generationes" for the entirety of it.
  • The Beatles have quite a few:
  • Big Pun - "Nigga Shit"
  • Billy Joel - "Pressure".
    • "Only the Good Die Young".
  • Bruce Springsteen - "Born in the USA".
    • And this example from the same album:
      I'm goin' down down down down
      I'm goin' down down down down
      I'm goin' down down down down
      I'm goin' down down down down
    • "Crush On You" from The River:
      Ooh ooh I got a crush on you
      Ooh ooh I got a crush on you
      Ooh ooh I got a crush on you tonight
    • "Where The Bands Are" from Tracks:
      I wanna be where the bands are
      I wanna be where the bands are
      (Where the bands are)
      Where the bands are
      I wanna be where the bands are
      (Where the bands are)
  • Camper Van Beethoven - "Take the Skinheads Bowling"
    Take the skinheads bowling
    Take them bowling
    Take the skinheads bowling
    Take them bowling
  • Cascada - "Pyromania"
  • Michael Jackson: He has a song called "Dirty Diana", whose chorus contains only the title, and in the first verse, a "let me be".
  • Cowboy Troy feat. Big & Rich - "I Play Chicken with the Train"
  • Crash Test Dummies - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm"
  • Curve - "Hell Above Water":
    It's hell above the water
    Hell above the water
    Hell above the water
    Hell above the water
  • Daft Punk - "Around the World". Except this exceeds the trope, as it's the entire song.
    • Alongside this is "Robot Rock,", "Television Rules the Nation," and pretty much every other song with discernible lyrics on Human After All, including the title track.
    • Well, that particular song does have one other line.
    We are human
    After all
    Much in common
    After all
    • "Lose Yourself to Dance", aside from the robotic "c'monc'monc'mon" afterwards.
    • The Weeknd's "I Feel It Coming" which features Daft Punk also goes on this trope.
  • Deerhoof - "Panda Panda Panda", which changes the last "panda" with various words like beep-beep or China.
  • Discharge - Basically every track on Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing.
  • Duran Duran - "Girls On Film", which, amusingly enough, has been covered by Wesley Willis.
  • Eagles of Death Metal - "I Only Want You"
  • Electric Six - "There's Something Very Wrong With Us, So Let's Go Out Tonight"
  • Men at Work - "Who Can It Be Now?"
  • White Zombie - "More Human Than Human"
  • In Culto - "Welcome to Lithuania (The Land of the Beautiful Ladies)".
  • George Harrison - "I've Got My Mind Set on You"
    • And "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody, "This Song's Just Six Words Long"
    • The original version by James Ray has the title as the first three lines of the chorus, but the last line is different ("I know what I've got to do.")
  • R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", "Catapult", "Low", "Gardening at Night", "Talk About the Passion," and "Sweetness Follows", if you don't count the "ohs" as words.
  • Van Morrison - "Gloria"
  • Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"
  • Sam & Dave/Elvis Costello - "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down"
    • Another Sam & Dave example: "Hold On, I'm Comin'"
  • Sly and the Family Stone- "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)", "Stand!" from Stand!.
  • LCD Soundsystem - "Yeah", "Pow Pow"
  • Manic Street Preachers - "You Love Us"
    • Then there's "A Design For Life" and "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next", arguably the two most well-known Manics songs.
  • Lieutenant Pigeon - "Mouldy Old Dough"
  • Metallica - "Frantic"
  • Metric - "On a Slow Night", "Youth Without Youth", "Lie Lie Lie"
  • About half of all Iron Maiden songs from the Somewhere in Time album onwards, such as the Title Tracks "Caught Somewhere in Time", "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", "Fear of the Dark", "Brave New World"... and in a variant, "Satellite 15... The Final Frontier" (only the last part is sung).
  • Electric Light Orchestra - "Evil Woman"
  • Every Move A Picture's "Signs of Life"
    Show some signs of life
    Show some signs of life
    Show some signs of life
    Show some signs of life
  • Sade - "Smooth Operator"
  • Many songs by AC/DC, like "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" and "You Shook Me All Night Long". One can often learn the name of the song by listening to the only repeated line in the chorus.
  • Rage Against the Machine are big fans of this. Most of their songs that don't have a Title Only Chorus at the very least have a one-line chorus, like "Killing in the Name".
  • Material Issue's "Valerie Loves Me", though it's only sung (read: screamed) once per chorus. There is some variation in that the scream gets more psychotic with each repetition.
  • Redbone - "Come and Get Your Love"
  • Elliott Smith - "Needle in the Hay."
  • The Police love this trope, particularly in their earlier stuff: "Roxanne", "So Lonely", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Walking in Your Footsteps", "Can't Stand Losing You", "When the World Is Running Down You Make the Best of What's Still Around", "Spirits in the Material World" "The Bed's Too Big Without You", "It's Alright for You", "Hole in My Life", "Born in the '50s", "Truth Hits Everybody", "Driven to Tears", "Rehumanize Yourself", and there are probably a few more.
  • The Residents - "You Yesyesyes".
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Albuquerque".
  • Nightwish - "Master Passion Greed", "Meadows of Heaven"
  • Marilyn Manson - "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)"
  • The Living End - Whats On Your Radio? The first half of the Ochorus and the last line anyway.
    • All Torn Down fits better.
  • Van Halen - "Panama", "And the Cradle Will Rock", "She's the Woman". "Big River" at most adds some "Rolling!" to the title.
  • Funkadelic – "If You Don’t Like the Effects, Don’t Produce the Cause".
  • Yes - "Leave It"
  • Judas Priest - "Breaking the Law" from British Steel, "Hell-Bent for Leather", "Riding on the Wind", "Bloodstone", "Freewheel Burning", "Eat Me Alive", "Some Heads Are Gonna Roll", "All Guns Blazing"
  • The B-52s - "Rock Lobster"
    • As well as "Trism" and "Girl From Ipanema Goes To Greenland".
  • War - "Why Can't We Be Friends?"
  • Dolly Parton and of course Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You"
  • Toots & The Maytals - "54-46 (That's My Number)". The better known remake/sequel they did a couple years later ("54-46 Was My Number") doesn't qualify, though.
  • Arguably, "Trogdor" by Strong Bad.
  • The Arrogant Worms come close with "Don't Go Into Politics". Every other line is "don't go into politics/science/music", alternating with "you'll end up dead".
  • Spoon - "Sister Jack".
  • "Help Me" by Timo Maas featuring Kelis.
  • Paramore - "(You Are) The Only Exception".
  • The Pixies - "Here Comes Your Man", "There Goes My Gun", "Debaser". Hell, half of Doolittle does this.
  • Philip Glass - "Koyaanisqatsi"
  • Screeching Weasel - "You'll Be in My Dreams Today".
  • Reel 2 Real - "I Like to Move It"
  • Nirvana - "Something in the Way" from Nevermind. Not to mention that the chorus is practically the only audible part of the Perishing Alt-Rock Voice-heavy song.
  • Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Me and My Friends", "Behind the Sun", "True Men Don't Kill Coyotes".
  • Many, many songs by Drivin' N Cryin' follow this trope.
  • "Gimme More" by Britney Spears
    • "Womanizer" does this in the first half of the chorus. Maybe a little more variation than most songs under this trope. Sing along! "Womanizer, woman, womanizer, you're a womanizer..."
      • "Oh, womanizer, oh, you're a womanizer baby."
      • "You-you-you are... you-you-you are... womanizer, womanizer, womanizer..."
      • "Boy, don't try to front, I-I know just-just what you are-are-are..."
  • "Liar" by Emilie Autumn
  • Tom Waits does this fairly regularly.
  • Ween did this a lot on their earlier songs: among many others, there are "Licking The Palm For Guava," "L.M.L.Y.P.," "Right To The Ways And The Rules Of The World," "Boing," "Molly," "Can U Taste The Waste?," "I Play It Off Legit," "Flies On My Dick," "I Can't Put My Finger On It," "Mister, Would You Please Help My Pony?," and "Cover It With Gas And Set It On Fire."
  • Aerosmith - "Dude Looks Like a Lady" and "Toys In The Attic".
  • "I just wanna say I love you" by Potret
  • "Blind" by Talking Heads. Interestingly, the title is one word and it's used in the chorus fourteen times each verse.
  • Culture Club - "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" and "Church of The Poison Mind"
  • Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Linda Ronstadt - "Ooo Baby Baby"
  • The Linda Lindas, "Monica"
  • Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc." from Demon Days (Album) is a milder example.
    "Feel good- (Shake it, shake it, shake it, shake it) Feel good-"
  • Coal Chamber's "loco"
  • David Francey's "All Lights Burning Bright."
  • Lady Gaga's "Again Again"
  • Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where The Lions Are." It's not at all surprising that this is also an Audience Participation Song where he sings the line and the audience echoes it.
    • "See How I Miss You" is another one.
  • Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)", "Out Of The Frying Pan (And Into The Fire)", "Objects In The Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are" and "Everything Louder Than Everything Else". Interestingly, as well as all having extremely long titles (and subsequently rather long choruses by the standards of this trope), they're all from the same album ("Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell").
  • Alexandra Burke's duet with Cobra Starship "What Happens On The Dancefloor."
  • Maximum the Hormone's "Chu Chu Lovely Muni Muni Mura Mura Purin Purin Boron Nurururerorero".
  • Adele's "Rumour Has It".
  • Airbourne's "Stand Up for Rock 'n' Roll".
  • "Harassing The Conman" by Everything Else.
  • "Run For Your Life" by Riot (the one from Fire Down Under, not Thundersteel). While we're at it, the title track and "Don't Bring Me Down" from that album qualify too, along with "Over to You," "Born in America," "Wings Are For Angels," and a few others throughout their career.
  • About half the songs on Death's Scream Bloody Gore.
  • Your love, your love, your love, is my drug by Kesha
  • Shaggy's Ah-I-E-Oh.
  • Europe's "The Final Countdown".
  • Curve - "Hell Above the Water"
  • Ludacris' "Grew Up a Screwup"
  • Red Red Meat - "Chain Chain Chain" (on first listen, the chorus may also be the only intelligible part of the song too)
  • Garth Brooks - "Way Of The Girl" from In the Life of Chris Gaines.
  • "Come Over" by Kenny Chesney
  • "I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack, unless the counterpoint counts.
  • "I'll Go On Loving You" by Alan Jackson.
  • Rammstein have a lot of these - "Asche zu Asche," "Herzeleid," "Das alte Leid," "Heirate mich," "Sehnsucht," "Bueck dich," "Spiel mit mir," "Mein Herz brennt," "Links 2-3-4," "Mutter," "Feuer Frei!," "Rein Raus," and "Mein Teil," just to name a few.
  • "Howl" and "Shake It Out" by Florence + the Machine.
  • "Love's Gonna Make It Alright" by George Strait
  • "How Does it Make You Feel" by Air
  • Fictional example: "I Want Your Sex Pootie" (by the Seminal Fluids) from Big Trouble.
  • "All for Love" by Lady Antebellum is nearly this. — "You did this all for love" or "I did this all for love".
  • Another fictional example: Jem has the Jem and the Holograms song "Only The Beginning", along with many of their other songs as well.note 
  • "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys.
  • Humble Pie - "30 Days in The Hole"
  • "I'm Not Waiting" by Willie Nile. The chorus is simply "I'm not waiting for you anymore, I'm not waiting for you anymore, I'm not waiting for you anymore."
    • The chorus of "She's So Cold" is multiple repetitions of the phrase "She's so cold, she's so cold, she's so, she's so, she's so cold!"
  • "That's What I Get for Losin' You" by Hal Ketchum.
  • "Wake Up Lovin' You" by Craig Morgan.
  • "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll" by Rainbow
  • "The Story Of A Young Heart" by A Flock of Seagulls.
  • If you need proof that this isn't strictly an English phenomenon, check out French metal band Sortilège's namesake track, as well as a few of their other songs ("Majesté," "Metamorphose," "Chasse Le Dragon").
  • Accept have the title tracks of Restless & Wild and Balls to the Wall.
  • "Hell on Wheels" and "Heaven's Devils" by Acid, an obscure Belgian metal band.
  • New Model Army's "I Love the World"
  • "Angel Witch," from the album Angel Witch by the band Angel Witch, features a chorus that consisting of the line "You're an angel witch, you're an angel witch" sung over and over. And it will get stuck in your head
  • Pretty much everything from Girlschool's Demolition, their first album.
  • Rolf Harris - "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport"
  • "I Love a Rainy Night" by Eddie Rabbitt.
  • "Old Home Filler Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Cafe" by C. W. McCall. (Though there's a couple of recited lines by McCall in between the title.)
  • "Sail Away" by Enya, though the actual title of the song is "Orinoco Flow."
  • "Crazy On You" by Heart.
  • "Nothing Compares 2U", written by Prince, and originally recorded by his side project The Family, but made famous by Sinéad O'Connor.
  • "Run, Run, Run" by Patti Scialfa:
    ''Run, run, run, yeah,
    Run, run, run, yeah,
    Run, run, run'
    • The Who's "Run, Run, Run" also counts, as does "Run, Run, Run", a minor 1967 hit by The Third Rail, which was included on the original ''Nuggets'' album.
  • Jethro Tull - "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day."
  • "Vietnam" by Jimmy Cliff.
  • "Ça Plane Pour Moi" by Plastic Bertrand.
  • "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham.
  • The Hives' "Two Timing Touch and Broken Bones."
  • Garbage's "The Trick Is to Keep Breathing" and "I Hate Love". "When I Grow Up", "Why Do You Love Me", "Why Don't You Come Over" and "Big Bright World" have one or two extra sentences to deviate.
  • Sheppard's "Geronimo."
  • Dead Kennedys' "California Über Alles", "Too Drunk to Fuck" (the first time, anyway), "Chemical Warfare", "Nazi Punks Fuck Off", "Drug Me", "Viva Las Vegas", "Hellnation", "This Could Be Anywhere (This Could Be Everywhere)", "A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch", "MTV - Get Off the Air", "Rambozo the Clown", "Triumph of the Swill", and so on. "Kill the Poor" comes close but just misses out due to a "tonight" at the end of each line, as do "Terminal Preppie" (which starts out with "I'm a") and "Bleed for Me" (which has a "C'mon"). This seems to be a favourite trope of Jello Biafra's, as he also used it in "Attack of the Peackeepers", "Power Is Boring", "Yuppie Cadillac", and other songs.
  • "Love Stinks" by The J. Geils Band
  • Mary Epworth's "Black Doe"
  • "I'm in Love" from Romance on the High Seas throws in the fourth and fifth words "with you" at the end of its chorus, which otherwise repeats the three words of its title over and over again.
  • "Amoeba" by Adolescents
  • "You're Never Too Old for Young Love" by Eddy Raven
  • "My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face" by Craig Wayne Boyd
  • "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister.
  • "Black No. 1" by Type O Negative.
  • "What's This Life For" by Creed
  • "The Flesh Failures (Let The Sunshine In)" from Hair.
  • "Guns In The Sky" by INXS.
  • "Dance This World Away" by Rick Springfield.
  • U.K. have "In The Dead of Night", "By The Light of Day", "Danger Money", "Rendezvous 6:02" and "Caesar's Palace Blues". In fact most songs in their discography repeat their titles in their choruses; those five just lack any other lyrics in the chorus.
  • "Nobody" by Mitski.
  • "We Will Rock You" by Queen.
  • "I Ain't Got Rhythm" from Phineas and Ferb.
  • "We Are Number One" from LazyTown.
  • Nine Inch Nails - "Starfuckers Inc.".
  • P.O.D. - "We are, we are... the youth of the nation..."
  • "Into the Unknown" from Frozen II
  • "Shout It Out Loud" by KISS
  • "This Is Not A Love Song" by Public Image Ltd..
  • Half Man Half Biscuit are quite fond of this, usually in combination with long titles. Examples include "Rock And Roll Is Full Of Bad Wools", "Mod, Diff, V. Diff, Hard Severe", "Bad losers on Yahoo Chess" and "We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune"
  • James Blake has "I'm So Blessed You're Mine", whose chorus repeats the title sixteen or so times in a row, peppered with occasional "girl" or "okay" ad-libs.
  • "Victoria" by The Kinks.
  • "Telecommunication" and "(It's Not Me) Talking" by A Flock of Seagulls.
  • There's a bunch of these by The Fall, if only because they have so many songs, including "How I Wrote Elastic Man", "Don't Call Me Darling", "Slang King", "Hit the North" and their cover of "Victoria" (lyrics unaltered from the original).
  • "Stay Away" by Nirvana, until it's subverted in the last chorus when Cobain adds "God is gay". Played entirely straight in Charles Bradley's cover because he was presented the lyrics with that line removed and was never told about it.
  • "I Predict A Riot" by Kaiser Chiefs plays the trope completely straight.
    I predict a riot
    I predict a riot

    I predict a riot
    I predict a riot
    (...)
    I predict a riot
    I predict a riot
    I predict a riot
    I predict a riot

 
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Peaches

Bowser expresses his plans the only way a Jack Black character can: via a piano love ballad.

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