History Main / ChorusOnlySong

* Most recordings of "Heartaches", including the Al Bowlly version most prominently sampled in Music/TheCaretaker's "Everywhere At The End Of Time'', only have the chorus lyrics. Seger Ellis's version has a four-line verse preceding the chorus:

I was a fool to fall''

->You said you loved me just as I loved you,\\

I was a fool to fall

* 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.

This 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. 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.

* Original cast albums of older Broadway musicals 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. One example of this is "I've Got You to Lean On" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle''.
* "How to Handle a Woman" from ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}''.
* "The Sewing Bee" from ''Theatre/TheGoldenApple'' (whose original cast album was severely abridged in general).

* "On the Street Where You Live" from ''Theatre/MyFairLady'' (though the verse used in the song really doesn't work without the dialogue bridge).

* A scene in ''Film/CanadianBacon'' has [[ThreeAmigos 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.

* Music/{{Cascada}}'s [[CoveredUp world-famous cover]] of Maggie Reilly's "Everytime We Touch" only retains the chorus of the original song, completely replacing the verses. Several artists recorded complete covers of the song prior to Cascada's version, but none came close to its level of popularity.

* "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee has this taken to an extreme - people only know the chorus, and they do so as [[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein "something something Gasolina"]] repeated 8 times.

* "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]]"?
* 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.
* "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).
* 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]]
* Several hymns suffer from this.
* So do national anthems.
** Does even UsefulNotes/CharlesIII know the other verses to "God Save The King"?
** "Land Of Hope And Glory", as mentioned [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Hope_and_Glory elsewhere.]]
** Das Deutschlandlied has verses which are known but no longer part of the national anthem due to their historical implications.
*** 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.
** 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.
** "O Canada" has three verses, only one of which is ever performed.
** 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.
** 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.
** 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]]
* That mainstay of the Last Night of the Proms, "Rule Britannia" has verses that no one knows, but they do know the chorus.
* "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence, without a doubt.
* 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.

* "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.
* "Crawling" by Linkin Park 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]]
* The theme song for ''Series/TheJeffersons.''
* "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.
* As do "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside" and "Where did you get that hat?"
* Music/OZone's "Dragostea din tei" (a.k.a. "[[RefrainFromAssuming Numa Numa]]") is this for some people.

* 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".
** 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.)
* Many many folksongs and shanties and their ilk suffer from either this or the SecondVerseCurse. "Blackfly", "Canning Salmon", and "Northwest Passage" are three.
* 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...".
* "Tubthumping" by 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...
* 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.

* 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!
* [[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.]]
* 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]].
* An inversion of sorts: the StandardSnippet version of "The Streets of Cairo" uses the tune of the verse, not the chorus.

* "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.
* Nobody cares about the verses to Music/{{KISS}}'s "Rock and Roll All Nite". Nobody.
** See, that's the kind of talk makes people get wild. But that's okay - "you drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy..."
** 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''.
* [[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.
** 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.
*** "Give My Regards To Broadway" is a good example of this.
*** As are most songs written by the Gershwins.
* You're unlikely to hear the (unmelodic) verse of "As Time Goes By" because it wasn't used in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''.
** 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.
* Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes! Music/DavidBowie.
* For many, "[[Music/{{Queen}} We Will Rock You]]".
** And its near companion "We Are The Champions".
*** As well as "Another One Bites The Dust."
* "When The Saints Go Marching In"
* "War! Huh! Good god! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Everyone knows that, barely anyone knows the verses.
* "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!]]"
* 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!]]").
* "This is not a love song" by Music/PublicImageLtd (PIL, not Public Image).
* "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.
* 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.
** 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.
** ''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.

* "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).
* "Wild Thing/You make my heart sing"...
** Wild Thing, I think there are verses/But I wanna know for sure...
* A scene in ''Film/CanadianBacon'' has [[ThreeAmigos 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.
* 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.
* The opening theme of ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsipExvcHgM "Morning Grace."]]
* "When You Wish Upon a Star", as heard in ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKfxKtGLU8 "It's a Long Way To Tipperary."]]
-->"Up to mighty London came an Irishman one day --
-->As the streets are paved with gold, sure, [[HaveAGayOldTime everyone was gay!"]]
* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOo-zKk0x4Q Hello, My Baby!]]"
** Oddly averted by Music/IvorBiggun, normally known for his terribly bawdy songs.
* "[[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]]...")
* KC and the Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)".
* 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.
** [[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.
* 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?")
* For some, [[Music/TheRollingStonesBand "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"]] are just those five words.
* 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.
* 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.
* "Anything You Can Do" has a short verse, but it's not used in ''Theatre/AnnieGetYourGun''.
* 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."
* "Firework" by Music/KatyPerry, to some.
* "The Great Escape" by Music/BoysLikeGirls, to most. (Blame Disney)
* "I Got You" by Music/JamesBrown is commonly known by the opening lyrics "I Feel Good", which is the only part many people know.

* 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.
* 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.
-->"They've got a power and a force that you've never seen before.\\
They've got the ability to morph and to even up the score.\\
No one can ever take them down.\\
The power lies on their side!"
** ''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").
* "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!".
** [[SecondVerseCurse And even fewer people know the second verse.]] [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Except Masaaki Endo.]]
* ''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.
* "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.
* 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?
* "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".
* "Wooly Bully" by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. (Can you remember anything other than "It's the thing to do"?)

* 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.
* Music/TheBloodhoundGang:
** "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."
** 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!")
* Not uncommon in America with hit songs recorded in other languages:
** "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.
** "99 Luftballons" by Music/{{Nena}}, outside of "something, something, Captain Kirk" most Yanks only know "99 luftballons, blahblahblahblahblahblahblah, 99 luftballons".
*** Same for "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Der Kommissar" by fellow Neue Deutsche Welle artist Music/{{Falco}}.
** "Du Hast" by Music/{{Rammstein}}. Though it's actually the repeated lines of the verse most people in the US Know.
** "La Bamba" by Music/RitchieValens (and later covered by Los Lobos for the soundtrack of [[Film/LaBamba Valens' biopic]] starring Creator/LouDiamondPhillips).
** "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.
** "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee has this taken to an extreme - people only know the chorus, and they do so as [[SomethingSomethingLeonardBernstein "something something Gasolina"]] repeated 8 times.
* 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.")
* ♪Oo-hoo [[DreamWeaver DREEEEEEAM WEAVER]]! I believe you can get me through the NI-IIIIIGHT!♪
* 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.
* "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?"
* "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]].
* Original cast albums of older Broadway musicals 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. Examples of this include:
** "How to Handle a Woman" from ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}''
** "I've Got You to Lean On" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle''
** "On the Street Where You Live" from ''Theatre/MyFairLady'' (though the verse used in the song really doesn't work without the dialogue bridge)
** "The Sewing Bee" from ''Theatre/TheGoldenApple'' (whose original cast album was severely abridged in general)
* "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty is a weird example because the "chorus" everyone remembers doesn't even have lyrics.
* 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.
* 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.
* ''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.
* 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.
* 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.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye7FKc1JQe4 Shout! Shout!]] [[Music/TearsForFears Let it all out! These are the things I can do without! Come on! I'm talking to you, come on!]]
* The [[ChristmasSongs Christmas Song]] "Silver Bells" is sometimes sung this way.
** Many other Christmas Songs are examples as well.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' each of the team theme songs are played this way when the teams have to fight each other.

* 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.
* "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys.
* "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.
* 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.
* "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.
* 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.
* "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.
* "Children Will Listen" from ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' has verses not used in the show.
* 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.

* "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.
* Spank Rock's "What It Look Like" is remembered only for its chorus:
-->''Tell me what it look like\\
Tell me what it is\\
Tell me what it look like\\
Tell me what it is\\
Tell me what it look like\\
Tell me what it is\\
Tell me what it look like\\
Tell me what it is\\
Tell me with it''
* Music/CyndiLauper's "All Through The Night"
-->''We have no past\\
we won't reach back.\\
Keep with me forward\\
ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT''
* 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."

* Prince's [[Film/Batman1989 "Batdance"]] has ''got'' to qualify. While it is admittedly far more of a [[StupidStatementDanceMix 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.

** Does even The Queen know the other verses to "God Save The Queen"?

* For some, [[Music/TheRollingStones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"]] are just those five words.

* For many people, only the beginning of the song "[[Music/{{survivor}} 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.

* The chorus of "I Love the Nightlife" by Alicia Bridges is one of the signature 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."

** 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.

** Does even The Queen know the other verses to "GodSaveTheQueen"?

* As do "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside" and "Where did you get that hat?".

* 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!
* [[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]].

** The melody is all right; it's the lyric that's the problem. Listen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc4iLg_3SGk here]]. Needs no introduction, indeed.

** 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.

* The opening theme of ''Anime/PrincessTutu'', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsipExvcHgM Morning Grace]]".

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vKfxKtGLU8 It's a Long Way To Tipperary]]"

-->As the streets are paved with gold, sure, [[HaveAGayOldTime everyone was gay!]]"

* 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.

* 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?").

** ''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.")

** "Land Of Hope And Glory", as mentioned [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Hope_and_Glory elsewhere]].

* "Crawling" by Linkin Park 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]].

* An odd example of this is "Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It consists of a chorus, a bridge, the same bridge repeated, then the chorus repeated again.

* Woody Guthrie'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?").

* "I Got You" by James Brown is commonly known by the opening lyrics "I Feel Good," which is the only part many people know.
* "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston.

* How many people watching the Indianapolis 500 each year know that "Back Home Again in Indiana" has verses to go with the single chorus sung by Jim Nabors?

** "Macarena" by Los Del Rio, 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.

** "Du Hast" by Rammstein. Though it's actually the repeated lines of the verse most people in the US Know.
** "La Bamba" by Richie Valens (and later covered by Los Lobos for the soundtrack of Valens' biopic starring Lou Diamond Phillips).
** "Gangnam Style" 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.

* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Plato's Stepchildren", the song "Maiden Wine" sung by Leonard Nimoy 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.

** "How To Handle A Woman" from ''Theatre/{{Camelot}}''
** "I've Got You To Lean On" from ''Theatre/AnyoneCanWhistle''
** "On The Street Where You Live" from ''Theatre/MyFairLady'' (though the verse used in the song really doesn't work without the dialogue bridge)

* The [[ChristmasSongs Christmas Song]] Silver Bells is sometimes sung this way.

* "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.