Limited Lyrics Song

Getting a perfect score in karaoke is as simple as nailing this line.

"Tequila!"

— The Champs, "Tequila"

A Sub-Trope of Epic Rocking that's routinely paired with Epic Instrumental Opener.

These songs have a short list of lyrics. Maybe there's only a few lines in a much longer song. Maybe the vocalist sings the lyrics repeatedly. Often overlaps with Title-Only Chorus. Has been known to overlap with Broken Record. Can result in Chorus-Only Song as these wind up feeling like a Limited Lyrics Song. Especially long songs can fall into this if the lyrics are sufficiently limited. The lyrics don't even need to be bunched up in a small space in the song. Can also result in Refrain from Assuming if the repeated line isn't the title.

To qualify for this trope, the song must be more than 2 minutes long. Exceptionally short songs (under 2 minutes long) rarely qualify since there isn't enough time for a great many lyrics to begin with.

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Examples:

Rock/Metal

• "Stop Smoking" by Car Seat Headrest has only two lines repeated multiple times:
  Stop smoking, we love you
  Stop smoking, we love you
  Stop smoking, we love you
  Stop smoking, we love you
  Stop smoking, we love you
  Stop smoking, we love you
  And we don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  We don't want you to die
  • This is averted when the theme from Stop Smoking recurs in High to Death, a nearly eight-minute-long lyrical Doorstopper of a song that isn't even the second-longest song on the album.
• "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac is fairly minimalist lyrics-wise:
  Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay
  Why don't you ask him if he's going away
  Why don't you tell me what's going on
  Why don't you tell me who's on the phone
  Why don't you ask him what's going on
  Why don't you ask him who's the latest on his throne
  Don't say that you love me
  Just tell me that you want me
  Tusk
• "Magnum Opus" by Kansas is over 8 minutes, with just this one verse surrounded by instrumental work:
  This foolish game, is still the same
  The notes go flying off in the air
  And don't you believe it's true,
  The music is all for you
  It's really all we've got to share
  Cause rocking and rolling,
  ''It's only howling at the Moon.
  ''It's only howling at the Moon.
• The Prodigy does a lot of songs like this. Take "Poison":
  I got the poison
  I got the remedy
  I got the pulsating rhythmical remedy
  (repeat over and over and over and over and over and over again throughout the pulsating rhythmical melody)
  • Also to mention is "Breathe":
    Breathe the pressure
    Come play my game, I'll test ya
    Psychosomatic, addict, insane
    Breathe the pressure
    Come play my game, I'll test ya
    Psychosomatic, addict, insane
    Come play my game
    Inhale, inhale, you're the victim
    Come play my game
    Exhale, exhale, exhale
    Breathe with me
• "The Fez" by Steely Dan repeats these four lines three times, with only minor syntax variations in the first two lines each time:
  No I'm never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no
  Ain't never gonna do it without the fez on, oh no
  That's what I am, please understand
  I wanna be your holy man
• "The National Anthem" by Radiohead from Kid A is a fairly epic and vocally intense song. However, its only lyrics used are:
  Everyone, everyone around here
  Everyone is so near/has got the fear
  It's holding on
  It's holding on
  • Radiohead used this trope a lot during their early 2000s electronica period. "Everything in Its Right Place" from Kid A has only a few lines of lyrics despite being about five minutes long, and one verse is nothing but the same line repeated four times. Also, "Pyramid Song" from Amnesiac has only one verse, which is repeated twice to stretch it out.
• "We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)" by Peter Gabriel:
  ''We do what we're told (3x)
  Told to do
  One doubt
  One voice
  One war
  One truth
  One dream
  • "Lead a Normal Life," also by Peter Gabriel:
    It's nice here with a view of the trees
    Eating with a spoon?
    They don't give you knives?
    'Spect you watch those trees
    Blowing in the breeze
    We want to see you lead a normal life
• The San Francisco punk band Flipper was most famous for "Sex Bomb," which comes in at under five minutes and consists of two lines of lyrics.
  She's a sex bomb!
  My baby, yeah!
• The 1983 post-punk hit "This Is Not A Love Song" by Public Image Ltd., where the majority of lyrics are the title repeated over and over again, hopefully convincing the listener that this is, in fact, not a love song.
• The Iron Butterfly song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is upwards of 17 minutes long, yet only has a few lyrics, most of which being the Refrain.
• Iron Maiden's "Another Life"
  As I lay here lying on my bed,
  sweet voices come into my head.
  Oh what it is, I wanna know,
  please won't you tell me it's got to go.
  There's a feeling that's inside me,
  telling me to get away.
  But I'm so tired of living,
  I might as well end today.
• Pink Floyd has given us several.
  • "Shine on You Crazy Diamond Part 1-5" from Wish You Were Here (1975) has less than 3 minutes containing lyrics in a song over 13 minutes long.
    Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom,
    blown on the steel breeze.
    Come on you target for faraway laughter,
    come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!
    You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    Well you wore out your welcome with random precision,
    rode on the steel breeze.
    Come on you raver, you seer of visions,
    come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!
  • "Shine on You Crazy Diamond Part 6-9" clocks in at nearly 12:30 and only has just over a minute of lyrics.
    Nobody knows where you are,
    How near or how far.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    Pile on many more layers
    And I'll be joining you there.
    Shine on you crazy diamond.
    And we'll bask in the shadow
    Of yesterday's triumph,
    And sail on the steel breeze.
    Come on you boy child,
    You winner and loser,
    Come on you miner for truth and delusion, and shine!
  • For certain definitions of the word "lyrics", we have "One Of These Days".
  One of these days I'm going to cut you into little pieces.
  • "Careful with That Axe Eugene" consists of someone whispering the title of the song, and unintelligible screaming.
  • The Wall has a number of songs along these lines, including the three parts of "Another Brick in the Wall", "Is There Anybody Out There?", and "Stop!".
• Nirvana's "School" from Bleach consists only of the repeated lines:
  Won't you believe it? It's just my luck
  No recess
  You're in high school again
  • Their Cover Version of "Love Buzz" by Shocking Blue, also on Bleach. The original version isn't quite an example, as it has two verses of lyrics, whereas the Nirvana version just repeats the same verse twice.
    Would you believe me when I tell you
    you're the queen of my heart?
    Please don't deceive me when I hurt you
    Just ain't the way it seems
    Can you feel my love buzz?
• Black Sabbath has "Sleeping Village" which consists of a short verse, followed by a lengthy instrumental section.
  Red sun rising in the sky
  Sleeping village, cockerels cry
  Soft breeze blowing in the trees
  Peace of mind, feel at ease
• "Peaches" by The Presidents of the United States of America is a complicated example. The song is split into two halves. The first half features two verses with a chorus. Said chorus consists simply of the line "Moving to the country, gonna eat a lot of peaches." The verses (which actually follow the chorus) have more varied lines. The second half of the song consists simply of the lines "Millions of peaches, peaches for me./Millions of peaches, peaches for free."
• Genesis' "Guide Vocal".
  I am the one who guided you this far
  All you know and all you feel.
  Nobody must know my name
  For nobody would understand,
  And you kill what you fear.

  I call you for I must leave,
  You're on your own until the end.
  Nobody must know my name,
  I said you wouldn't understand,
  Take what's yours and be damned.
  • These lyrics are repeated verbatim (with the same melody and chords behind them, but a different arrangement) in "Duke's Travels", and they're the only lyrics to the song after an Epic Instrumental Opener that lasts for most of the song. There's also "Lurker", whose lyrics consist only of a brief spoken word section and then a verse that is sung twice. Also, many of Genesis' prog songs are examples of this trope due to their length; for instance, "The Cinema Show" only has about three minutes of singing before about an eight-minute instrumental break, while "Fading Lights" has only three verses and a chorus. "Los Endos" takes the cake, though; it only has two lines ("There's an angel standing in the sun / There's an angel standing in the sun / Free to get back home"), both of which are reprised from "Supper's Ready" a few years earlier.
• "Colour My World" by Chicago:
  As time goes on, I realize
  Just what you mean to me
  And now, now that you're near
  Promise your love
  That I've waited to share
  And dreams of our moments together
  Colour my world with hope of loving you
• Primal Scream's "Kill All Hippies" has only sampled film dialogue, and towards the end a repeated chant of:
  You got the money
  I got the soul
  Can't be bought
  Can't be owned
• Yes has a few:
  • "We Have Heaven" — two lines repeated over and over in a sort of round:
    Tell the moon dog, tell the March hare
    We have heaven
    • ...Joined by these lines about halfway through:
      He is clear
      Now look around
  • "The Fish" (if taken separate, although it is often twinned with "Long Distance Runaround"), repeats the line "Schindleria Praematurus".
  • "White Car":
    I see a man in a white car
    Move like a ghost on the skyline
    Take all your dreams
    And you drive them away
    Man in a white car.
  • A lot of Yes' other songs can end up as examples of this trope due to their long instrumental breaks. "The Gates of Delirium", "The Ancient (Giants Under the Sun)", and "Awaken" are good examples.
• The Champs' song "Tequila" (pictured above), with the only lyric being the title.
• The Average White Band's "Pick Up the Pieces". Again, with the only lyrics being the title.
• Nearly every song by Isis. They're an unusual example of this trope in that most of their songs are also Epic Rocking, meaning that their songs are mostly instrumental. Their best example by far is "Weight", though, as it contains only two lines after an Epic Instrumental Opener: "All in, all in, all in a day" and "A day, it changes everything", the first of which is repeated throughout the song's second half and the latter of which is repeated throughout the last minute or two of the song.
• Porcupine Tree has had quite a few of these, but special note should be taken to ".3" which consists of two lines repeated four times.
  Black the sky, weapons fly
  Lay them waste for your race
• Nine Inch Nails on The Fragile, particularly "The Way Out Is Through."
  "The Fragile was an album based a lot in fear, because I was afraid as fuck about what was happening to me ... That's why there aren't a lot of lyrics on that record. I couldn't fucking think."
• Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota have two examples: "Fuegos de Oktubre" ("De regreso a Oktubre/desde Oktubre/sin un estandarte/de mi parte/te prefiero igual/internacional!", repeated three times with instrumental interludes) and "Invocación" (repeats the word "Lobo" several times across the song, and that's it).
• Roky Erickson of The 13th Floor Elevators had a song on his 1981 album The Evil One, "I Walked With A Zombie", of which the lyrics are:
  I walked with a zombie
  I walked with a zombie
  I walked with a zombie
  Last night.
  • The song was covered by R.E.M. on the Erickson tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye, and is notable for being the only R.E.M. recording where Peter Buck contributed a vocal: all of the band members have a turn singing a verse, although Buck doesn't so much sing as "intone".
• "Killing in the Name" by Rage Against the Machine has only a few lyrics that are repeated several times.
  Verse (2×): Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses (4 times, screamed on the last "are the same that burn crosses")
  Refrain (2×): Killing in the name of (2 times, plus s separate instance as the intro)
  Pre-chorus (2×): Now you do what they told ya (12 times done twice with increasing intensity, with "and" added on the fifth instance in both pre-choruses, and the phrase Now you're under control repeated seven times on the second pre-chorus, starting on the sixth instance, screamed on the last time)
  Chorus (2×):: Those who died are justified / For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites / You justify those that died / By wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites (2 times)
  Outro: Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me (16 times with increasing intensity the first 8 times, screamed the last 8 times)
  Then there's a big "MOTHERFUCKER!" after that.
• "T-Bone" by Neil Young is 9 minutes long and has just one repeated line: "Got mashed potato, ain't got no t-bone".
• "Argentinians" by Not From There is over 8 minutes long. Its one spoken line comes up only once:
  Argentinians should never sing Simon & Garfunkel songs late at night to Italian toilet cleaners
• "Mouse Trap" by Ride is near-entirely instrumental, save for 4 lines near the middle of it's 5-minute runtime.
  Running away, you're lost for words again
  Now you've got all what you wanted, are you really satisfied?
  Tricky scenes, tricky little dreams
  The earth spins, my head spins me back round to you
• Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota:
  • "Fuegos de Oktubre" from Oktubre has only three lines that are repeated across the song:
  "De regreso a Oktubre, desde Oktubre^note Returning to Oktober, from Oktober
  Sin un estandarte de mi parte^note Without a banner, on my part
  Te prefiero igual, internacional^note I still prefer you, international."
  • "Invocación", the opening track of Lobo Suelto, has Solari repeating several times "Lobo"^note Wolf
• "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" by Queens of the Stone Age.
  Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol
  Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol
  Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol, whoa
  Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol
  Co-co-co-co-cocaine!

Pop

• The Beatles seem to love this trope.
  • "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" from Abbey Road clocks in at 7:47, but just repeats the two lines:
    I want you, I want you so bad, it's driving me mad, it's driving me mad
    • and
    She's so heavy
  • Also from The White Album, "Why Don't We Do It In the Road":
    Why don't we do it in the road? (4x)
    No one will be watching us
    Why don't we do it in the road?
  • "Wild Honey Pie" repeats the line "honey pie" over and over, with the line "I love you" at the end. (Not to be confused with a separate song on another side of the double album called "Honey Pie", which is done in a totally different style, with the "normal" amount of lyrics.)
• "Say Something" by Justin Timberlake and Chris Stapleton: Except for two three-line verses, the lyrics are repetitions of the same four lines ("Everybody says say something", "I don't want to get caught up in the rhythm/middle of it, but I can't help myself", "Maybe I'm looking for something I can't have", and "Sometimes the greatest way to say something is to say nothing at all.") or parts of them.
• Madness did this several times in the early career, in particular on One Step Beyond Album.
  • The title track of One Step Beyond starts with a spoken-word intro that runs for 25 seconds, without accompaniment. Once the music picks up, the only words are intermittent shouts of the title and background repetitions of "Here we go," mixed with assorted vocal effects.
  • "Night Boat To Cairo" has one verse in the middle of the song; the rest is basically instrumental apart from random interjections of the title and "all aboard!".
• Tears for Fears:
  • "The Prisoner" consists of a single stanza sung twice between lengthier instrumental passages.
  • The four-minute long "The Conflict" (the B-Side of "Change") features one stanza repeated twice.
  • For all of its nearly seven-minute runtime, "Listen" has only two proper stanzas, both of which are only two verses long. The other lyrics are mostly just repeating "Cumpleaños chica, no hay que preocuparse" and a brief mutter of the Title Drop, with the vast majority of the song being a pseudo-ambient synth piece.
  • "Tears Roll Down" (the B-Side of "Sowing the Seeds of Love") is a Single Stanza Song where the vocals take up only 32 seconds out of its 3:16 length, and the verse "Where tears roll down" is sung four times.
• Scott Fitzgerald's "If I Had Words" repeats the same four-line chorus over and over for the whole song:
  If I had words to make a day for you
  I'd sing you a morning golden and new
  I would make this day last for all time
  Give you a night deep in moonshine

Jazz

• John McLaughlin's "Abbaji", featured on Floating Point and The Boston Record, only features the phrases "Love and understanding" and "Love is understanding".
• "Rose Rouge" from Tourist by St Germain.
  I want you to get together
  Put your hààààààààààààààànds together one time
  I want you to get together
• ”A love supreme… A love supreme… A love supreme…”
• ”Salt Peanuts! Salt Peanuts!”
• Pennsylvania 6-5000!

Funk

• Parliament-Funkadelic has plenty. For starters, the song "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication" from Mothership Connection only has the lyrics:
  Give the people what they want when they want and they wants it all the time
  Give the people what they need when they need and they need it, yours and mine ^note And even this lyric doesn't come up until the middle of the song
  • And:
    Throwdown, make me do the throwdown
  • The only other words besides that are Star Child saying "Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication. In other words, I can do the bump." throughout the song.

Folk

• Pink Moon, the final album by Nick Drake, clocks in at under half an hour, and the title track is as sweetly minimalist as they come.
  I saw it written and I saw it say
  Pink moon is on its way
  And none of you stand so tall
  Pink moon gonna get you all
  It's a pink moon
  It's a pink moon
  Pink, pink, pink, pink
  Pink moon
  The pink, pink, pink, pink
  Pink moon

Electronic

• Daft Punk is known for using this trope a lot:
  • "Around the World", "Robot Rock", "Make Love", "Television Rules the Nation" and "Emotion" have no lyrics except their respective titles repeated over and over.
  • In a similar manner, "Daftendirekt" from Homework repeats the lyric line "Da funk back to the punk, come on" over the course of its length, while "Superheroes" from Discovery does the same with the lyric "Something's in the air" up until its last third of length (which is entirely instrumental).
  • "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" has a refrain in trochaic dimeter, and all other lyrics are the first or second half of the refrain with some of the trochees left silent (usually alternating) :
    Work it harder, Make it better
    Do it faster, Makes us stronger
    More than ever, Hour after hour
    Work is never over
  • "Too Long" has a few words repeated for a good while in the song's second half:
    I know you need it! (Hey!)
    I need it, too! (Well, alright!)
    I know you need it!
    It's good for you! (We gon' move!)
  • The title track of Human After All (an album that's practically built off of this) only has two different, repeated lines in its lyrics:
    We are human, After all
    Much in common, After all
  • "The Brainwasher", while mostly an instrumental song, has the lyric "I am the Brainwasher" spoken five separate times throughout its length.
  • Aside from its title, "Technologic" lists things that can be done with technology, most ending in "it".
    Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it
    Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick, erase it...
  • "Lose Yourself to Dance" from Random Access Memories repeats the same verse about 4 times over the course of the 6-minute song. Pharrell Williams sings the lyrics, but Daft Punk does add some extra lines later into the song.
    I know you don't get a chance to take a break this often.
    I know your life is speeding, and it isn't stopping.
    Here, take my shirt and just go ahead and wipe off all the sweat. Sweat. SWEAT.
    LOSE YOURSELF TO DANCE!
    LOSE YOURSELF TO DANCE!
    LOSE YOURSELF TO DANCE!
    LOSE YOURSELF TO DANCE!
• "Light & Dark" from Mind.in.a.box's debut album has two lines of repeating lyrics, unlike most of their later songs.
  I feel sad, so left alone.
  Words are not enough, for me to live on.
• Pendulum has a 6-minute song called "9,000 Miles", and this is the only lyric that was sung.
  It's 9,000 miles back to you
  I still feel like home is in your arms
• Fatboy Slim has a song titled "Fucking in Heaven", where the only lyric is "Fatboy Slim is fucking in heaven."
  • "Right Here, Right Now" consists solely of repetitions of the title and the line "Waking up to find that your love's not real."
• Kraftwerk is known for limited lyrics. As an example of reducing track lyrics even further, the original German version of the track "Computerwelt" includes a bit more varied lyrics than its English counterpart "Computerworld", which has the only lyrics of "Interpol and Deutsche Bank, FBI and Scotland Yard".
• Junior Jack's "My Feeling" repeats the title over the course of the intro and outro, and between them the only lyrics is the refrain below.
  When I think about you, my feelings can't explain
  Why after all this time, my feelings can't explain?
• Zanias's "Lovelife" has wordless One-Woman Wail vocals for its first three minutes, followed by two lines of lyrics that repeat once.
• Mylo's "Drop The Pressure" has the repeating "Motherfuckers gonna drop the pressure" as its only lyric.
• Cassius's "Feelings For You" has a single repeating line for its lyrics: "My feelings for you have always been real", which was Sampled Up from Gwen McCrae's "All This Love That I'm Giving".
• Yello: While the band's songs usually lean towards wordiness, there are some songs that break this convention:
  • The lyrics for the album version of "Bostich" consist solely of one verse, which is repeated five times.
  • "Oh Yeah" is very sparse in the lyrical department, with the only distinct lines (other than the nonverbal mouth sounds) being a Title Drop, "the moon, beautiful," "the sun, even more beautiful," "beautiful," and "such a good time, a really good time." According to Boris Blank, vocalist Dieter Meier was "very angry" when he was asked to only say "oh yeah" over and over again, and it wasn't until after the song was recorded that he came around to it.
  • The lyrics to "Planet Dada" consist only of a Title Drop, "electric," and "erotic," repeated in various different ways.
• Scooter's "Space Cowboy" only has "I'm the cowboy, the space cowboy" repeated ad nauseam.

Soundtracks

• "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" from The Three Little Pigs:
  Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
  Big Bad Wolf
  Big Bad Wolf
  Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
  [flute solo]
• "Thunderhorse" by Dethklok. The only words to appear in it, besides thunder, horse, and the two together, are ride and revenge.
• The theme "song" for the original Batman (1966) TV series consisted of nothing but the word "Batman", repeated ad nauseum, with a few nonsense words just before the last "Batman".
  na-na, na-na, na-na, na-na, Batman
• The Solids' How I Met Your Mother theme is a full song of "ba-ba-ba-ba-baa-duu-da-du-du-duu-da-duu-da-duudaduudaduuda-da-da-da".
• Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The original theme song just features the line "Go, go Power Rangers" repeated three times before ending with "You Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers" done twice in succession. However, season 2 debuted an extended version of the song that replaced the instrumental tune Zords used in season 1. This extended theme contained two full verses ending with "No one can ever take them down! The power lies on their side!", usually heard as the Thunder Megazord completes its assembly, before breaking into the repetitive part used in the show's opening title.
• The 90s Spider-Man: The Animated Series remixed the classic Spider-Man theme. The end result was a song with a guitar solo and the words "Spider-Man", "Radioactive Spider-Man" and "Radioactive Spider Blood" randomly spliced in at different intervals.
• The Inspector Gadget theme just consists of the words "Inspector," "Gadget," "Woo-hoo," and "Go."
• Several Jem songs count. The series required at least two songs per episode so of course not all will be very inspired or deep. Several songs repeat the same few lines several times, like "Hollywood Jem".
• Techno Syndrome, also known as The Mortal Kombat! song. All the lyrics lyrics are different combinations of the MORTAL KOMBAT scream, Test Your Might! and Saying the name of every playable character in the original game.
• One episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie features Hugh Laurie singing a song called "America", the first verse of which consists entirely of the word "America". Then he switches to "The States", then back to "America". Then Stephen punches him.
• No dictionary words at all in the ditty "Mah NÃ Mah NÃ " from the Italian film Sweden: Hell And Heaven, most famously known for its use in The Muppet Show.
• Need for Speed: High Stakes and Porsche Unleashed had quite a few of these from the in-house artists, usually composed of one or two lyrics such as "Rock This" in the former and "Rock This Place" in the latter by Rom Di Prisco (aka Morphadron). There was even a cut song from High Stakes called "Bass!" that literally has an upbeat voice going "Bass!" to the music.
• "Gonna Fly Now", the Oscar-nominated song from Rocky, is only thirty words long.

Defies Category

• Cry (Just A Little) by Bingo Players
  I know
  Caught up in the middle
  I cry, just a little
  When I think of letting go
  Oh no
  Gave up on the riddle
  I cry, just a little
  When I think of letting go
  I know
  I
• British children's nursery rhymes are generally Ironic Nursery Rhymes, including "London's Burning" which is, on repeat:
  London's Burning, London's Burning,
  Fetch the engines, Fetch the engines!
  FIRE, FIRE! FIRE, FIRE!
  Pour on water, pour on water,
  London's burning, London's burning...
  • With "London's burning" becoming sung more solemn each time until you fade out dramatically.
• The song that'll get on your nerves:
  I know a song that'll get on your nerves, get on your nerves, get on your nerves,
  I know a song that'll get on your nerves, and this is how it goes
  • (repeat relentlessly until someone loses it)
• Lamb Chop's Play-Along: This is the song that doesn't end...
  Yes, it goes on and on, my friend
  Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was
  And they'll continue singing it forever just because
  (repeat)

Comedy/References/Parodies

• In his 1977 appearance on The Midnight Special, Andy Kaufman performed "I Trusted You", which overlaps with Broken Record in that the title is the only lyric in the song and it's repeated over and over for approximately three minutes. Adding to the hijinks, this wasn't introduced as a parody!
• Parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic with "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long", even though it actually isn't an example. The chorus is "This song's just six words long.", while the verses are Al singing about how writing more words is hard.
  • The song it parodies, "Got My Mind Set On You" (an old 1950s rockabilly song written by Rudy Clark and originally sung by James Ray; Covered Up by George Harrison in 1987) is something of an example, too.
  I got my mind set on you (x4)
  But it's gonna take money
  A whole lotta spending money
  It's gonna take plenty of money
  To do it right, child
  It's gonna take time
  A whole lotta precious time
  It's gonna take patience and time
  To do it, To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right, child
  Bridge:
  And this time I know it's for real
  The feelings that I feel
  I know if I put my mind to it
  I know that I really could do it
• A Parody Commercial on Saturday Night Live for a Swedish tribute album to the Rat Pack consisted entirely of the line "Hey, cool cat! I'm going to smoke a cigarette!"

Internet Origins

• This is Mr.Weebl's schtick for the vast majority of his songs.
  • "Badgers" is a pretty famous example:
    Badger Badger Badger (repeat)
    Mushroom Mushroom
    Aaaah a snake! Snake a snake! Ooooh it's a snake!

Other/Not Yet Categorized

• The title track to Celtic Woman's Ancient Land album, with its only lyrics being repeated twice at different intervals:
  A ghrá mo chléibh, a chuisle mo chroí
  A ghrá mo chléibh, a chuisle mo chroí
• Van McCoy's disco song "The Hustle", the only line being "Do the hustle!".
• Shined On Me by The Praisecats consists of just these lines:
  I've got peace deep in my soul
  I've got love making me whole
  Since you opened up your heart
  And shined on me.
• "Autocrat" by For Against consists only of the repeated line "Yeah, that's right, that's the way it is."
• "Is There A Ghost" by Band of Horses has only three lines that are repeated through the song:
  I could sleep
  When I lived alone
  Is there a ghost in my house?
• Agalloch's 19-minute "Our Fortress is Burning" suite consists of one vocal passage in the middle that lasts less than 2 minutes.
  The god of man is a failure.
  Our fortress is burning against the grain of the shattered sky.
  Charred birds escape from the ruins
  and return as cascading blood.
  Dying bloodbirds pooling, feeding the flood.
  The god of man is a failure.
  And all of our shadows, all of our shadows
  All of our shadows are ashes against the grain.
• "A Foggy Day" by George Gershwin, covered by Frank Sinatra on Songs for Young Lovers.
  A foggy day, in London town, it had me low, and it had me down
  I viewed the morning, with much alarm, the British Museum, had lost its charm
  How long I wondered, could this thing last, but the age of miracles, it hadn't past
  And suddenly, I saw you standing right there
  And in foggy London town, the sun was shining everywhere
• "Like Someone In Love", covered by Frank Sinatra on Songs for Young Lovers.
  Lately, I find myself gazing at stars, hearing guitars like someone in love
  Sometimes the things I do astound me, mostly whenever you're around me.
  Lately I seem to walk as though I had wings, bump into things like someone in love.
  Each time I look at you, I'm limp as a glove, and feeling like someone in love
• Sigur Rós's album ( ), where every single song has the same Singing Simlish lyrics, repeated in several different ways: You xylo. You xylo no fi lo. You So.
• Numerous songs from Caravan; in particular, the twenty-two-minute "Nine Feet Underground", with vocals only featured in about five of those minutes, singing four verses and a few choruses.
• The Surfaris' "Wipeout" takes this a bit further. The song opens with giggling, then a Title Drop, then the rest of the song is instrumental.
• The original album version of "Atomic" by Blondie has one verse, then goes into an instrumental for most of its running time before returning to a vocal refrain near the end. The single edit is more conventionally structured, as it edits down the instrumental section and also throws in a repeat of the sole verse.
• The Rednex version of "Cotton Eye Joe" repeats the same chorus eleven times, with two verses mixed in for good measure.
• José Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" has two verses, one in Spanish, and one in English, each consisting of a line that's repeated three times before concluding with a different line. The Spanish verse is sung twice, then the English verse is sung twice, then the whole sequence is repeated twice more before concluding with the Spanish verse. Which is to say, the same four lines are sung a collective total of fifty-two times.
• The only lyrics that were included in the Jason Donovan song "Just Call Me Up" is the titular lyric, "I'll be waiting tonight(?)", and "I'll be waiting/I will be there" repeated all over again. The rest of the song is an instrumental.
• The Disco group Silver Convention made a regular feature of this.
  • Their Signature Song "Fly, Robin, Fly" has only the lines "Fly, Robin, Fly / Up, up to the sky". Although they're repeated a few times, the lyrical content was so low that it actually won a Grammy in the R&B Instrumental category.
  • The follow up to the above and the group's next biggest hit, "Get Up and Boogie", is equally repetitive, with "That's right / Get up and boogie" as the only lyrics. In the outro, only the title is repeated.
• Disco group Boney M's Breakthrough Hit "Daddy Cool" was a Follow the Leader response to the success of Silver Convention and even used some of the same session musicians. It has the repeated call-and-response lyric "She's crazy like a fool / Wild about Daddy Cool" and apart from a brief spoken bit in the middle, that's it.
• DJ duo Duck Sauce released a 2010 song called "Barbra Streisand", where the only lyric is the eponymous singer's name.
• "Take Me to Your Leader" by outsider band the Aliens, featured on The Desert Sessions Vol. 6, is composed almost entirely of just five words — take a wild guess what those five words are.
• Punk band Dead Kennedys "Short Songs" entire lyrics are the words "I like short songs", repeated 13 times. It is a short song.
• Fred Fassert's "Barbara Ann" mainly includes the name of the song.
• The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets' Yog Sothoth's only lyrics is the titular Outer God's name.

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Tequila!

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