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That's just the strophic form- basically has been the standard template for sung music in the West for millennia. The Rule of Three covers the 32 bar song form specifically having three verse-and-chorus sections.
See Single Stanza Song when there really is only one long verse (or one very short one in some cases), and Looped Lyrics when the same lyrics repeat numerous times but with variations in the music and/or delivery.
Strophic form
specifically means repeating the same music throughout. Verse-chorus form (which describes nearly all pop music) can be strophic when the music for the chorus is the same as that for the verses (this is "simple verse-chorus form"), but if the chorus follows different music ("contrasting verse-chorus form") then it's not really strophic. I mean, if you want to count the verse and chorus as halves of a single unit, then you could argue that the verse-chorus repetition is strophic... but that doesn't account for the bridge, the musical part that's distinct from the verses and the chorus, and which shows up in place of the third verse in the majority of pop songs.
And the 32 bar song form is something else entirely, associated with Tin Pan Alley music and pre-60s pop. 32 bar songs are an AABA structure, while modern verse-chorus songs are an ABABCB structure.
Anyway, we don't have articles about any of these, and I think we should. I remember someone started a TLP thread for verse-chorus song structure, but it lost momentum and never launched, and now I can't find it again. And since this would be an Omnipresent Trope, the article would probably need some version of No Straight Examples, Please!.
@Metal Four: Thanks for the bridge as that was the term I wanted to use instead of alterate 3rd verse
Anyway Omnipresent Trope or not, this one is really craving for a page. Even if with aversions and subversions only.
The trope name might be Standard Song Template ?
Humankind is like a train. No matter how powerful the locomotive is, it can only travel as fast as its slowest car allows it to.
Turns out I was able to find the old TLP thread I was thinking of. It's not exactly like I thought, but it could still have some info that would be helpful for making this article: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=062ggk2gjtwmd947dlphg1uo
Is there a page about most mainstream songs follow roughly the same basic pattern of:
1st verse
chorus
2nd verse
chorus
alternate 3rd verse
chorus
This trope is followed in the mainstream music industry almost completely while being nearly totally averted with dedicated soundtracknote and indie/underground music.
Edited by sohibil