Vocal songs where the actual hook or chorus is played by an instrument

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by elgreco, Aug 18, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Blaine Jacobs

    Blaine Jacobs Forum Resident

    Phil Collins - Another Day In Paradise

    Has a couple bars for the hook before it segues into the keyboard chorus with minor ad libs.
     
  2. StereoMan56

    StereoMan56 Forum Resident

    Found another perfect one!

     
  3. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    Pavement's "Grounded"

    The chorus is the guitar section between 1:35 and 2:00, which repeats from 2:50 to 3:15.

     
  4. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    I was about to post this, then realized it's already here. This is an excellent example, IMO.
     
  5. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    A number of My Bloody Valentine songs qualify, e.g.:

     
  6. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    The hook of this one is half-instrumental, half-vocal ("oooooooh"):

     
  7. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Staying on the "shoegaze" path, a number of Verve's early songs are rather impressionistic in structure; what hooks they have tend to be instrumental riffs.

     
  8. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Others mentioned Dire Straits, but not the obvious one. The organ line in "Walk Of Life" IS the hook. There's a Part where the title is sung but is it the actual chorus? I would argue it's not nearly as catchy and doesn't drive the song the same way.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2016
    crispi and Mr Sam like this.
  9. RichC

    RichC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Not really, but that judge definitely agreed with you.
     
  10. Mr Sam

    Mr Sam "...don't look so good no more"

    Location:
    France
    Agree !
    That said, even though the organ line IS the main hook, the "he do the walk/he do the walk of life" chorus remains closer to a "memorable" sung line than the vocals on "Baker Street".

    And by the way, before "Walk Of Life", there was "Industrial Disease" on the previous album: same kind of keyboard line. It would fit the bill even better, as the "goodness me could this be industrial disease" line is probably less remembered (versus the keyboard line) than the "he do the walk" part.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2016
  11. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    I think Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" works here. The song consists of three obvious verse sections, plus two other parts that one might take for the chorus, except that the words are nothing alike. So the only section that repeats is the guitar part at the beginning, middle and end of the song.
     
    Etienne Hanratty likes this.
  12. Tyler Chastain

    Tyler Chastain Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Orleans
    I thought of these right away, especially the synth on Souvenir
     
  13. murrow1971

    murrow1971 Forum Resident

    Location:
    massachusetts
    The One You Love- Glen Frey
     
  14. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    After looking over Zeppelin's catalog, I'm thinking they have a few songs that qualify for this thread -- and perhaps several. Two are from Physical Graffiti: "Houses of the Holy" and "The Wanton Song." And the third is "The Ocean," which might be disqualified by Plant's interjections during the "chorus."
     
  15. winopener

    winopener Forum Resident

    Think you can find many examples on Prog music, here's some that does qualify

    PFM Impressioni di Settembre (original single version)
     
  16. winopener

    winopener Forum Resident

    BMS Non mi rompete

     
  17. winopener

    winopener Forum Resident

    Orme Sguardo verso il cielo

     
  18. ViceDen

    ViceDen Active Member

    Location:
    Wales
    Quite a few OMD songs, particularly Enola Gay and my personal favourite, Messages.
     
  19. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

    I'd say this qualifies.

     
    goodiesguy and StereoMan56 like this.
  20. Marvin

    Marvin Senior Member

    ELP's "Still You Turn Me On" would also be in this category.

    What about "21st Century Schizoid Man"?

    Perhaps Procol Harum's "Bringing Home the Bacon ."
     
  21. Hall Cat

    Hall Cat Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    The Association - "Never My Love" and "Everything That Touches You"
     
  22. StarDoG

    StarDoG Forum Resident

    Location:
    Coventry
    Thin Lizzy .... Whiskey In The Jar..... ask people to hum it and most will hum the guitar motif...
     
    andrewskyDE likes this.
  23. mdent

    mdent Forum Resident

    Location:
    New England
    Sweet Caroline....BA BA BAA! (Neil Diamond)

     
  24. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    As a reminder, the OP is looking for songs that have NO SUNG CHORUS. They would have a structure more or less like this:

    verse
    instrumental section (in place of sung chorus)
    verse
    repeated instrumental section
    verse
    repeated instrumental section
     
  25. Chazzbo13

    Chazzbo13 Forum Resident

    I actually thought "Atomic" better fit the OP's quest...but both are excellent tunes...
     
    Khaki F likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine