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Thread: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

  1. #31
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    Default Re: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

    IMHO it's more important that people know they're talking about the same section in the song than to find out whose definition is correct. As for Teenage Jail, "refrain", "bridge" and "chorus" are all fine by me. Personally I'd prefer the term chorus, because it appears right after the verses - although with no vocals the second time. As far as I know, the "bridge" usually comes later in the song and comes after two verses and two choruses. But I don't care what it's called.

  2. #32
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    Default Re: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

    Quote Originally Posted by chaim View Post
    IMHO it's more important that people know they're talking about the same section in the song than to find out whose definition is correct. As for Teenage Jail, "refrain", "bridge" and "chorus" are all fine by me. Personally I'd prefer the term chorus, because it appears right after the verses - although with no vocals the second time. As far as I know, the "bridge" usually comes later in the song and comes after two verses and two choruses. But I don't care what it's called.

    But OTB is talking about 'stare out the window'. That's the first verse. She's not talking about 'you're lost in a teenage jail'. Also it's my understanding that a chorus has words.

    Agree to disagree. I obviously have a completely different interpretation of the way this song is structured.

  3. #33
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    Default Re: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

    The differences between terms related to song structure such as chorus, refrains, hooks, and bridges can get really confusing. We’ve had similar discussions on the board before and IIRC, it’s hard to find consistent definitions of these terms. However, I tend to agree with Freypower’s interpretations. I think of a chorus as a vocal and musical melody that repeats at least once after the verses e.g. ‘There’s gonna be a heartache tonight, heartache tonight, I know’. I consider a refrain to be a phrase(s) that repeats itself within a verse, often at the end e.g. ‘Inside the Sad Cafe’. I also think these two can be examples of a hook, which I think of as a catch phrase. And, to me, a bridge is a transitional vocal and musical melody that occurs once during the song between verses and/or the chorus e.g. ‘Oh, expecting to fly, we would meet on that beautiful shore in the sweet by and by’.

    So, as I define these terms, like Freypower, I would consider the lines in the middle of Teenage Jail to be a bridge between two verses and no chorus. I realize others may have different interpretations though because I’m not sure there is a definitive answer. I think it’s an interesting discussion though and as Freypower mentioned, most of the songs on The Long Run album do not follow the conventional song structure so there is a lot of room for analysis. So, if there is interest and continued discussion about these songs in this thread, I’ll be happy to move the posts over to its own thread.

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  4. #34
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    Default Re: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ive always been a dreamer View Post
    The differences between terms related to song structure such as chorus, refrains, hooks, and bridges can get really confusing. We’ve had similar discussions on the board before and IIRC, it’s hard to find consistent definitions of these terms. However, I tend to agree with Freypower’s interpretations. I think of a chorus as a vocal and musical melody that repeats at least once after the verses e.g. ‘There’s gonna be a heartache tonight, heartache tonight, I know’. I consider a refrain to be a phrase(s) that repeats itself within a verse, often at the end e.g. ‘Inside the Sad Cafe’. I also think these two can be examples of a hook, which I think of as a catch phrase. And, to me, a bridge is a transitional vocal and musical melody that occurs once during the song between verses and/or the chorus e.g. ‘Oh, expecting to fly, we would meet on that beautiful shore in the sweet by and by’.

    So, as I define these terms, like Freypower, I would consider the lines in the middle of Teenage Jail to be a bridge between two verses and no chorus. I realize others may have different interpretations though because I’m not sure there is a definitive answer. I think it’s an interesting discussion though and as Freypower mentioned, most of the songs on The Long Run album do not follow the conventional song structure so there is a lot of room for analysis. So, if there is interest and continued discussion about these songs in this thread, I’ll be happy to move the posts over to its own thread.

    There are two areas of disagreement. One is over what I consider the first verse, which begins 'stare out the window'. OTB thinks that is a chorus. The second is that she thinks the middle section which you have just discussed is a verse.
    Last edited by Freypower; 06-03-2018 at 11:12 PM.

  5. #35
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    Default Re: Am I the only one who likes Teenage Jail?

    Personally I'd call this the first verse:

    Stare out the window,
    You can't make the time go
    You don't even know why you're here
    Wait for the weekend to go off the deep end
    And make everything disappear


    And this the second verse:

    You're not like your mothers.
    You're not like the others
    You're not quite like anyone else,
    They don't even know you,
    Got nothing to show you,
    So get something good for yourself


    The bit Don sings the first time, and which Glenn plays a synth solo over the second time, I guess could be called many things. Refrain, chorus and bridge, which have been mentioned, are all fine by me. It's in the grey area a bit. Perhaps they were thinking of it as a chorus when they wrote the backing track, but later decided not to have a proper chorus and play it as an instrumental the second tiime.

    My point was that I wish we wouldn't spend too much time arguing about terms - at least I hope it doesn't take the focus out of what we wanted to say about those sections in the first place. Freypower said "agree to disagree". I second that. Or perhaps it could be a separate topic, since it is important that everyone knows what others mean when they use a word like "refrain".
    Last edited by chaim; 06-04-2018 at 01:54 AM.

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