View source for Thirty-two-bar form

{{short description|Song structure}}
{{see also|Ballad#Ballad form}}

[[Image:Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz trailer.jpg|thumb|225px|"[[Over the Rainbow]]" (Arlen/Harburg) exemplifies the 20th-century popular 32-bar song.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chapter 2: Jazz Form and improvisation {{!}} Jazz: W. W. Norton StudySpace |url=http://www.wwnorton.com/college/music/jazz/ch/02/outline.aspx |website=WW Norton}}</ref>]]

The '''32-bar form''', also known as the '''AABA song form''', '''American popular song form''' and the '''ballad form''', is a song structure commonly found in [[Tin Pan Alley]] songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |title=AABA, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge, Prechorus — Song Forms and Their Historical Development |author=Ralf von Appen; Markus Freight-Hauenschild |url=https://www.academia.edu/11335416 |journal=SAMPLES, www.gfpm-samples.de |date=9 March 2015 |access-date=2 January 2016}}</ref>

The song form consists of four sections: an eight-bar A section; a second eight-bar A section (which may have slight changes from the first A section); an eight-bar B section, often with contrasting harmony or "feel"; and a final eight-bar A section. The core melody line is generally retained in each A section, although variations may be added, particularly for the last A section.

Examples of 32-bar AABA form songs include "[[Over the Rainbow]]", "[[I Got Rhythm]]", "[[What'll I Do]]", "[[Make You Feel My Love]]",<ref name=":0"/> "[[The Man I Love (song)|The Man I Love]]"{{r|Paymer|p=5}}, "Dream River",{{which|date=May 2025}} "[[Primrose Lane]]", "[[Let's Get Away From It All]]", and "[[Blue Skies (Irving Berlin song)|Blue Skies]]".{{r|Paymer|p=109}} Many show tunes that have become [[jazz standard]]s are 32-bar song forms.

== Basic song form ==
At its core, the basic AABA 32-bar song form consists of four sections, each section being eight bars in length, totaling 32 bars. Each of these eight-bar sections is assigned a letter name ("A" or "B"), based on its melodic and harmonic content. The A sections all share the same melody (possibly with slight variations), and the recurring title lyric typically falls on either the first or last line of each A section. The "B" section musically and lyrically contrasts the A sections. The "B" section may use a different harmony that contrasts with the harmony of the A sections. For example in the song "I've Got Rhythm", the A sections are in the key of B{{music|flat}}, but the B section involves a [[circle of fifths]] series of [[dominant seventh]] chords going from D<sup>7</sup>, G<sup>7</sup>, C<sup>7</sup>, to F<sup>7</sup>. Song form terminology is not standardized, and the B section is also referred to as the "[[middle eight]]", "[[Bridge (music)|bridge]]", or "primary bridge".<ref name=":0" />

The song form of "What'll I Do" by Irving Berlin is as follows:
:{| class="wikitable"
!Name
!Lyric from "[[What'll I Do]]" by Irving Berlin
|-
| align="center" | A<sub>1</sub>
|What'll I do when you are far away and I am blue? What'll I do?
|-
| align="center" | A<sub>2</sub>
|What'll I do when I am won'dring who is kissing you? What'll I do?
|-
| align="center" | B
|What'll I do with just a photograph to tell my troubles to?
|-
| align="center" | A<sub>3</sub>
|When I'm alone with only dreams of you that won't come true… What'll I do?
|}

== Terminology ==

=== Sectional verse ===
Some [[Tin Pan Alley]] songs composed as numbers for musicals precede the main tune with what was called a "[[Section (music)|sectional]] verse" or "introductory verse" in the terminology of the early 20th century. This introductory section is usually 16 [[Bar (music)|bars]] long and establishes the background and mood of the number, with a free musical structure, speech-like rhythms, and rubato delivery, in order to highlight the attractions of the main tune. Some verses contained a second set of lyrics intended to be sung between repeated performances of the main chorus. The sectional verse is often omitted from modern performances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://parlorsongs.com/insearch/lostverses/lostverses.php |title=The Lost Verses, Songs you Thought you Knew |last=Beil |first=Richard |date=January 2009 |website=parlorsongs.com |publisher=The Parlor Songs Academy |access-date=29 July 2018 |quote="Although the Tin Pan Alley song-type continued to include verses, these most often were much shorter, sometimes serving as little more than introductions. The song became, in most cases and for most purposes, coextensive with the chorus. And, as was quickly learned within the time-restrictive environment of recording in the 1920s, the new Tin Pan Alley song, uprooted from the stage, worked best without its verses, as a fragment of expression that was somewhat fluid."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.northernhighlands.org/cms/lib5/nj01000179/centricity/domain/260/ch4_stud.pdf |title=The golden age of Tin Pan Alley song, 1920s |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=www.northernhighlands.org |publisher=Northern Highlands Regional High School |access-date=29 July 2018 |quote=Verses were regarded as mere introductions by the 1920s, and today the verses of Tin Pan Alley songs are infrequently performed.}}</ref> It is not assigned a letter in the "AABA" naming scheme.

The introductory verse from "[[What'll I Do]]" by Irving Berlin is as follows:
<blockquote>
Gone is the romance that was so divine,<br>'tis broken and cannot be mended<br>You must go your way, and I must go mine,<br>but now that our love dreams have ended...
</blockquote>

=== {{anchor|Middle eight}} Bridge ===
{{see also|Bridge (music)}}
In [[music theory]], the ''bridge'' is the B section of a 32-bar form.<ref name="Music">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpP0xMm7ivMC&pg=PA125 |last=Parkinson |first=Alice |year=2006 |title=Music |page=125 |publisher=Lotus Press |isbn=978-81-89093-50-1}}.</ref> This section has a significantly different [[melody]] from the rest of the song and usually occurs after the second "A" section in the AABA song form. It is also called a ''middle eight'' because it happens in the middle of the song and the length is generally eight [[bar (music)|bars]].

=== Terminological confusion ===
In early-20th-century terminology, the main 32-bar AABA section, in its entirety, was called the "[[refrain]]" or "chorus". Accordingly, jazz players improvising on the 32-bar sections may still speak today of "blowing for a couple of choruses".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzinamerica.org/lessonplan/8/2/203 |title=lessonplan/8/2/203-Musical Elements |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=www.jazzinamerica.org |publisher=Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz |access-date=24 January 2024 |quote="In a nutshell, the format of the performance of a jazz tune is: head for one chorus - improvised solos for several choruses - head for one chorus."}}</ref> This is in contrast to the modern usage of the term "chorus", which refers to a repeating musical and lyrical section in [[verse–chorus form]]. Additionally, "verse", "chorus", and "refrain" all have different meanings in modern musical terminology. See the below chart for clarification:

{| class="wikitable"
!Early terminology
!Modern terminology
!Definition
|-
| align="center" | Introductory verse ''or''<br/>sectional verse
| align="center" | Introductory verse ''or''<br/>sectional verse
|The opening section, often 16 bars in length, which resembles [[recitative]] from [[opera]].
|-
| align="center" | Refrain ''or''<br/>chorus
| align="center" | Verse-refrain form ''or''<br/>AABA form
|The 32-bar section, composed of four separate 8-bar sections, taking the form AABA.
|-
| align="center" | ''None''
| align="center" | Verse
|Any of the three individual 8 bar "A" sections
|-
| align="center" | Bridge
| align="center" | Bridge ''or''<br/>middle 8 ''or''<br/>release ''or''<br/>primary bridge
|8-bar "B" section
|-
| align="center" | ''None''
| align="center" | Refrain line
|This recurring lyric line is often the title of the song (e.g. "[[Yesterday (Beatles song)|Yesterday]]", "[[Let's Face the Music and Dance]]", "[[Luck Be a Lady Tonight]]").
|}

== History ==

Though the 32-bar form resembles the [[ternary form]] of the [[opera]]tic [[da capo aria]], it did not become common until the late 1910s. It became "the principal form" of American popular song around 1925–1926,<ref name="Wilder p56">{{cite book |last=Wilder |first=Alec |title=American Popular Song: the Great Innovators 1900–1950 |place=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-501445-6 |year=1972 |page=56 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/americanpopulars00alec/page/56/mode/1up}}.</ref> with the AABA form consisting of the chorus or the entirety of many songs in the early 20th century.<ref>Benward & Saker (2003), pp. 317–318. "The popular chorus form is often referred to as a quaternary form, because it usually consists of four phrases."</ref>{{Full citation needed|date=February 2022}} It was commonly used by composers [[George Gershwin]] (for example, in "[[I Got Rhythm]]" from 1930<ref name="Covach"/>), [[Cole Porter]], and [[Jerome Kern]],<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Stacey |editor1-first=Lee |editor2-last=Henderson |editor2-first=Lol |title=Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-92946-6 |page=473 |chapter=Pop Music}}</ref> and it dominated American popular music into the 1950s.<ref name="Paymer">{{cite book |last1=Paymer |first1=Marvin E. |title=Sentimental Journey: Intimate Portraits of America's Great Popular Songs, 1920-1945 |date=1999 |publisher=Two Bytes Publishing |location=Darien, Conn. |oclc=45357972}}</ref>{{rp|5}}

The 32-bar form was often used in rock in the 1950s and '60s, after which [[verse–chorus form]] became more prevalent. Examples include:
*[[Jerry Lee Lewis]]' "[[Great Balls of Fire]]" (1957)<ref name="Covach"/>
*[[The Everly Brothers]]' "[[All I Have to Do Is Dream]]" (1958)<ref name="Covach"/>
*[[The Shirelles]]' "[[Will You Love Me Tomorrow]]" (1960)<ref name="Covach"/>
*[[The Beach Boys]]' "[[Surfer Girl (song)|Surfer Girl]]" (1963)<ref name="Covach"/>

Though more prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, many contemporary songs show similarity to the form, such as "[[Memory (Cats song)|Memory]]" from ''[[Cats (musical)|Cats]]'', which features expanded form through the B and A sections repeated in new keys.<ref name="B&S318">Benward & Saker (2003), p. 318.</ref> Songwriters, such as [[Lennon–McCartney]] and those working in the [[Brill Building]], also used modified or extended 32-bar forms, often modifying the number of measures in individual or all sections. [[The Beatles]] ("[[From Me to You]]" [1963] and "[[Yesterday (Beatles song)|Yesterday]]" [1965]) often extended the form with an instrumental section, second bridge, break, or reprise of the introduction, and another return to the main theme. Introductions and codas also extended the form. In "[[South of the Border (1939 song)|South of the Border Down Mexico Way]]" by [[Gene Autry]], "the A sections… are doubled in length, to sixteen bars—but this affects the overall scheme only marginally".<ref name="Covach">{{Citation |last=Covach |title=Form in Rock Music: A Primer |year=2005 |pages=70}}.</ref> The theme tune of the long-running British TV series ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has, in some incarnations, followed 32-bar form.

== See also ==
* [[Bar form]] (AAB)
* [[Ternary form]] (ABA)

== References ==
{{Reflist|40em}}

==Further reading==
* Appen, Ralf von / Frei-Hauenschild, Markus [http://www.gfpm-samples.de/Samples13/appenfrei.pdf "AABA, Refrain, Chorus, Bridge, Prechorus — Song Forms and their Historical Development"]. In: ''Samples. Online Publikationen der Gesellschaft für Popularmusikforschung/German Society for Popular Music Studies e.V.'' Ed. by Ralf von Appen, [[André Doehring]] and [[Thomas Phleps]]. Vol. 13 (2015).

{{Musical form}}
{{Parts of a song}}

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[[Category:Song forms]]
[[Category:Musical terminology]]
[[Category:Jazz terminology]]