Writing an arrangement for a song can be challenging. While multiple verse / chorus songs can encourage familiarity, this can be an asset as well as a detriment. The familiarity is what engrains a song in your memory, and prods you to sing along (especially with the choruses). However, the same familiarity also breeds boredom.
Thus, each successive verse and chorus should be progressively more detailed and layered simply to sustain interest. Some of this can be covered by the song itself. If the story of the song hooks and engages listeners, it should help in this regard a bit. The performance itself may add some of this interest. Performers (vocalists, drummers, bassists, guitarists – the whole ensemble) may, intuitively or otherwise, grow in dynamics and musical detail over the course of the song, adding a level of progressive drama and interest.
However, this progressive adding of aural interest is complicated by the convention that the chorus should be higher energy than its surrounding verses. Again, this can be covered a bit by the song itself. A melody that goes into a higher musical range or a key change to a brighter (higher) key can infuse much of this energy.
Typically, some (if not all) of the interest must be built by the arrangement itself. Thus, many effective pop songs can be classified as what I call orchestrated crescendos. An orchestrated crescendo is an arrangement where at least one layer of audio material is added on each successive verse and / or chorus.
It is helpful to think of arranging and mixing to be allied fields. In fact, in many styles of popular music the roles of arranger, producer, and sound engineer (mixer) may merge into one or two roles. The importance of these roles has caused many artists to self-produce, or act as producers for other artists.
“You Really Got Me” by the Kinks is somewhat different. Rather than being arranged as a crescendo over the course of the entire song, it is arranged to be a crescendo over every verse. In the second stanza of each verse the backing vocals are added, with all the vocals becoming strident around the seventh line, building to the refrain, “You really got me, you really got me, you really got me.”
However, my personal favorite example of on orchestrated crescendo is “The Boxer,” recorded by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The introduction is a stripped-down arrangement that focuses on an acoustic guitar with an arpeggiated figure. The first verse adds Paul Simon’s lead vocals, while Art Garfunkel’s backing vocals are added in the second verse.
Up to this point the song has sounded bright, clean, and sweet. When the chorus starts, the lyrics “Lie-la-lie” repeat using a simple sing-songy melody. The sweet, lullaby-esque nature of this melody contrasts heavily with a very loud, heavily reverberated snare hit, which sounds comparatively violent (almost like a gunshot).
As each verse progresses, some small element is added: percussion (bongos), bass harmonica, dobro, etc. The solo section features an electric guitar playing a simple arpeggiated melody that sounds like a trumpet. This was done by recording the part on both an electric guitar (picking the note with the sound off, and fading in) and trumpet, and blending the two together at the mixing console. Rather than go for an impressive, complex solo, “The Boxer’s” solo section is used to feature a pleasant melody that reads somewhat like a funereal bugle call, that adds to the work’s overall somber mood.
In the final verse, the song moves from a first-person perspective (“I am just a poor boy”) to a third-person perspective (“In the clearing stands a boxer”). This shift in perspective leads us to question is the song’s protagonist the boxer? Is the boxer a person observed by the protagonist? Is the story of the boxer and protagonist simply connected by our view of the adversity encountered by both?
This final verse also makes use of some addition of gain, which in concept is good, but in its execution comes off a bit clumsy. Starting in about the third or fourth line of the verse, the volume of the lead vocals is gradually increased.
When we reach the end of the song, the chorus is repeated over and over, string sections are added one by one, going from mid register, and moving into higher registers. As we near the end, low brass is added giving and dark heavy tone to the chorus. At the very end all the layers are stripped away, nearly all at once, leaving a solo acoustic guitar. This super-high contrast is very cathartic in terms of releasing the built-up tension of all this layering.
So, if the recording of a song you are working on seems fine, but not terribly engaging, try adding more layers as it goes on. If that means that you need to strip down and simplify the first verse so you have somewhere to build from, give it a try. It may just be the narrative thread that will keep your listener engaged.
Music Technology at Stonehill College