Why Mandopop lyrics often don't have a 2nd verse

[Insula Formosa]

What I still don't get about Mandopop is that how often the songwriter chooses not to write a second verse but to merely repeat the first one. (This seems to be the case for all songs of Teresa Teng, for example.) This really turns me down when I'm listening to music. I mean, what's the point of repeating the same melody with same lyrics twice or even thrice, the instruments playing only slightly differently? I would just set my music player to play the shorter version twice. I know writing down lyrics is not easy, but is it really that hard to add a few more sentences? Or is it that the Chinese and the Taiwanese regard lyrics as unimportant? (Which I don't think is true because I notice some lyrics are really great) This rarely happens in K-Pop or J-Pop, and I don't understand why the songwriter would forego the opportunity to tell more story in his work.

I mean, I have nothing against short lyrics per se, and much story could be told with short, concise lyrics, depending on how they are presented musically, but when they're plainly repeated twice or thrice semi-identically I think that's just monotone and careless.

[creamyhorror]

I wonder about this too. Especially "I don't understand why the songwriter would forego the opportunity to tell more story in his work" -- totally agree.

edit: Maybe it's to make it easier to sing at karaoke. Karaoke is really important in modern Chinese pop, after all.

[Insula Formosa]

Maybe it's to make it easier to sing at karaoke.

That would make sense. Although I'm not really sure there would be much difference, since in the Karaokes I know the lyrics are always shown on the screen. And I do find this tendance even in Indie Taiwanese music that are unlikely to be listed in a Karaoke machine, but this could be just a bad influence that the indie artists adopted from the mainstream pop.

[bhchao]

This Teresa Teng song does have a second verse: 我只在乎你

如果沒有遇見你　我將會是在那裡

日子過得怎麼樣　人生是否要珍惜

也許認識某一人　過著平凡的日子

不知道會不會　也有愛情甜如蜜

任時光匆匆流去　我只在乎你

心甘情願感染你的氣息

人生幾何　能夠得到知己

失去生命的力量也不可惜

所以我求求你　別讓我離開你

除了你我不能感到一絲絲情意

如果有那麼一天　你說即將要離去

我會迷失我自己　走入無邊人海裡

不要什麼諾言　只要天天在一起

我不能只依靠　片片回憶活下去

Most pop music (Chinese and Western) do repeat a verse, although the extent a verse is repeated depends from song to song.

[bhchao]

This song written by 李宗盛 is a great example of a song containing verses with different lyrics:

陰天 在不開燈的房間 當所有思緒都一點一點沈澱

愛情終究是精神鴉片 還是世紀末的無聊消遣

香煙 氳成一攤光圈 和他的照片就擺在手邊

傻傻倆個人 笑得多甜

開始總是分分鐘 都妙不可言 誰都以為熱情它永不會減

除了激情褪去後的那一點點倦

也許像誰說過的貪得無厭 活該應了誰說過的不知檢點

總之那幾年 感性贏了理性那一面

陰天 在不開燈的房間 當所有思緒都一點一點沈澱

愛恨情慾裡的 疑點 盲點 呼之欲出 那麼明顯

女孩 通通讓到一邊 這歌裡的細微末節就算都體驗

若想真明白 真要好幾年

回想那一天 喧鬧的喜宴

耳邊想起的究竟是序曲 或完結篇？

感情不就是你情我願 最好愛狠扯平倆不相欠

感情說穿了 一人掙脫的 一人去撿

男人大可不必 百口莫辯 女人實在無須 楚楚可憐

總之那幾年 你們倆個沒有緣

[Lu]

Certainly there are plenty of Mandopop songs with more than one verse, but I think the point is that there are more with only one, repeated, verse than in western pop. (A teacher of mine, when discussing the lyrics of some pop song: 'So which part is repeated?' The student who had brought the lyrics: 'None of it.' The fact that she asked at all says something.)

[bhchao]

I actually sympathize with the OP's sentiment that many Mandopop songs don't have a second verse. It does make a song very boring.

However one has to ask what songs and what era are these songs with one verses from?

I do find many of Teresa Teng's songs bland. Most of these songs were from the early 1980s when diversity in musical style in Taiwan was limited and actually regulated.

Some of Teresa Teng's songs actually need only one verse. Her songs from her album 淡淡幽情 are canon-based works based on actual poems. To employ more than one verse in the songs from 淡淡幽情 would sound very odd and even inappropriate. In these canons, the repetition of a single verse accompanied by enhancements in acoustical delivery in the repetitive verse actually improves the song's quality. And Teresa Teng pulled that off very well.

[Gleaves]

This strikes me as strange as well. What's weird is when you look up lyrics for a four minute song and it is clearly only enough lyrics for about a minute.

I was just listening to 情非得已 and noticed it was the same verse twice. It doesn't bother me too much since it is like built-in review, but it still seems odd.

[bhchao]

I was just listening to 情非得已 and noticed it was the same verse twice. It doesn't bother me too much since it is like built-in review, but it still seems odd.

We all have our own standards. Generalizing all Mandopop to one standard song is a bit unfair though.

My father once told me: Always compare with the best, never compare with the worst. -_-

[skylee]

Some of Teresa Teng's songs actually need only one verse. Her songs from her album 淡淡幽情 are canon-based works based on actual poems.

The album 淡淡幽情 is a real classic, a real 天碟. IIRC, it is said that the sound quality of the LP (ah ... not CD) issued in Japan is superb.

[realmayo]

Surely you can say much more with a small number of syllables in Chinese than you can in English? Perhaps not so much in free and easy everyday speech, but certainly in slightly-formalised language like song lyrics. Of course this is most obvious in classical Chinese poetry. Sure, most pop song lyrics might be a long way from poetry, but I reckon the principle still stands. And once you've said (sung) a lot in the first 90 seconds, adding to that might be overkill.

I also wonder if this compression every makes the lyrics slightly tricky to understand first time around, and so listeners would welcome the chance to hear them repeated? Skylee?

[creamyhorror]

I also wonder if this compression every makes the lyrics slightly tricky to understand first time around, and so listeners would welcome the chance to hear them repeated?

That's an interesting point, realmayo. Maybe that partly explains repetition in folk and (older) pop songs.

We all have our own standards. Generalizing all Mandopop to one standard song is a bit unfair though.

It's not generalising, just pointing out an example of a modern song with repetition.

We're not comparing the best Chinese songs with the best English songs, we're observing that a seemingly higher proportion of Mandopop songs repeat themselves compared to English songs. There's no evidence without statistics, but we can make anecdotal lists of popular songs that do repeat.

[skylee]

I don't have any strong views on this subject.

For songs in 淡淡幽情, with the exception of 卜算子, I think actually you have to read the poems to understand what they are about. 卜算子 is so simple that I think there is no way you will misunderstand it.

[bhchao]

Chinese pop music is often poetry, which means the right melody combined with deep, meaningful lyrics renders another verse unnecessary. Poetry is the art of expressing symbolism and the magnitude of one's thoughts and feelings with a few lines. The more efficient a poem is, the more penetrating it is. Adding another verse would insert clutter and diminish the meaning of the poem.

Simplicity equals beauty in these songs. Unnecessary complexity is indeed overkill.

I agree with Skylee that you actually have to understand the poems to appreciate the simplicity of such songs.

There's no evidence without statistics, but we can make anecdotal lists of popular songs that do repeat.

There are many songs that repeat and are considered classic. Likewise, there are many songs that repeat but are considered low caliber to begin with.

Many non-repeating songs are also considered low caliber.

There are many Chinese pop music with repeating verses that are superior in quality.

獨上西樓, 幾多愁, and 但願人長久 would easily trump much of the competition.

Also, some repeating songs of Teresa Teng's that are not from 淡淡幽情 are well received, such as

, and 償還.

[realmayo]

Sorry, but I can't agree that shorter = better when it comes to poetry! I mean, would this

国破山河在 城春草木深 感时花溅泪 恨别鸟惊心 烽火连三月 家书抵万金 白头搔更短 浑欲不胜簪

be twice as good if it was half as long?

[Insula Formosa]

Poetry is the art of expressing symbolism and the magnitude of one's thoughts and feelings with a few lines.

Then why repeat it twice identically? Isn't that an overkill?

[xiaocai]

Sorry, but I can't agree that shorter = better when it comes to poetry! I mean, would this

国破山河在 城春草木深 感时花溅泪 恨别鸟惊心 烽火连三月 家书抵万金 白头搔更短 浑欲不胜簪

be twice as good if it was half as long?

Actually this is about as far as you can go in 近体诗. If the poet wants to write 绝句, then it will be four verses; if he wants to write a 律诗, which is what 杜甫 did in this case, it will be 8 verses as we can see, and that's about it. There are longer ones but they are far more rare than those two aforementioned. Also, the rhyme does not change throughout the whole poem, making it harder when it comes to word choosing: it has to sound good as well as fitting into the 意境 of the poem as a whole.

And I have to agree that shorter would be better when it comes to 近体诗 (at least in most cases): if you can express yourself well in four verses then never drag on to eight. It's kind of like Chinese painting, that you always have to "leave blank" so that the viewers (readers when it comes to poems) have the space to use their own imagination. And I think this concept to some extent affected the songwriters at Teng's era, hence the shorter lyrics.

The problem is if they do not repeat, the songs will be short like one and a half minute only. I think they are repeated mainly out of commercial and technical considerations.

[realmayo]

Well, following your logic, all 律诗 are in some way a failure because the poet couldn't write a 绝句! Or to put it another way, all good 绝句s are worse than all good 律诗s. I can easily agree that concision, compression, ambiguity, forcing the reader to joint the dots, supply the context, link the concepts, even identify the subject, object, verb etc, all these things make Chinese poetry what it is ... but I'd suggest that the fact the poems are short is a consequence, rather than a cause, of why the poems read so well.

[xiaocai]

My point is, it depends on how much you have to say. 4-verse and 8-verse are just the set format of 近体诗 and I have never said the one is superior than the other. You write 律诗 normally because you want to 咏物 then 抒情. If you just want to 咏物 or 抒情 then you go for 绝句. The most important thing is you have to express yourself well and the poem has to sound good (both the 韵律 and 意境). It is not like the poets write something up first and only then will try to cut it short.

If you have even more to say, or if you want to tell a story, then you can write 古体诗, 乐府诗, etc; and if you want to stress the same idea again and again in different ways you can write a 散文 or a 赋, but they are not considered as poetry.

I don't know how to explain further and I hope you can understand what I am trying to say as regarding to Chinese poetry.