II. Justice for the verse (ft. Audrey Hobert)
episodePreviously titled “Justice for the verse” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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Okay, Charlie, in our last episode, you subjected me to a quiz, a.k.a. a humiliation ritual. And, you know, I wasn't very happy with my performance. But today, if I may quote the bard, if you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
Oh, no.
That's right, Charlie.
Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. And I'm songwriter Charlie Harding. And for those listening or watching on Netflix, we are in the second part of our series on the art of the song. Last week, we covered the intro. Today, it's the verse. And did you see what I did there, Charlie, with the verse? Because the Shakespeare quotation was in verse, you know, had pentameter. That's like the classical version of verse. I caught that you were quoting William Shakespeare. Yes. Who wrote really great verses, but I'm not sure I fully understand what you just told me. OK, we'll get into it because we are going to have a little history lesson here. But the verse that as we know it today in the modern pop song, it might be the most underrated part of a song.
You know, I think the chorus gets a lot of the attention, maybe even the introduction, like we were talking about last week. There's some super memorable ones that we discussed. But the verse doesn't get a lot of love. I feel like the super fans are going to quote verse lyrics, but most people are singing the chorus. Okay, but before we go any further, we need to define this term. Like, what is a verse? And I think one way to describe it is it's the first lyrical section of a song. It sets up the narrative of the song. It sets up the chorus of the song. And Usually it reoccurs throughout the song with the same music and new lyrics. It's like the exposition of a song, if you want to think about it in cinematic terms.
Yeah, it's the plot that gets you to the really fun climactic moments. Yeah, it's the voiceover that explains how the protagonists got where they are. And there are literally millions of examples of verses we could choose. And yet I find myself undeniably drawn to one example in particular. As a young father, I'm guessing like Baby Beluga. I mean, that is a Rafi banger, but I'm going to play you this instead.
I used to feel so uninspired. And when I knew I had to face another day, Lord, it made me feel so tired.
One of the best voices of all time, Aretha Franklin, full orchestra supporting it. There's nothing better. And the song is... You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman. Indeed. And you do, Charlie. You always have. Thank you. This is like a paradigmatic verse to me. You know, it immediately puts us in the world of our narrator. looking out on the morning rain i used to feel so uninspired and when i knew i had to face another day lord it made me feel so tired oh this person is weary and pondering like looking out for answers it gives the song a great place to start because where are we going to go from here we're going to ascend through a pre-chorus until we arrive at the iconic chorus
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