A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat", and later from Old French refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina.
The use of refrains is particularly associated with where the verse-chorus-verse song structure typically places a refrain in almost every song. The refrain or chorus often sharply contrasts the verse melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically, and assumes a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or strophic form, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the repetition of one formal section or block played repeatedly. See also verse-chorus form.
In music, a refrain has two parts: the lyrics of the song, and the melody. Sometimes refrains vary their words slightly when repeated; recognisability is given to the refrain by the fact that it is always sung to the same tune, and the rhymes, if present, are preserved despite the variations of the words. Such a refrain is featured in "The Star-Spangled Banner," which contains a refrain which is introduced by a different phrase in each verse, but which always ends:
there's a letter on the office floor
I'm off to the great kaleidoscope
just a letter and nothing more
I'm off to the great kaleidoscope
will you leave me with a kiss
though I've warned you of the mystery
in that grim northern rim
there's a swallow on your mother's lawn
I ring her doorbell til my finger broke
I asked the swallow where my love has gone
she's off to the great kaleidoscope
will my future be revealed
with the turning of a wheel
I look out and I see the rain
As it falls on my window pane
And the music that's in my heart
Is a sad refrain
Endless traffic of sounds and sights
Midst the glitter of neon lights
Still the music that's in my heart
Is the same sad refrain
Mem'ries of you follow everywhere I go
Down the high and bi-ways of my days
Music of your laughter fills my every dream
Like a love song from long ago
Never ending streams of faces come and go
Million diff'rent people all around
No use searching for I'll never find you there
For you are far beyond compare
Take a jet to a hide-away
From the hum-drum of everyday
Still the music that's in my heart
Is a sad refrain
Fluctuations in the market scene
Fill my Dow-Jones with every beam
And the music that's in my heart
Is the same sad refrain
Mem'ries of you follow everywhere I go
Down the high and bi-ways of my days
Music of your laughter fills my every dream
Like a love song from long ago
Never ending streams of faces come and go
Million diff'rent people all around
No use searching for I'll never find you
There for you are far beyond compare
La ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra
No use searching for I'll never
No use searching for I'll never find you there
please refrain-
cause i can't take your
your constructive criticism anymore
what the hell have you been building anyways?
'tween you and me?
just a barricade
i gotta say
woah
i can do so much better than this
i know i know
i took the easy road again
and as for sellin' myself short
i have become notorious
oh i know how it goes
this is the part where i realize that i'm alone
alone
you always told me to be mature
well i just dont know myself anymore
whats the point of bein grown up anyway?
so i can be like you?
and give it all away?
i got to say
i can do so much better than this
i know i know
i took the easy road again
and as for sellin' myself short
i have become notorious
oh i know how it goes
this is the part where i realize that i'm alone
alone
and everybody wants to fall in love
in cinematic fashion
i dont, i dont
and everybody wants to fall in love
in cinematic fashion
i dont, i dont.
and everybody wants to fall in love
in cinematic fashion
meant no disrespect
Shrugs and shivers
As you paced around
In my life
In a place of howls and strangers
Please repeat it
I, I say
Please refrain form what you really mean
I remember you were smaller
Refrain:
TELL ME HOW MUCH
IT IS TOO MUCH
SHOULD I GIVE ALL THE LOVE INSIDE MY HEART
WHEN I WANT TO KNOW
HOW MUCH
IT IS TOO MUCH
WITH THIS LOVE WE HAVE TO STOP BEFORE START(?)
TELL ME HOW .....
I look out and I see the rain
As it falls on my window pane
And the music that's in my heart
Is a sad refrain
Endless traffic of sounds and sights
Midst the glitter of neon lights
Still the music that's in my heart
Is the same sad refrain
Mem'ries of you follow everywhere I go
Down the high and bi-ways of my days
Music of your laughter fills my every dream
Like a love song, from long ago
Never ending streams of faces come and go
Million diff'rent people all around
No use searching for I'll never find you there
For you are far beyond compare
Take a jet to a hi-away
From the hum-drum of everyday
Yet the music that's in my heart
Is the same sad refrain
Mem'ries of you follow everywhere I go
Down the high and bi-ways of my days
Music of your laughter fills my every dream
Like a love song, from long ago
Never ending streams of faces come and go
Million diff'rent people all around
No use searching for I'll never find you there
For you are far beyond compare
No use searching for I'll never...
No use searching for I'll never find you there
Refrain
Don't say goodbye
Refrain
Sigh, sigh
Refrain
Don't make me cry, cry, cry
Refrain
Please refrain
Darkness is all I own
Fireworks may light the sky
But when they're gone, the dark returns
Refrain
Please refrain
Listen to a heart that's true
Refrain
Moonlight knows I'm all alone
He may whisper tender thoughts
But off he goes when the sun comes up
Refrain
Please, please refrain
Always know I love you so
Refrain
Always know I love you so
i'm starting all over i began with the words but now they're gone if you all would sing along laid out the story but i should've known the story would go all wrong if the world would sing along i think that you know when it's time for you to go i'll stand and refrain never finished the end we were at the beginning when i began story was getting good when i heard your voice so clear say so long my friend i think that you know when it's time for you to go i'll stand and refrain although i never really knew you i'm prepared to show you that i'll take all the blame i'll stand and refrain shouldn't have held on so tight if i dare to beg i can't and now i see why i take all the blame why lie about the way i've been begging you to stay i think that you know when it's time for you to go i'll stand and refrain although i never really knew you i'm prepared to show you that i'll take all the blame i'll stand and refrain