Today on the commute in I heard U2’s classic [1983] song ‘Seconds’ [“it takes seconds to say goodbye, say goodbye…”]. During the song, there is a short section where the music completely stops and a sound sample [of a military call-response kind: “I wanna live the life of danger…”] is inserted.
Now, most people have heard similar interruptions in recent songs, such as the segment of Brittany’s ‘Oops, I did it again’ [where her ‘boyfriend’ relates the story that he recovered the Titanic’s diamond for her], or DJ Kool’s ‘Let me clear my throat’ digression [where he asks all the ladies and all the brothers in the house for their opinions about each other]. But I tried to think of earlier examples, and only came up with the Dead Kennedy’s ‘Chemical Warfare’ [well, the sound of people choking does fit with the song], with nothing before that coming to mind ([Pink Floyd, for one, did put lots of talking, sound effects, etc. in their songs, but as far as I remember only during the intro or the fade-out [such as the telephone dialogue at the end of ‘Young Lust’]).
So can anyone out there think of earlier instances of these type of ‘abrupt’ interruptions in the middle of ‘popular’ songs (I don’t mean novelty songs, nor am I really sure a song like ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ would qualify, as the singer is suppose to be speaking to the audience [but then, I guess, so is DJ Kool]).
In Shudder to think’s Hit Liqour there is a ridiculously long pause of 30+ seconds of absolute silence.
Didn’t “Telstar” do that in the 50’s, where the music stops and some smashes a guitar in the background?
The earliest spoken statement in the middle of a song that I can think of is in the Diamonds’ “Little Darlin’” from sometime in the late 50s or early 60s. The speaker talks over the doo-wops in the background: “Little darlin’, I need you to call my own… to hold in mine, your little hand… Darlin’, please, hold my hand.”
Okay, so it’s a little weird. But he’s definitely speaking.
Another example (and I’m almost ashamed to admit I remember this) occurs in the Partridge Family’s “Echo Valley 2-6809.” The date would be about 1972 or 1973, I think. David Cassidy speaks about some kind of internal debate he’s having with himself about calling the number in the title.
As for strange things in the middle of songs, Klaatu recorded a tune called “Mister Manson” in about 1983 or so. In the middle of the song, you can hear somebody making an excited speech on one channel (Hitler? It sure sounds like newsreels of him, and it isn’t English) while you hear the sounds of a courtroom trial on the other channel. (From the film Helter Skelter perhaps? One voice says, “I am Jesus Christ,” just before another voice says, “Then crawl on your hands and knees on broken glass.”)
How about Paradise By the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf with a Phil Rizzuto play-by-play midway through the song.
Wasn’t there one with a line “Captain ___ to Ground Control”? About a guy stranded in a space flight.
Rush’s “Roll The Bones” had a spoken rap in the middle.
(And who’s surprised I knew the Rush song that fit, huh?)
barstow, you’re referring to David Bowie’s song Space Oddity.
I think you’ll find examples of this practice going back to vaudeville and burlesque – some Dopers who are into old-time music can probably cite specific songs. I think it was pretty common for musical comedy duos to perform songs, stop in the middle, tell a Dixie-Riddle-Cup-style joke, resume the song, and repeat a few times until the song ended.
My mind’s eye can picture Jimmy Durante doing his signature “Stop da music. Stop da music…” – to tell a one-liner – in any of a hundred generic tin pan alley tunes.
“Legit” musical theater borrowed the practice – not surprising given MT’s vaudeville roots. Ray Bolger, performing the hit Once in Love with Amy from “Where’s Charley” (1948), stopped singing in the middle of the song to do a little speech. Godspel’s score had a pastiche song that even used the old vaudeville joke-in-the-middle-of-the-song schtick. There are a zillion other theater examples, but these are the two that come most readily to mind.
Metallica - One
Theatre of Tragedy - And when He falleth
Here is a fairly obscure but yet well known one(huh?)
Kites - Simon Dupree and the Big Sound -circa 1968 ok so its in Japanese and I’ve no idea what is said.
Have you seen her - Chi-lites, start off with speech , breaks out into song then some more speech and then more song.
I’m still waiting - Diana Ross
The Ink Spots used to “talk” a verse in every song. 1940’s.
There is a whole genre called “the talking blues,” of which “Alice’s Restaurant” is an example, where the verses are spoken rather than sung. Arlo Guthrie’s Dad, Woody Guthrie was a master, back in the 30’s and 40’s, but I’m sure the genre pre-dates him.
As for rock songs, I’ll throw out Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues, and Time Is on My Side by The Rolling Stones.
Nine Inch Nails “March of the Pigs” has a pause of silence for what seems like forever, but is really about 10 seconds in it.
Unless I have misread the OP, I think he is asking when the first song was “modified” from the original, by either the radio station itself or maybe by doing a remix of the original to add lyrics that were not there in the beginning.
I recall the local radio station (at the time) adding it’s own lyrics into “We Built This City” by Starship many years ago. I remember they added their own tagline to the song and some other misc. crap, deleting a portion of the song to fit the music. Thus making the song an advertisement for the station. The song was full length, otherwise, just with the copying over some of the music and lyrics.
If I am incorrect, I apologize.
What is the “famous ash tray” that someone shouts during the Beach Boys’ version of “Barbara Ann”?
And then, of course, there’s **Opera[/b[, which superceded everything else. (Not all operas are continuous singing.)
Thriller, with Vincent Price, is probably the best selling song that does that.
On second thought, Maybe Thiller only had him talking in the begining, not the middle, or maybe both. Whatever way nobody needs to give the correct answer, because the more I forget about 80’s songs, the better I feel. 
Thanks everyone - see all the responses I miss when I leave work early. That’ll teach me to reinstall my internet connection at home.
Sorry Squee, but I did indeed mean sound effects, pauses talking etc. inserted by the artist(s) deliberately, and which more or less breaks up the flow of the song [and another example is the 2-3 seconds of silence inserted by Alanis Morrisette in her ‘All I really Want’ after the “'here, can you handle this” lyric - believe it or not, that song was a fairly popular dance song during the mid-90s, except for that gap during which you mostly stood there staring at your dance partner]. Another more recent example is Dial-7’s ‘All I want’, where they basically stop, play an engine start-up sound effect, then restart the music. BTW Squee, I think the unedited version of ‘We built this city’ had a promo for some San Francisco station (‘By the Bay’), which is why local stations could easily overdub it and play it with their own jingle.
Barstow, not to bust chops (ah, what the heck, why not), but the Mission Control/Astronaut dialog in ‘Space Oddity’ is still sung throughout [and I still love how David Bowie managed to set a pre-launch sequence to music]. I also kind of place that song with ‘story’ songs like Zevon’s ‘Werewolves of London’, Soul Coughing’s ‘Screenwriter’s Blues’, or King Missle’s[?] infamous ‘Detachable Penis’.
Tretiak, I completely forgot ‘Paradise By the Dashboard Light’ - I guess it’s such an integral part of the song (a great segue-way from the opening part where he’s anticipating, to the end part where he’s regretting) that I didn’t even consider it.
Hopefully I don’t start a Great Debate here, but do most people find these samples irritating, or interesting?