# A song part that either brings down or ruins a song you'd otherwise like **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [December 10, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722 "2020-12-10T04:13:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/21 "2020-12-10T21:03:37Z")
Surprised you didn’t mention this example: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/8NOZH0y7VxE/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Lehrer - When You Are Old And Gray") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NOZH0y7VxE) ---
**Author:** ![Anita\_Dayoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Anita\_Dayoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anita_Dayoff)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/22 "2020-12-11T00:20:49Z")
Lyric in John Mellencamp’s ‘Small Town’. I’m not religious but ‘taught to fear Jesus in a small town’ is like fingernails on a chalkboard. The concept of ‘Scary Jesus’ escapes me. Maybe he was a mean drunk. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/23 "2020-12-11T01:51:40Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > I get stabby when a musician rhymes a word with the exact same word in the next line. Bugs the hell out of me. It bugs me so much I can’t even think of an example right now. I think the most famous example is: _Generals gathered in their masses_ _Just like witches at black masses_ I don’t mind, the song is just too awesome as a whole to let me bother. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uJ6QHfZwTSw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AHeA4AC6AKKAgwIABABGGQgZChkMA8=&rs=AOn4CLDY4GGL3XzBiJpMHpnRVontFMsuDA "Black sabbath-War Pigs (lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJ6QHfZwTSw) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/24 "2020-12-11T02:04:33Z")
My contribution: The Pretenders’ “Middle Of The Road” is an almost perfect rock song, and it’s one of my favorites, except for the four measures after the great guitar break. Obviously, the song’s lyrics weren’t quite finished at the time of the recording, and Chrissie Hynde only counts in the four beats instead as a placeholder. But that’s really the only weak part of an otherwise great song. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6P_N6fHuIQ) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/25 "2020-12-11T02:18:04Z")
Ben Folds’ song “[Cologne](https://youtu.be/R_S1aU788Q8)” is a great breakup song with an epic tune behind it. For some reason he decided to shit these lyrics in the middle of it: \*Says here an astronaut \* _Put on a pot of diapers_ _Drove fifteen hours_ \*To kill her boyfriend. \* _In my hotel room, I wonder if_ _You read this story too_ It’s so jarring. It pisses me off so bad. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/26 "2020-12-11T02:49:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I think the most famous example is: > > _Generals gathered in their masses_ > _Just like witches at black masses_ Okay there is ONE exception. Every single other case is dumb and bad. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/27 "2020-12-11T02:53:00Z")
> [@Anita\_Dayoff](#): > > I’m not religious but ‘taught to fear Jesus in a small town’ is like fingernails on a chalkboard. > The concept of ‘Scary Jesus’ escapes me. Maybe he was a mean drunk. I can see why that would be weird without context. Actually I personally agree it’s totally weird. But in fundamentalist communities they use “fear Jesus” basically interchangeably… nay, a smidge morally superior… to “love Jesus”. Which also is held as a totally normal and routine thing to say. I’m probably overexplaining. It’s weird. All of it is weird. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/28 "2020-12-11T15:18:38Z")
Evanescence - “Bring Me to Life” [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/58nEqHMB7nI/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGDsgVyhyMA8=&rs=AOn4CLAXjpOovCHsw-ZlELDTv77wIubG_g "Evanescence-Bring Me To Life(with lyrics)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58nEqHMB7nI) This song always sends chills up my spine. But it’s got one glaring flaw. From the _Guardian_: "Evanescence frontwoman Amy Lee revealed that her record label had refused to release it unless she agreed to make it a duet. ‘It was presented to me as, “You’re a girl singing in a rock band, there’s nothing else like that out there, nobody’s going to listen to you,” she claimed. “You need a guy to come in and sing back-up for it to be successful.”’" That’s the only reason why there’s a male guest vocalist on it, shredding his tonsils and, uh, rapping. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/29 "2020-12-11T15:27:48Z")
> [@Anita\_Dayoff](#): > > I’m not religious but ‘taught to fear Jesus in a small town’ is like fingernails on a chalkboard. > The concept of ‘Scary Jesus’ escapes me. Maybe he was a mean drunk. Huh. I always thought that was “Feel Jesus”. In fact, I’m not even going to look it up and just continue believing that it’s “Feel Jesus”. Liz Phair’s “[Perfect World](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVRD8c2zHX4)” has these guitar squeaks that I went years and years without ever noticing. Then my wife pointed them out one day and now they render the song almost unlistenable to me because they’re all I fixate on. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/30 "2020-12-11T15:35:01Z")
I actually think repeated words as a rhyme are a fine poetic device. They are somewhat considered “weak” in English, but they are a valid prosodic concept. (In French, they are reasonably common.) Great English language poets have used it – perhaps one of the most famous examples is in Emily Dickinson’s “Because I Could Not Stop For Death”: We paused before a House that seemed A Swelling of the Ground – The Roof was scarcely visible – The Cornice – in the Ground – What I like about the Black Sabbath identity rhyme is that it’s a true homonym – two words, spelled the same, sound the same, different etymologies. I think it’s a rather clever rhyme/play on the word “mass.” This is not to say every identity rhyme is ideal, but there are good ones. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/31 "2020-12-11T15:51:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Surprised you didn’t mention this example: Try the _Tomfoolery_ version: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/FJaKxDudDu4/maxresdefault.jpg "When You are Old & Gray") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJaKxDudDu4) An awful debility, A lessened utility, A loss of mobility Is a strong possibility. In all probability I’ll lose my virility And you your fertility And desirability. And this liability Of total sterility Will leed to hostility And a sense of… futility. So let’s act with agility While we still have facility, For we’ll soon reach senility And lose the ability. While enjoying our compatibility, I am cognisant of its fragility, And I question the advisability Of relying on its durability. You’re aware of my inflexibility And my quintessential volatility And the total inconceivability Of my showing genuine humility. Though your undeniable nubility May excuse a certain puerility, Your alleged indispensability Underestimates my versatility, And your boyish irresponsibility And what now is charming juvenility Will in time lose its adorability And appear much more like imbecility. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/32 "2020-12-13T01:18:25Z")
> [@by-tor](#): > > The second part of Layla is pretty lame IMO. I love it. But to each his own. I heard or read somewhere that the first part of Layla was chasing her; the “piano coda” was like the afterglow after consummating the relationship. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/33 "2020-12-13T01:20:57Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > the “piano coda” was like the afterglow after consummating the relationship. Like the cigarette after? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Redcanoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b487fb/32.png) [@Redcanoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redcanoe)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/34 "2020-12-13T01:29:50Z")
The electronic sea gulls in the middle of Echoes by Pink Floyd. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/35 "2020-12-13T01:46:24Z")
Psychedelic underwater vocal effects like in _Crimson and Clover_, _I’d Love To Change the World_, and sort of in _What Is and What Should Never Be_. (heh - sometimes accompanied with guitar tremolo effect). Bet I’d’ve liked the songs more without that shenanigan. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/36 "2020-12-13T04:04:24Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Psychedelic underwater vocal effects like in _Crimson and Clover_ , I’m pretty sure Tommy Shondell’s vocals are being run through a leslie… so, a rotating speaker, like on many Hammond B3 organs. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I think the most famous example is: > > _Generals gathered in their masses_ > _Just like witches at black masses_ This has always bothered me because it was the first thing a lot of us heard from ‘Sabbath’. So we figured “Hard-rockin’ goth-y band, but not the sharpest wooden stake in the coffin…” Then we heard _Paranoid,_ and all was forgiven… but damn, that is THE laziest songwriting ever. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/37 "2020-12-13T04:17:25Z")
I will mention “Tusk”. I know, Tusk is not a great song by any means, but I’m a sucker for highly rhythmic songs with a driving beat. Tusk has that, until we reach the weird arhythmic “drum solo” that ruins the whole song. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/38 "2020-12-13T04:25:41Z")
I remember when everything was ruined by a drum solo. Lee Michaels walked into a recording studio and came out 24 hours with a killer almost-live “rock organ” album… with a ten-minute drum solo in the middle. Cream did a great double album (_Wheels of Fire_) where one side was nothing but drum solo. And so many bands let the drummer go crazy in a middle of a concert… sometimes while the rest of the band disappeared for a pee break. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/39 "2020-12-13T05:36:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’m pretty sure Tommy Shondell’s vocals are being run through a leslie… so, a rotating speaker, like on many Hammond B3 organs I love the leslie speaker sound in Tony Kaye’s Hammond in _The Yes Album_ or Jon Lord’s gnarly early 70’s sounds, but if it’s being used the way it was with Mr. Shondell, then I’m kinda meh on its application there. IANAMusical engineer, but I would’ve guessed the effects on Shondell’s and Lee’s vocals would have been achieved through the mixing board, but what the hey do I know. (Or, with their heads actually held under water, but micing would prove tricky in avoiding electrocution. 😀 ) > [@markn\_1](#): > > …the weird arhythmic “drum solo” that ruins the whole song. I’m cool with drum solos in the middle of jazz numbers. (along with solos, of course, from the other sidemen) (heh, especially a Buddy Rich one) ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2020, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722/40 "2020-12-13T06:15:02Z")
Songs on Spotify will sometimes include skits or commentary at the end when all I want is the song. There’s a Tech N9ne song that does this where he is describing the next song and why it is important to him, unable to anticipate that my Spotify playlist is set to random. I wish there was a way to tell Spotify that I never need to hear certain parts of certain songs. I can’t think of any specific songs this applies to but there are lots of Regina Spektor songs that I would like more if she didn’t get all weird somewhere in the middle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-song-part-that-either-brings-down-or-ruins-a-song-youd-otherwise-like/927722.md?page=3)