“Outro” being the opposite to “intro”. The closing section of a recording. I love songs that build to a joyous ending and then stay there for a while. I suppose the canonical example is “Hey Jude”, but in that case I thought they overdid it. The outro isn’t as good as the actual song.
My nominations:
“Pieces of the Night” by the Gin Blossoms, from the brilliant country(ish) rock album New Miserable Experience. Slow burner of a song which turns out to be my favourite among some fearsome competition on that album. I love how they reprise the lyrics over the closing chords of the chorus at the end. I could listen to that long fade-out all day.
“Going For Gold” by Shed Seven. An almost forgotten Britpop classic. The brass section only appears one minute into the song, but slowly builds until it takes front stage in the uplifting ending, which I wish went on for ten minutes longer than it does.
All the Nasties is a song about being alone and misunderstood in a crowded world. It ends with a choir mournfully singing “Oh my soul!” over and over for a couple of minutes as the timpanies beat faster and faster until the crashing of cacophonous cymbals that quieten as the choir’s baritones and basses hold the tonic chord for several measures.
Come Down in Time is about an elusive woman, almost a wraith, whose shadows the singer sees in the moonlight. The song’s key is B-minor. The closing lyric laments that some women just “leave you counting the stars in the night”. The final chord (on “night”) is an open B-5 (no third), which makes it seem like the song just hangs without really ending at all. Very nice.
Bill Nelson’s Red Noise ‘Revolt Into Style’. Thanks for starting this thread - havent thought of that song in years but it was the first thing I thought of on seeing the thread title.
Cheers
MiM
Rush’s Grand Designs always did it for me. It sounds like a simple two-bar repeating phrase but if you pay attention you realize that no two bars are identical. While their similar the timing is different in each one.
The Beatles - Come Together. So perfect it could have been scripted, but it wasn’t.
The Beatles - Old Brown Shoe. The part where the bass drops out and then comes again at full force gives me goosebumps.
The Pretenders - Message Of Love. I can’t think of words to describe how beautifully this song fades out; you’ll just have to hear how all the parts merge.
The Tubes - White Punks On Dope. As if they weren’t already pooped from playing the rest of the song, they build the four-chord vamp of the end to a fiece climax, playing as hard as they can, almost as if their lives depended on it, with Quay Lewd wailing on top.
Special mention goes to their “What Do You Want From Life,” which has an ending that is a marvel of analog speed manipulation technology and comedy at the same time.
Well you can’t have that, but if you’re an American citizen, you are entitled to a heated kidney-shaped pool. A microwave oven (don’t watch the food cook)…
There Goes The Fear by Doves. It’s a great song anyway but I especially love the way it morphs ever so gradually from a fairly straight, albeit heavily syncopated, rock rhythm into a full-blown samba* by the last few bars.
