# Disappointing song endings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 9, 2025, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770 "2025-01-09T20:18:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/21 "2025-01-09T21:57:52Z")
One more – a pleasant, homespun ditty by Jethro Tull (“The Smoke”=London; a “sarnie” is a sandwich; “candy floss” is cotton candy…), with a stupid, extraneous strummed chord at the end: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dtLtrt6SQZI/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGIgZShOMA8=&rs=AOn4CLC8pRidtFk1-w7qf3_IMSdsRN3biw "Jethro Tull - Up The Pool") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLtrt6SQZI&t=184) ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/22 "2025-01-09T22:03:21Z")
I love Dinosaur Jr’s cover of the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”, but then it just stops, seemingly mid-song (it’s not really mid-song, they have sung all the verses, but it sounds like that). [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UT7IpRx08tE/maxresdefault.jpg "Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT7IpRx08tE) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/23 "2025-01-09T22:34:30Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Speaking of Clapton, Derek and the Dominos’ Layla. Rocking party song on the front end that devolves into a piano recital at the exit. Interlaced with Duane Allman’s guitar, which is exactly what makes it one of the greatest songs in rock history. > [@Chad\_Sudan](#): > > I came here to nominate another Chicago song – “[Beginnings](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI-BMDnti4c)” – which is such a moving love song yet incongruously ends with an extended jam on cowbell. Everybody hated this ending so much that some radio stations created an edit that stopped before it could torture us. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/24 "2025-01-09T23:29:34Z")
The end of Bowie’s “Life on Mars” is incredibly annoyingly disappointing - trailing off like aether - plus telephone rings! ETA: The Stones’s “She’s a Rainbow” - light pop-psycadelic number that ends with horror movie violins. The Beatles’ “Long, Long, Long” - another more or less sedate number with an even more cacaphonous ending - really freaked me out as a five-year-old listener. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/25 "2025-01-09T23:50:16Z")
Is the OP only interested in tunes where the instrumentals end poorly, or are examples of the lyrics sorta crapping out lamely also fair game? ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/26 "2025-01-09T23:54:27Z")
The latter’s cool, too > [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > …or just plain puts you completely off. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/27 "2025-01-09T23:59:25Z")
I’m of divided minds about numbers with fade-outs that fade back in (ha and then fade back out again. Finally) Like Hendrix’s “Ezy Ryder”. Couple others just on the tip of my tongue that, for some reason, I roll with, while other times I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/28 "2025-01-10T00:00:27Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Couple others just on the tip of my tongue. “Strawberry Fields Forever” ---
**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:** [January 10, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/29 "2025-01-10T00:01:58Z")
Yes another creepy Beatles ending that freaked out this tyke. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/30 "2025-01-10T00:12:57Z")
“Hey Jude”. There just weren’t nearly enough na-nas and hey heys for this listener. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/31 "2025-01-10T00:22:58Z")
I love Joni Mitchell, and really like her song **Big Yello Taxi**. But for some inexplicable reason she _laughs_ at the very end. I find it weird and out-of-place. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/32 "2025-01-10T00:37:02Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Good Morning, Good Morning” on Sgt. Pepper’s has a goofy chicken squawking to end it. I know the song starts with a rooster crowing, but the ending just sounds like they couldn’t come with anything that worked. I don’t think I’ve ever listened to that song except in the context of the album, and I’m perfectly happy with the way it leads into “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise).” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/33 "2025-01-10T00:40:42Z")
The Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” ends on the 5th. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/34 "2025-01-10T01:02:49Z")
The last 21 seconds of Green Tambourine by the Lemon Pipers. Considering the song is less than 150 seconds long, that’s a thud factor of 14%. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/QxDjKMGj_z8/hqdefault.jpg "Green Tambourine - The Lemon Pipers") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxDjKMGj_z8) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/35 "2025-01-10T07:42:31Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I love Joni Mitchell, and really like her song **Big Yello Taxi**. But for some inexplicable reason she _laughs_ at the very end. I find it weird and out-of-place. I always thought that she’s giggling at herself and the goofy way she deepens her voice the final time she sings _put up a parking lot._ ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/36 "2025-01-10T08:49:48Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I love Joni Mitchell, and really like her song **Big Yello Taxi**. But for some inexplicable reason she _laughs_ at the very end. I find it weird and out-of-place. That song raises a lot of questions. What exactly is the “big yellow taxi” to which she is referring? Is it a regular Yellow Cab, or is it a Toronto police car; which at the time of the song’s writing, were school-bus yellow? Mitchell, having spent time in Toronto, would certainly be familiar with Toronto and its police cars. Who knows? My contribution: “Billy, Don’t Be a Hero.” It is apparent that Billy and the Girl are deeply in love. She tells him not to sign up, not to be a hero, but he signs up and tries to be a hero anyway. Sadly, Billy is killed. She gets the news in a letter that mentions Billy’s heroism, and that she should be proud of him. _And she throws the letter away!_ Dahell, Girl? You don’t want a souvenir of your Billy, even if it’s secondhand? Who’s next for your affections, Girl, Luke down at the feed mill or Danny in the general store? It’s apparent that you don’t care, as long as you have a guy. Hey Mr. Producer, was the 45 single going on too long so you couldn’t satisfactorily conclude the story, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/37 "2025-01-10T09:29:50Z")
The State Capitals song from Animaniacs is very clever, but the weakest part of it is the last two lines, rhyming “city” with “city”. They could have rearranged it a little bit, perhaps changed the order of verses, so this came in the middle of the song. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bx6c_EefZAQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Animaniacs SING-ALONG 🎤 | Wakko’s America | WB Kids") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx6c_EefZAQ) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/38 "2025-01-10T10:40:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I always thought that she’s giggling at herself and the goofy way she deepens her voice the final time she sings _put up a parking lot._ I think you’re correct, and I don’t like that, either. The subject matter is sorta serious. And then she laughs it off in the end. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/39 "2025-01-10T13:40:02Z")
I think that pic you cite really ought to be the new American Flag. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770/40 "2025-01-10T13:43:18Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Dahell, Girl? You don’t want a souvenir of your Billy, even if it’s secondhand? I don’t agree. She has whatever souvenirs from before he left. What she doesn’t want is a reminder of her anger. especially delivered in the cold clinical tones of bureaucratese. Her throwing away the letter is the emotional whack upside the head to the audience that he threw his life away for the glory of the government and she’s now calling the government’s hypocrisy out to us. Powerful stuff. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disappointing-song-endings/1012770.md?page=3)