…apparently it’s called “sean-nós” which is an old irish style of singing.
Yes, that first half is awesome, the second is two minutes of ear- bending whine.
What a discordant cacophony combined with a nasal twang vocal that sounds half-assed.
Yes, it appears to be intentional, as the video shows a TV screen with the band getting turned off, but it is abrupt, which is doubly mystifying as the intro is almost half the song of just music.
Richard Marx had a song that IIRC the album version fades while the radio version ends. Annoys me. I want the version that ends.
Jim Gordon, who is credited as co-writer, had a riff and brought it to Rita Coolidge - they were an item at some point - and she developed it into a song. She made a demo and when they all were traveling with the horde of people backing Delaney and Bonnie she played it for Clapton.
Next thing she knew, Gordon was in Clapton’s band, and they had a song whose coda was indubitably her demo. But she never got credit. Or royalties.
She laid out her side in her autobiography, Delta Lady, excerpted at length in Billboard magazine.
I don’t think Gordon - or Clapton - ever copped to this theft, or gave their side to dispute it. I do think it’s pretty well conceded in the industry that Coolidge absolutely deserves a partial credit.
It still remains one of my favorite songs but the end sounds like they made a mistake while recording it.
Wow I have absolutely no recollection of that whatsoever!
Simply putrid.
My god.
Remember the main part of the song enough times on the radio back in the day, but not that crap. Did stations cut it off?
My least favourite fadeout might be for a number I like quite a lot: ZZ Top’s “La Grange”.
ETA: I mean sure, the ending’s suitable within a blues jam context, but still - it’s like I’m waiting for them to go ripping back into the refrain again (oh with that awesome triplets drum fill!)
ETA II: thank-you @Exapno_Mapcase, for the elucidation.
I’m the exact opposite. She had the chance of having her happy ever after with the man she loved, but he would rather have glory. Well, he had the glory, and so she lost him.
She threw the letter away because she wanted to have Billy, and he threw their future away.
I don’t know the exact relation between this song, the Vietnam war, Britain’s involvement, and the American draft, but when this song came out, there were a lot of people unhappy about how people were dying for no good reason
A 2:43 single version for radio was released. The album version is 7:02.
ISTR reading it was a deliberate homage to “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, which similarly ends abruptly.
Ah, thanks.
One fade-out I’m ok with is the Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime”. Not often you’ll hear vocals fading out. I think Mr. Byrne was just trying to be an oddball, there.
Not sure if the end of the Beatles’ “Cry, Baby, Cry” falls more into coda territory. Certainly haunting.
“Good Morning Starshine” is a nice, melodic, upbeat number that IMO is brought down by the last minute or so of “dooby-dab-dooby” scat, followed by variatons of “sing, sing a song”, and then a final “SING!”.
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned “Her Majesty” from Abbey Road yet. The most abrupt Beatles ending ever.
Hehehe 
, what can I say, I like noise rock. And Robert Smith liked the cover, too.
Well, I enjoyed it. And that ending really is extraordinary. I can’t think of anything even similar.
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With these super-abrupt endings, like with “Her Majesty”, you can’t help but wonder if they just, um, ran outa tape?
Doubting, though, that was the case with either of King Crimson’s “Court of the Crimson King” or “Twenty-first Century Schizoid Man”.
Despite its appropriateness due to the processional nature of the tune, I don’t like the ending of the Talking Heads’ “Road to Nowhere”.
That’s correct but at the time it came out I didn’t have the internet to find the answer.
I love that ending! Yeah, it’s surprising and unusual, but for me it ends on a good note.
For a lyrical rather than musical end - I hate the ending to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
He’s singing all the way through about how he wants to go out dancing with her, and she should wake him up if he’s asleep. Then at the very last, she asks him to go out dancing, and he tries to talk her into staying home to fuck sleep. Dude, that’s why she was leaving you at home in the first place!
Ian MacDonald, who was (many say, and I agree) one of the most insightful writers on Beatles songs, thought this was a key moment in their recordings – a serendipitous tinkling of a wine glass (Ringo had something to do with this) and George’s “disembodied wail,” together expressing something deep about the pain of love and the human soul.
But I can see why you were freaked out!
I just read the lyrics carefully.
I wonder if the “dancing” all along is a euphemism for sex and he’s actually complaining that last night she masturbated while he slept. He’s “not planning on going solo” is him lamenting that he wants her to get him off, not do it himself.
It’s kind of a weak interpretation, but just might make sense to somebody.
Harry Chapin was never happy with the ending to 30,000 Pounds Of Bananas.
Good point. I have heard that "dancing"in the 80s was code for sex.
Except for that last verse which is
Cuddle up baby
Move in tight
We’ll go dancing tomorrow night
It’s cold out there
But it’s warm in bed
They can dance
We’ll stay home instead
So maybe she went to a swinger’s club?