# Favourite song fade outs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031 "2019-05-16T00:43:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/1 "2019-05-16T00:43:22Z")
[Shabby Doll](https://youtu.be/IgKhxZTYtq4?t=237) - Elvis Costello Nice inward screams (hurts - trying enough of them!), and the bass cheekiness at the end of every four bars. [Sexie Sadie](https://youtu.be/tSk5U4oHhu0?t=172) - Beatles I remember this nervous four-year-old listening to the ambling, slightly eerie guitar as a menacing preamble for the next :eek: song. [Making Plans For Nigel](https://youtu.be/s29RKnB7l7o?t=219) - XTC “Nigel…” And the haunting, three-note backing vocal. [Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except For Me and My Monkey](https://youtu.be/eyV3zCq1OHM?t=131) - Beatles The barrage of “come ons” make the band themselves sound almost monkey-like, and the fireman’s bell. For me, one of their more instrumentally appealing numbers - pretty zippy. [Siberian Khatru](https://youtu.be/r0HnIr6jYWU?t=450) - Yes Steve Howe does a fine turn here. So what the fuck’s a khatru? I might have one or two more. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/2 "2019-05-16T00:44:47Z")
This song “Just another Cliche’” by Ookla the Mok has several fake-out fade-outs, which are fun. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/3 "2019-05-16T00:53:36Z")
Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull has a great outro to blowing winds. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/4 "2019-05-16T00:58:29Z")
I was at first :dubious: about it, but fading out in the middle of a verse (with singing) kinda grew on me, with [Life During Wartime](https://youtu.be/_NywTcGOUkE?t=158) by the Talking Heads. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/5 "2019-05-16T03:55:39Z")
Don’t laugh, but Poco. _What Do People Know_ was one of my favorite songs of the late 80s, due in part to the [tasty guitar noodling](https://youtu.be/WK7AC1x4G64?t=180) (starts at 3:20) on the fade out. On a lot of their stuff, the little ditties like this are Rusty Young, but here I assume it’s Jim Messina. ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/6 "2019-05-16T04:24:17Z")
No laughing here - that was, indeed, tasty sounds of Paco-ness, (strange as it sounds saying that). I like Burton Cummings’ [ha-ha variations](https://youtu.be/XqZUzXKDVx8?t=134) to usher in this Guess Who fade out. ---
**Author:** ![flip-68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@flip-68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flip-68)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/7 "2019-05-16T10:15:55Z")
I always liked the outro to Man in the Mirror By MJ - it goes on for a few minutes and I find it very satisfying - I’m not even that big a fan of his ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/8 "2019-05-16T10:22:25Z")
The sax solo on Lou Reed’s Walk on the Wild Side, which I feel I could have listened to for at least another 3 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/9 "2019-05-16T11:33:44Z")
The fade-out at the end of the live version of “Supper’s Ready” by Genesis. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/10 "2019-05-16T12:29:12Z")
As I said in a thread almost 15 years ago, my favorite fade-out is the meta-fade-out Christine Lavin did at the end of the studio version of “What was I thinking?” > [@](#): > > At the end of the “studio version” of her song “What Was I Thinking”, Christine Lavin does a repeat-and-fade-out like this. In the background she comments on it. Her comments fade out with the rest of the song, but if you crank up the volume, you can hear it all. It goes something like this: > > "Oh my God – how am I going to end this song? I know – I’ll do what everyone else does. I’ll go to a fadeout. You thought it was an artistic choice, but they really don’t know how to end the song, so they just fade out. Except for Spanky and Our Gang in “Trying to get to know you” – that was an artistic choice. But in all the other cases they don’t know how to end the song. > > What are you still listening for? Don’t you people have lives?" > > …the last comment (almost inaudible) is “You must have ears like a dog!” [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-323261.html](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-323261.html) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/11 "2019-05-16T14:13:21Z")
“A Day in the Life” ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/12 "2019-05-16T14:45:54Z")
Toward the end if this wonderful exegesis by Rick Beato, he praises the fade-out of the Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic,” and rightly so (the repeating of snatches of verse lyrics, but with new melodies): [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZavJLr5Otq4/hqdefault.jpg "What Makes This Song Great? Ep. 2 THE POLICE") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZavJLr5Otq4) He mentions that radio DJs would typically not interrupt the fade out, as they did with most songs. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/13 "2019-05-16T15:32:16Z")
I can’t remember the exact song right now, but the Beastie Boys’s hardcore punk EP “Aglio e Olio” has at least one that fades out, which is quite unusual for the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/14 "2019-05-16T15:49:03Z")
Fading out with a Tarzan yell (also heard at the beginning of the song): [Red Brained Woman](https://youtu.be/3Ss0Nff6W60?t=153) by Supachief. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/15 "2019-05-16T18:00:13Z")
Laura Nyro’s “Captain for Dark Mornings,” from her 1969 masterpiece album **New York Tendaberry.** The song is slow and spooky and exquisitely SEXY and the fade has you picturing beautiful Laura slowly and helplessly drifting out to sea alone in a small boat, in a dense fog that dims the very early morning sun. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2_gu5ZNB_RY/hqdefault.jpg "Captain For Dark Mornings---Laura Nyro") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_gu5ZNB_RY) ---
**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:** [May 16, 2019, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/16 "2019-05-16T18:07:39Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > I was at first :dubious: about it, but fading out in the middle of a verse (with singing) kinda grew on me, with [Life During Wartime](https://youtu.be/_NywTcGOUkE?t=158) by the Talking Heads. Truly a pompatous choice. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2019, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/17 "2019-05-16T18:52:44Z")
I sometimes kinda really dig the last 90 seconds or so of Boston’s _[Hitch A Ride](https://youtu.be/tV3pR87L-T8?t=151)_. More of an outro, maybe. Also, Lux rambling at the end of any number of The Cramps songs. [_Mean Machine_](https://youtu.be/-jfgU0Hpd8w?t=187), for example. ---
**Author:** ![Mixolydian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Mixolydian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mixolydian)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/18 "2019-05-17T17:15:55Z")
The interplay between Eric and Duane at the end of [“Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVLnMpo1ZQg) ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/19 "2019-05-17T17:26:50Z")
As much of the coda to “Layla” as I can get away with including in a loose definition of “fade out” ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031/20 "2019-05-17T19:14:52Z")
Just want to offer that as someone who has tried to cover tunes in various bands, I HATE the fade-out. Fuck - if the pros can’t figure out how to end the damn song, what chance do we amateurs have?! So nnearly all covers end up with some version of “shave and a haircut.” The FUNNIEST thing to see in a live band, is when they attempt a LIVE fade-out! 😃 I suppose they are hoping to be drowned out by tumultuous applause, but the types of bands that attempt this rarely encounter such reaction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favourite-song-fade-outs/834031.md?page=2)