# Great middles **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 23, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526 "2000-07-23T06:24:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/1 "2000-07-23T06:24:31Z")
Ok, in a contemporary post, you listed great openings in a music piece. Now here’s the question for this thread: Which pieces of music do you like because of its middle section? The most famous example of such is my favorite piece of all: Claude DeBussy’s “Clair da Lune”. The middle section could be a killer solo, an inspired verse, or just a trancendental piece of music play. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/2 "2000-07-23T06:28:15Z")
Oh, that’s easy: Steely Dan’s \* Do it Again. \* One of the best guitar solos ever, and the rest of the song is good too. ---
**Author:** ![irish\_bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ac91a4/32.png) [@irish\_bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irish_bill)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/3 "2000-07-23T06:41:59Z")
I hate to be a copycat but, I’d go with the middle of ‘Aja’ by Steely Dan. This is wonderful in ways I can’t begin to explain, and they play it live too. ---
**Author:** ![Rock-n-Rolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@Rock-n-Rolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rock-n-Rolga)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/4 "2000-07-23T15:54:31Z")
Hmm, off the top of my head I’d have to say: **Gluecifer** - “Deadened Beat” (for the way it all comes together) And also any **Ozzy Osbourne** songs with scorching Randy Rhoads M8’s and solos such as “Flying High Again” and “Don’t Ask Me”. Randy was so admired for his soloing ability, but a lot of his talent went into songwriting also. It’s what’s going on _beneath_ the solos that made him the best, if ya ask me! Sorry if these are kind of obscure. Cheers, R-n-R ---
**Author:** ![Rincewind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Rincewind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rincewind)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/5 "2000-07-23T19:22:57Z")
I’d have to say “Aqualung” by Jethro Tull. I don’t really care for the beginning and ending verses. But I love all the rest. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/6 "2000-07-23T20:08:52Z")
I’ll have to take Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, which consists of five movements. The three interior movements…the first Nachtmusik, the Scherzo, and the second Nachtmusik…are incredibly cool; the Scherzo in particular is one of the creepiest, most ghoulish works in Spooky Gus’s oeuvre. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2000, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/7 "2000-07-23T20:42:25Z")
Ok, this is a weird one, and it’s really the end rather than the middle…but the song “Love Me Tomorrow” by Chicago. At the end, the repeating (and repeating, and repeating) chorus fades out, and strings fade in. When I keep singing the chorus in my head and listen to the way the strings counterpoint the melody, it gives me a weird little musical rush. I’m such a geek. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2000, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-middles/26526/8 "2000-07-24T05:11:21Z")
Pink Floyd’s “Terminal Frost.” There’s a 20-second sax solo right at the climax of the song that, when combined with all the voice and guitar harmonies, is so amazingly beautiful it nearly brings me to tears every time I listen to that song. And Mozart’s violin concerto no. 4. (Or 3? I haven’t listened to it in a long time.)