# Mistakes in recorded songs you'e heard a million times **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 7, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547 "2021-04-07T14:12:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/41 "2021-04-08T11:49:57Z")
Oh yeah, kind of a click. Never bothered me much. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/42 "2021-04-08T11:53:13Z")
> [@DeathPool](#): > > They famously hired a classically trained opera singer or something the story goes and got her out of bed at like 1am or something when she was 8 months pregnant to sing the backing vocals. Her voice cracks on the recording but she said her voice was still in the right musical key, they liked the way it sounded and kept it. > > You can read the Wikipedia article, as I’m just paraphrasing based off a possibly not so accurate memory of a memory. Basically correct, but I don’t think Merry Clayton was 8 months pregnant because sadly she suffered a miscarriage soon after. It seems like if she had been that far along there would have been a fair chance to save the baby. Some thought it may have been brought on by the strain of her belting out her part for the song. > **[Merry Clayton | Career](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Clayton#Career)** > > Clayton's voice as a backing singer can be heard on songs by Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Tori Amos and on several tracks from Neil Young's debut album. Clayton is often credited as having recorded with Elvis Presley but her name does not appear in Elvis's sessionographies. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/43 "2021-04-08T11:54:46Z")
In the song [Walt Whitman’s Niece](https://youtu.be/1GDU6ns2mRM) (words by Woody Guthrie, music by Billy Bragg and Wilco), the song has Billy Bragg sing a line, and Wilco sings a response. Example: Billy Bragg: Last night or the night before that Wilco: I won’t say which night As the song gets to the refrain, however, the band sings the response, but they’re not all singing the same…cadence, I guess is the word. Some of the singers sing the line (“leaving out the names of those two girls”) by holding the “those” a beat longer, while others emphasize the “two” a little more. It’s hard to describe, especially since I’m not musically inclined. But you can hear the background confusion in the song, along with the band members laughing. You can hear it at about the 35 second mark in the version I linked. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/44 "2021-04-08T12:29:05Z")
> [@DeathPool](#): > > Rolling Stones - No Shelter Check out 20 Feet From Stardom if you want to hear them (both Merry and Mick, IIRC) talk about it. In fact, everyone should check out 20 Feet From Stardom just because it’s really good and it’s done from a POV within the music industry that’s both under rated and rarely seen even though it’s arguably just as important as any other instrument in the band. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/45 "2021-04-08T12:30:33Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Check out 20 Feet From Stardom if you want to hear them (both Merry and Mick, IIRC) talk about it. How would one go about checking this doc out? Is it on a streaming service? ---
**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:** [April 8, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/46 "2021-04-08T12:31:43Z")
For several of you Dopers, clicking on this will start a journey during which you will eat and sleep little for about 48 hours: > **[What Goes On - The Beatles Anomalies List](http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm)** > > What Goes On, The Beatles Anomalies List “This website is a must-have reference for a true Beatle fan. It brings together years of detailed listening to every moment of just about every released Beatle track. It catalogues all those curious little sounds, vocal asides, mistakes, edits, hidden messages and more … songs you’ve listened to for years will never be listened to in the same way again.” ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/47 "2021-04-08T12:35:04Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > For several of you Dopers, clicking on this will start a journey during which you will eat and sleep little for about 48 hours: > [http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm](http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm) 1995 called and said it didn’t want its website design back 😄 ---
**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:** [April 8, 2021, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/48 "2021-04-08T13:53:50Z")
I hear you! It works perfectly well for this purpose. In fact, I first encountered these observations in book form (a sort of self-published print out of all the entries in he website). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/49 "2021-04-08T14:01:06Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I hear you! It works perfectly well for this purpose. I might have come across a bit too snarky; I actually find those remaining old-school websites kind of charming and nostalgic when I come across them. Like this Basil Rathbone site I linked to in the ‘Iconic Images’ thread: > [@The Creation of Iconic Images for the Movies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-creation-of-iconic-images-for-the-movies/939443/6): > > Oh yeah, forgot about the pipe. Basil Rathbone clearly had a lot to do with cementing the image of cap, cape and pipe in the popular imagination: [http://www.basilrathbone.net/gallery/sherlockholmes/index.htm](http://www.basilrathbone.net/gallery/sherlockholmes/index.htm) (P.S.: gotta love that circa 1994 website) ETA: I clicked around some, and that Beatles site _ **is** _ a serious rabbit hole. Take **JKellyMap** ’s warning very seriously! ---
**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:** [April 8, 2021, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/50 "2021-04-08T14:17:19Z")
> [@solost](#): > > ETA: I clicked around some, and that Beatles site _ **is** _ a serious rabbit hole. Take **JKellyMap** ’s warning very seriously! Just crawled back out, myself… what year is it? ---
**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:** [April 8, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/51 "2021-04-08T15:19:59Z")
All good! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/52 "2021-04-08T22:15:25Z")
> [@solost](#): > > How would one go about checking this doc out? Is it on a streaming service? It doesn’t appear to be streaming anywhere for free, but Youtube and Amazon have it for $3.99. I imagine it’ll show back up on Netflix at some point or another (and it looks like you can tell Netflix to add it to your list if/when it shows up). In the mean time, here’s a clip from the Merry Clayton part. This song hasn’t been the same since I watched this doc. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ChONufP0FEs/maxresdefault.jpg "Naked voice from Merry Clayton in gimme shelter") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChONufP0FEs) Fun fact, also from the same doc…here’s David Bowie doing Young Americans. On the right side is a line of back up singers, the one on the left (tall guy with the blue suit) is Luther Vandross. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ydLcs4VrjZQ/hqdefault.jpg "David Bowie- Young Americans") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLcs4VrjZQ) I know this is getting off topic and I’m only putting it here because I think it’s so good and goes hand in hand with 20 Feet From Stardom, but if you ever want to have all your favorite 60’s and 70’s songs ruined by finding out none of the band actually played on the record, check out The Wrecking Crew, which appears to by available in Youtube. Seriously, it’s worth a watch. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/-ZgBexrZvM0/maxresdefault.jpg "The Wrecking Crew") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZgBexrZvM0) ETA, and if you want to take bass lessons from the woman who played bass on a ton of songs you know/love, Carol Kaye does them via Skype (some restrictions apply). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/53 "2021-04-08T22:20:30Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > IIRC, the consensus was that it was misplayed by McCartney and they just decided to keep it. I do NOT agree with that. I still can’t even figure out what the actual notes recorded are but it is beautiful and 100% on purpose. Yeah, that was the consensus. To me, it was clearly unintentional (especially as he _doesn’t_ play that chord, from what I remember, in live versions, and if you follow the piano part, it’s him simply missing a chord change in the right hand.) It sounded fine, though. [Here’s that thread, by the way.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-what-piano-chord-is-played-at-2-59-on-let-it-be/663891/17) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/54 "2021-04-08T22:23:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > if you ever want to have all your favorite 60’s and 70’s songs ruined by finding out none of the band actually played on the record, check out The Wrecking Crew, which appears to by available in Youtube. I have the DVD; you’re right, it’s seriously worth a watch. There’s also a documentary about the Swampers. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hKmGUIM1uAI/maxresdefault.jpg "Muscle Shoals") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKmGUIM1uAI) ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/55 "2021-04-08T23:01:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yeah, that was the consensus. To me, it was clearly unintentional (especially as he _doesn’t_ play that chord, from what I remember, in live versions, and if you follow the piano part, it’s him simply missing a chord change in the right hand.) It sounded fine, though. I now pretty much think it was played that way on a certain take (accidentally or improvised) and a creative decision was made to keep it in (except on some versions, for example _Naked_). There’s simply no way that sublime chord was not noticed by George Martin or the Lads. If it’s on certain versions it’s because they wanted it that way. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/56 "2021-04-08T23:30:43Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > For several of you Dopers, clicking on this will start a journey during which you will eat and sleep little for about 48 hours: > [http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm](http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/wgo.htm) Oh dear. 😲 ---
**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:** [April 9, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/57 "2021-04-09T00:01:00Z")
And one about the Funk Brothers: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ldzU19oL3A) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/58 "2021-04-09T00:30:11Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > There’s simply no way that sublime chord was not noticed by George Martin or the Lads. If it’s on certain versions it’s because they wanted it that way. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I 100% think it was an unintended chord. I mean, Paul doesn’t play it in concert and when he did the Let It Be Naked project, he used a take with the correct chord in it. I can’t imagine why he would change it in both cases if that was what he intended. Plus, to me, it clearly sounds like he realizes his fuck up and quickly tries to cover it. But, anyway, we covered all that ground in the other thread. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/59 "2021-04-23T17:57:27Z")
Squeaky drum pedal on [Led Zeppelin - Since I’ve Been Loving You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8R7zjJMIfU). I can’t unhear it. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547/60 "2021-04-23T20:20:44Z")
Wow! How have I never heard that. I used to listen to Zep too much. And how did they not catch that in the recording/editing? Maybe the bass mic placement emphasized what wasn’t apparent in the room? Wait, there is a whole article on the squeak: > **[What’s That Sound? The squeaky drum pedal on Led Zeppelin song ‘Since I’ve...](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/john-bonham-led-zeppelin-squeaky-drum-pedal/)** > > A thing of legend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-in-recorded-songs-youe-heard-a-million-times/939547.md?page=4)