# Mistakes (Sour Notes, Flubbed Lines, Expletives, etc.) on Studio Albums **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636 "2013-04-13T21:49:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/81 "2013-04-15T13:31:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Except an “intrusive r” wouldn’t happen in the phrase “I never saw them at all.” No British speaker, AFAIK, would pronounce that “saw” as “sawr” with a rhotic. Intrustive rs in English happen when a word ending with a vowel sound is followed by a vowel sound. So it might occur in a phrase like “I never saw(r) a giraffe” but not “I never saw the giraffe.” Note all the examples in the Wikipedia article follow this pattern. “I see”, said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and sawr. mmm ---
**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 15, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/82 "2013-04-15T13:33:00Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > A Scouse accent is different; just as Boston is different, or New York is different. Yeah, who knew? I’m pretty sure Liverpudlians wouldn’t pronounce it that way, either. The “Till There Was Use” example is usually explained as Paul McCartney over-doing an American accent and throwing in an “r” where it doesn’t belong. ---
**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 15, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/83 "2013-04-15T13:36:51Z")
As mentioned [here](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/explainer/2012/11/skyfall_theme_song_by_adele_why_do_british_singers_sound_american.html): > [@](#): > > Imitating an American accent involved both the adoption of American vowel sounds and rhoticity: the pronunciation of Rs wherever they appear in a word. (Nonrhoticity, by contrast, is the habit of dropping r’s at the end of a syllable, as most dialects of England do.) Sometimes Brits attempting to sing in an American style went overboard with the Rs, as did Paul McCartney in his cover of “Till There Was You,” pronouncing saw more like sawr. When I said “no British speaker, AFAIK” the point was to account for the myriad of accents in the UK, not to single out one “universal” British accent. ---
**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 15, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/84 "2013-04-15T13:40:02Z")
I’ve always been intrigued by Van Morrison’s [Slim Slo Slider](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMEExDZEgoo) where you can hear him turn a page (of lyrics, presumably). [It’s at 1:27](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMEExDZEgoo), but it could be a more random noise. Once you hear it though, it’s jarring, especailly on such a quiet, ethereal album _(Astral Weeks)_. > [@NDP](#): > > Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - [“Even the Losers”- At 8:04 (“It’s just the normal noises in here.”)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uElD3acEdsQ) I say this all the time, in the same tone, and NO ONE has ever noticed. Or ever will. I can live with that… but it’s perfect when, as a class winds down, all the students start a billion random conversations and bump into things and spill stuff and chaos ensues. > [@74westy](#): > > _I Saw Her Again Last Night_ by the Mamas and Papas. Denny comes in early after the solo and sings “I saw her a…” one bar earlier than everyone else. They all liked it so they left it in. And it’s hard to believe they liked that-- it’s such a huge, awkward mistake… and it was all over the radio (in those pre-iPod days you didn’t have much choice-- unless you had an 8-Track in your car…), so you heard that song 1000 times that summer. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/85 "2013-04-15T13:51:27Z")
One that particularly rankles me is “the Wind Beneath My Wings” by Bette Midler. The part near the end when she sings “Flyyyy, FLYYYYYYY, FLY AWAY…” That second “fly” is jarringly flat or offkey. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me, and this was a major, major hit song that got volumes of airplay when it was first released, and still pops up on easy listening stations. Ugh. Drives me crazy every time I hear it. In Jefferson Airplane’s medley “Won’t You Try / Saturday Afternoon” just before an extended instrumental section, Paul Kantner clearly says (not sings) “keep it going” as if giving studio instructions for everyone to keep jamming. Never heard him say it in any of the live versions of the song that I’ve heard, so I imagine it was a mistake. From the same band’s “Crown of Creation” - towards the end of the song, just prior to the dramatic tempo shift, someone in the studio coughs. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/86 "2013-04-15T15:24:02Z")
Two from the Smashing Pumpkins. In “Daydream” there’s a “thunk” from a cello bow hitting the cello. And “Starla” has the sound of a vehicle with a siren driving past the studio. Not sure why the thunk from Daydream got left in unless no one noticed but Starla was being recorded on a deadline and presumably they didn’t have time to record it again. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/87 "2013-04-15T15:29:09Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Anyone? I don’t hear anything I would describe as a “honk.” I think you’re just referring to Tony Iommi playing a gliss (sliding down the strings) on the last note of the lick. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/88 "2013-04-15T15:31:03Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s _Nowhere Man_. It sounds like a bit of feedback that they decided to leave in. I like it! > > It’s at 1:03 [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfWEPu0w-7w) > > Also, in _Here Comes the Sun_, George can’t decide if it seems like years, of feels like years, so according to him it “seels” like years: it’s at 2: 21 [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1AesMfIf8). > > ETA: Apparently Morrison is loaded and hiccups on _Five to One_, but I’ve never heard it. Anyone? Sound like an intentional harmonic note to me, at the end of the guitar solo. Not a mistake. Unless there’s other evidence to suggest it is. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/89 "2013-04-15T15:53:08Z")
Closer to Home by Grand Funk Railroad. Pretty obvious including a snicker. . . [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBreDtazad8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBreDtazad8) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/90 "2013-04-15T16:27:15Z")
> [@digs](#): > > And it’s hard to believe they liked that-- it’s such a huge, awkward mistake… and it was all over the radio (in those pre-iPod days you didn’t have much choice-- unless you had an 8-Track in your car…), so you heard that song 1000 times that summer. I like it. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/91 "2013-04-15T16:34:00Z")
The Beatles’ song “In My Life” with the double-speed piano that sounds like a harpsichord - if you hear it at regular speed it’s pretty sloppy playing (George Martin, I think). ---
**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 15, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/92 "2013-04-15T16:47:47Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The Beatles’ song “In My Life” with the double-speed piano that sounds like a harpsichord - if you hear it at regular speed it’s pretty sloppy playing (George Martin, I think). Never heard it before, but, alas, Youtube has [everything](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMbqh_yNyOs). ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/93 "2013-04-15T16:51:04Z")
Unsourced claim in Wikipedia’s article on “Sweet Home Alabama”: > [@](#): > > The famous “Turn it up” line uttered by Ronnie Van Zant in the beginning was not intended to be in the song. Van Zant was simply asking producer Al Kooper and engineer Rodney Mills to turn up the volume in his headphones so that he could hear the track better. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/94 "2013-04-15T16:56:12Z")
In “Hey Jude”, Ringo can be heard saying “I need to go to the bathroom” at ~[5:36](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eDdI7GhZSQA#t=332s) ---
**Author:** ![nogwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nogwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nogwart)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/95 "2013-04-15T17:02:10Z")
The first to come to my mind is Jim Croce’s “Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown”. Near the end, the bass player gets completely lost. It’s very obvious and bad, I’m I’m still amazed they left it in. As a bassist myself, this always makes me cringe when I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/96 "2013-04-15T17:11:39Z")
> [@bup](#): > > The Beatles’ song “In My Life” with the double-speed piano that sounds like a harpsichord - if you hear it at regular speed it’s pretty sloppy playing (George Martin, I think). If we’re going into that kind of depth…in “A Hard Day’s Night”, the instrumental solo in the middle is double-speed piano and guitar played by Georges Martin and Harrison. Even at the original slower tempo, Harrison has trouble with it. Best heard by hard panning the original stereo version. . ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/97 "2013-04-15T17:15:39Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > I like it. So do I. That may be because I’ve always heard it that way, but it just sounds…right. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/98 "2013-04-15T17:39:40Z")
The Presidents of the United States of America, start their song, “We’re Not Gonna Make It,”, miss a note on the bass-line, and the singer stops the production: “Do it again, do it again, do it again,” … at which point they do it again. Then again, considering the song is about how much they suck, they might have done it on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/99 "2013-04-15T17:57:33Z")
On the US version of “I’m Looking Through You” by the Beatles there is a double false start. I don’t know if this was a mistake in the performance, or a mistake in the recording. I remember a song from the 70s with a chorus starting “Oh what a time we had down by the Danube, eating our goulash and drinking our wine…”. As the song fades out, the guy singing bass sings “drinking our goulash and eating our wine” and you can just barely hear him saying “Aw, I fucked it up”. I feel certain that this was a Steeleye Span song but I can’t find it on the intrawebz! ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/100 "2013-04-15T18:01:22Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I remember a song from the 70s with a chorus starting “Oh what a time we had down by the Danube, eating our goulash and drinking our wine…”. As the song fades out, the guy singing bass sings “drinking our goulash and eating our wine” and you can just barely hear him saying “Aw, I fucked it up”. I feel certain that this was a Steeleye Span song but I can’t find it on the intrawebz! It was Fairport Convention: [“Hungarian Rhapsody.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1O6PswGJZo) That bass vocal is Trevor Lucas. ETA: That video cuts off just before Lucas says “I fucked it up!” but it’s there on the record. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636.md?page=6)