# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/121 "2013-04-19T23:21:58Z")
I’m stunned at all these mistakes that I’ve never found in songs I’ve listened to hundreds of times. ---
**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 20, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/122 "2013-04-20T00:46:22Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > Is it the 'slow’version of ‘Revolution’ that has John Lennon say “…take 2” prior to the intro? No. Right song, wrong moptop. Paul says it. While I’m here, I heard one of my favorites just this afternoon: Stones “Yesterday’s Papers”… Brian hits a clam on the marimba about halfway through. ---
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2013, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/123 "2013-04-20T03:18:14Z")
On the original Broadway cast album of West Side Story (from 1957), right as Reri Grist begins the solo for “Somewhere”, there’s a click like something being switched on. (Maybe her mike?) You can hear it at about :04 [here.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80-DtChQ39U) ---
**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 20, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/124 "2013-04-20T08:16:36Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > No. Right song, wrong moptop. Paul says it. > > While I’m here, I heard one of my favorites just this afternoon: Stones “Yesterday’s Papers”… Brian hits a clam on the marimba about halfway through. Hey, that guy was learning/ teaching himself to play instruments left and right, in between being high and having lots of sex and being depressed some of the time. Give the guy a break! 😉 Someone mentioned the drums/tambourine rhythmic mess in “I’m Free”. How about the awfully out-of-tune guitars! Especially jarring at the last chord. (But a great song anyway). One more from the Fabsters: During the first refrain of “Rain,” Paul on bass and Ringo on drums get confused and add an entire two beats to a measure – probably in part because of the slow way John sings the lyrics. But it all sorts out just fine, and just adds to the dreaminess of the masterpiece. The sheet music actually includes this as an extra half-measure, so SOMEONE thought it was on purpose – or at least worth preserving in print! ---
**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 20, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/125 "2013-04-20T17:36:29Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Hey, that guy was learning/ teaching himself to play instruments left and right, in between being high and having lots of sex and being depressed some of the time. Give the guy a break! 😉 You be preaching to the choir, Brother or Sister. _Between The Buttons_ has been my favorite Stones album since 1967, in _very_ large part because of Brian. (Blathering) My lesser favorites, in no particular order are _Some Girls_, _Aftermath_, and _Now!_ ---
**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 21, 2013, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/126 "2013-04-21T11:02:04Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > You be preaching to the choir, Brother or Sister. _Between The Buttons_ has been my favorite Stones album since 1967, in _very_ large part because of Brian. > (Blathering) My lesser favorites, in no particular order are _Some Girls_, _Aftermath_, and _Now!_ Agreed on all counts… And I’d add _Get Yer Ya-Yas Out_, from the Mick Taylor era. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/127 "2013-04-21T11:18:00Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > During the first refrain of “Rain,” Paul on bass and Ringo on drums get confused and add an entire two beats to a measure – probably in part because of the slow way John sings the lyrics. But it all sorts out just fine, and just adds to the dreaminess of the masterpiece. The sheet music actually includes this as an extra half-measure, so SOMEONE thought it was on purpose – or at least worth preserving in print! So what’s the basis for calling it a mistake? ---
**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 21, 2013, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/128 "2013-04-21T11:52:36Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > So what’s the basis for calling it a mistake? Good question. Musicologist Alan Pollack calls it this in his masterful online analysis (which covers every Beatles song – get ready to do nothing but enjoy this for about a week!), and I guess I just trusted his expert opinion. I’ll bet his reasoning is mostly about the fact that the extra half-measure does not appear in the other verses. Maybe he’s also read an interview with one of the Beatles (or with George Martin, or Geoff Emerick) where they characterized it as a mistake they decided to keep. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/129 "2013-04-21T11:57:54Z")
Fair enough. I’m familiar with some of the clear mistakes that did get left in Beatles records, but I don’t recall noticing what was going on with “Rain.” ---
**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 21, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/130 "2013-04-21T13:48:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Good question. Musicologist Alan Pollack calls it this in his masterful online analysis (which covers every Beatles song – get ready to do nothing but enjoy this for about a week!), and I guess I just trusted his expert opinion. I’ll bet his reasoning is mostly about the fact that the extra half-measure does not appear in the other verses. There’s only one other place where it _would_ appear, as there is only one other verse that transitions into a refrain. The presence of the two beats before one refrain and not the other may or may not be as the Beatles played it–it could also have been an edit. It’s also worth noting that there _is_ another point in the song where a two-beat measure is played: the intro. The idea that this was a mistake occasioned by Lennon’s vocal delivery doesn’t make much sense, since the instrumental track would have been recorded before the vocal. (Since the instrumental and vocal parts on the finished record were recorded at different speeds, they couldn’t possibly have been recorded at the same time.) ---
**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 21, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/131 "2013-04-21T14:24:10Z")
Interesting thoughts, Biffy! Sounds plausible to me. Even Pollack can be wrong sometimes (and he’s very much open to others’ suggestions). Here’s an example of a mistake where we know for sure the songwriter decided to keep it because he liked it: the Beach Boys’ **I’m Waiting for the Day**. In the _Pet Sounds Sessions_ CDs released 15 years ago, we hear the session musician play a plunky melody on some stringed instrument (can’t remember – ukulele, maybe?) during the end of the first line of the first verse. Brian Wilson had written out that the musician should play something there – not sure exactly what – but what the musician actually played had a rhythm that didn’t fit well with the rest of the music. In the recording sessions, we hear the song stop, the musician says something like “sorry, I screwed up…that sounded bad,” and Brian says something like, “No, man, that was outta sight! Play it just the way you played it!”. And then Brian sings that melody, so we know he really did like what he’d heard. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/132 "2013-04-21T17:25:06Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > In the recording sessions, we hear the song stop, the musician says something like “sorry, I screwed up…that sounded bad,” and Brian says something like, “No, man, that was outta sight! Play it just the way you played it!”. And then Brian sings that melody, so we know he really did like what he’d heard. That was Al de Lory on harpsichord. ---
**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 21, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/133 "2013-04-21T19:27:33Z")
Thanks. Maybe you’re right, but I’m thinking it was ukulele, which would make it Lyle Ritz (acc. to Wikipedia). ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2013, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/134 "2013-04-21T21:22:42Z")
Here’s a cool [breakdown of that session](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sl6IG_uxx8&feature=youtube_gdata_player). I think wiki might have it wrong. Ritz played standup bass on that song (along with two other Wrecking Crew bass players). He may have played his uke, as well, but I really think those uke-sounding bits are actually keyboards. BTW - I had the pleasure of attending a Lyle Ritz ukulele performance given to a crowd of about twenty at a guitar shop about ten years ago - The man’s a genius. ---
**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 21, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/135 "2013-04-21T21:58:02Z")
Ignorance fought, thanks – and lucky you! ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/136 "2013-04-22T01:28:27Z")
In the original filming of the concert on the roof by the Beatles, the guitar work on _Get Back_ is completely wonky. In the film everyone usually sees, and on the disk recording, the performance is different. I was pissed when I noticed that. I’m sure there are people with the details on what went down. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/137 "2013-04-22T01:34:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > In the original filming of the concert on the roof by the Beatles, the guitar work on _Get Back_ is completely wonky. > > In the film everyone usually sees, and on the disk recording, the performance is different. > > I was pissed when I noticed that. I’m sure there are people with the details on what went down. George had amp problems. Pretty much all of the guitar you hear on that take is John. With two guitars the rough edges disappear. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/138 "2013-04-30T12:47:09Z")
i.e. “Runnin’ With The Devil” [Mutant Version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3T8Mpf_qtY) > [@scabpicker](#): > > Wait, how’s that a mutant version? It sounds exactly like the one I grew up with. The Van Halen I version goes: first verse, chorus, second verse, chorus, first guitar solo, third verse (same words as second verse, but sung slightly different), chorus, second guitar solo, chorus with staccato bass, end. The mutant version goes: first verse, chorus, first guitar solo, third verse, chorus, second guitar solo, chorus with staccato bass, second verse, chorus, end. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/139 "2013-04-30T14:57:26Z")
> [@Karen\_X2](#): > > Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips Pt.II” > > At 2:23, they start the song up again, much to the dismay of the piano player who is completely lost. He is fishing for the correct note, then yells out “What key? What key?” Oh, there is so much more to that story. This was recorded live during a review show, where everyone just did a few songs. At the pause you can here the stage announcer say 'Let’s hear it for Little Stevie Wonder" because that was supposed to be the end of his set. During that time, his band was hustling off stage, and the band for the next act, The Marvelettes was coming on. Stevie, being a great performer, feeds off the audience and kicks back into the song. Of course, Stevie being blind perhaps didn’t know that some new musicians were now on stage. The bass player (either Joe Swift of Larry Moses depending on the source) frantically called out “What key, what key?” The piano player plays a quick run to get people into the right key. The amazing part is that the band - a mix of the core show band and the Marvelettes guys - nail the hell out of the ending of the song. ---
**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 30, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636/140 "2013-04-30T15:08:51Z")
> [@WreckingCrew](#): > > Oh, there is so much more to that story. This was recorded live during a review show, where everyone just did a few songs. At the pause you can here the stage announcer say 'Let’s hear it for Little Stevie Wonder" because that was supposed to be the end of his set. During that time, his band was hustling off stage, and the band for the next act, The Marvelettes was coming on. > > Stevie, being a great performer, feeds off the audience and kicks back into the song. Of course, Stevie being blind perhaps didn’t know that some new musicians were now on stage. The bass player (either Joe Swift of Larry Moses depending on the source) frantically called out “What key, what key?” The piano player plays a quick run to get people into the right key. The amazing part is that the band - a mix of the core show band and the Marvelettes guys - nail the hell out of the ending of the song. Ah, that makes a whole lot more sense! I couldn’t figure out why the band would have all of a sudden forgotten the key–it’s not like the key modulates in the ending. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mistakes-sour-notes-flubbed-lines-expletives-etc-on-studio-albums/655636.md?page=8)