# Songs based on rehearsal riffs and such **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [November 1, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640 "2021-11-01T17:42:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/21 "2021-11-03T02:26:44Z")
Sugarloaf’s “Green Eyed Lady” also evolved out of a guitar practice exercise. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/22 "2021-11-03T04:31:50Z")
Tom Morello came up with the riffs for Rage Against The Machine’s _Killing in the Name_ while teaching one of his students. He stopped the lesson and recorded the riffs. Pretty cool lesson to have had. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/23 "2021-11-03T16:40:38Z")
Maybe not a perfect fit for the OP, but the Dixie Cups’ version of Iko Iko came about from an impromptu jam session where they started singing a song they learned from one of their grandmothers, tapping on various items with drumsticks to keep the rhythm. > **[Iko Iko | The Dixie Cups version](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko#The_Dixie_Cups_version)** > > The Dixie Cups' version was the result of an unplanned jam in a New York City recording studio where they began an impromptu version of "Iko Iko", accompanying themselves with drumsticks on an aluminum chair, a studio ashtray and a Coke bottle. After their producers cleaned up the track and added the backup vocals, bass and drums to the song, the single was then released in March 1965. The Dixie Cups scored an international hit single with "Iko Iko" in May 1965 on the Billboard Hot 100 char The D... ---
**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:** [November 3, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/24 "2021-11-03T17:37:34Z")
Similarly, the jam at the end of the Stones’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” came about because the tape was still rolling when the band thought the song was over, Mick Taylor kept playing, and the rest of band picked their instruments back up and joined in. So, not strictly a practice or rehearsal riff, but more of “happy accident” (as Bob Ross would say). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/25 "2021-11-04T01:48:17Z")
Peaches’ “Fuck the Pain Away” was never recorded in the studio. The only version recorded is the first performance. > **[Fuck the Pain Away | Recording](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuck_the_Pain_Away#Recording)** > > Peaches never recorded "Fuck the Pain Away" in a studio. The only official version is a live recording from the first time it was ever performed at The Rivoli in Toronto. Peaches has noted the presence of tape hiss and crowd noise on the master, which was taken from a cassette recording of the board mix that was offered to her by the sound engineer after the performance in exchange for $5. Nevertheless, she has stated that "it ain't broke, don't fix \[it\]. I am never recording this song aga Live recordings rule. I think this is pretty much improvised. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2021, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/26 "2021-11-04T15:14:14Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > So, not strictly a practice or rehearsal riff, but more of “happy accident” (as Bob Ross would say). “I see a line of trees and I want to paint them black. You need the dark to show the light.” ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/27 "2021-11-09T04:35:42Z")
The most well-known piece of music by The Refreshments is likely the theme to _King of the Hill_, which was just a little jam they did at soundchecks. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2021, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/28 "2021-11-09T23:12:29Z")
I heard a DJ tell this story about the Doobie Brother’s _Black Water_ on the radio years ago and [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Water_(song)) backs it up. “I was sitting out in the studio waiting between takes and I played that part. All the sudden I heard the [talk-back] go on and [producer] Ted Templeman says: ‘What is that?’ I said: ‘It’s just a little riff that I came up with that I’ve been tweaking with.’ He goes: ‘I love that. You really should write a song using that riff.’” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/29 "2021-11-10T00:35:44Z")
The chorus for “Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” was improvised in the studio to fill out the song. It was intended as a placeholder, but the song was released with it. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/30 "2021-12-10T05:27:32Z")
Maybe this should be split into a separate _Placeholder_ thread. I heard an interview with Eddie Money long ago and he was saying the most recognizable part of “Two Tickets to Paradise” was a fluke. He knew a guy who played trumpet and had written Two Tickets to include a Flugle horn part (Flugle Horn was popular at the time, just ask Stephen Strange) and hired the guy to play the part in the studio. But he knew it was a risk because the guy was quite a boozer. He stretched out his studio time and got all the other layers perfect, and filled in the horn part with “Whoa Whoa oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh whoa!” where the horn would later be overdubbed. The guy never showed and the producer thought the vocal fill-in sounded great & convinced Eddie to use it. One of the last gigs Eddie Money did was for a holiday party that my employer arranged a few years ago. Some of my colleagues were musicians\* and sound engineers and they rehearsed and performed as Eddie’s back-up band. For the last song of the night, he did Two Tickets and one of the guys played Flugle Horn where it was supposed to be played. It wasn’t better or worse, it was just different – like the electric versus acoustic versions Eric Clapton does of Layla. Me and my coworkers thought it was a great rendition. —G! - I wouldn’t say they were all professionals. Our database managar played sax and clarinet in a jazz band that did bar gigs and events; one of our guys in billing played bass and trumpet and percussion for a local reggae band, another guy in billing played guitar and ran a recording studio in his apartment; a lady in IT was married to a bass guitarist in a local country band; the CEO’s boyfriend was a drummer for a classic rock band. None of these guys were selling CD’s by the crate-loads, but they were good enough to do local gigs without scaring away the patrons. Maybe that’s a bit high of a standard for ‘Professional’ but, after all, we’re on the edge of Hollywood – in fact a couple of our accountants had previously worked for major record companies (as accountants, not performing musically). ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/31 "2021-12-10T17:49:00Z")
‘Birthday’ by the Beatles? I rather doubt if Macca came into the studio with that all polished and camera-ready! ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/32 "2021-12-10T19:03:19Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I recall an interview where Joe Walsh’s Funk 49 started as a warmup exercise riff. I’ve seen more than one interview where he says that about the opening riff of “Life in the Fast Lane.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640/33 "2021-12-11T04:01:49Z")
The long horn solo, theoretically played by the hero (but actually by the 1st horn in the orchestra) in _Siegfried,_ Act II, just before the fight with the dragon, is said to have been taken from an exercise that Wagner overheard his principal horn player working on. When the player first saw it in the score, he said, “Herr Wagner, this is impossible!”, but Wagner replied, “Don’t be silly. I heard you playing it yesterday!” [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MkMdlfl8Hg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-based-on-rehearsal-riffs-and-such/953640.md?page=1)