# Songs that change completely (and stay that way) somewhere in the song. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310 "2014-11-22T02:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/21 "2014-11-22T04:53:32Z")
Some quick ones my wife and I came up with over dinner: Welcome To The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance Bitchin’ Camaro by the Dead Milkmen Last Dance by Donna Summer Supper’s Ready by Genesis A Quick One by The Who ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/22 "2014-11-22T04:57:42Z")
“Roam” by the B52s starts with this horrible Enya-style chanting, but then it suddenly becomes a respectable song. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/23 "2014-11-22T05:02:09Z")
Well, Stairway to Heaven fits the bill, no? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/24 "2014-11-22T05:02:45Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Free Bird–starts kinda ballady, ends in Southern-fried guitar boogie. Especially the versions that start on piano and not keyboards. Someone mentioned Donna Summer which reminds me of her duet with Barbara Streisand. “Crazy on You” has an intro not similar to the rest of the song…but perhaps ‘intro’ songs shouldn’t count since others have posted much stronger candidates and there are tons of songs with intros. ---
**Author:** ![justmeetee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@justmeetee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justmeetee)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/25 "2014-11-22T05:03:36Z")
A couple Jethro Tull albums come to mind. “Thick As A Brick” and “A Passion Play” are technically one long song, with many changes. My personal favorite of which is “The Story Of The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles” in the middle of “Passion Play”. Some parts of “Thick” had been pulled out of the whole for air play. Ian Anderson called it the middle bit of the brick when played in concert. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/26 "2014-11-22T05:06:53Z")
Foreplay/Long Time, _Boston_ ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/27 "2014-11-22T05:07:11Z")
Then there’s “Pepper” and “Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe” each of which sound like two songs smashed together. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/28 "2014-11-22T05:13:20Z")
[Station to Station, David Bowie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY77zDzNmYw) ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/29 "2014-11-22T05:42:03Z")
Finally thought of a legitimate one. Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend” ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/30 "2014-11-22T05:58:23Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Finally thought of a legitimate one. Elton John’s “Funeral for a Friend” But that’s two separate songs, “Funeral For a Friend” and “Love Lies Bleeding”. I guess I don’t really get the OP; why does “Bohemian Rhapsody” work? It goes back to the slow “nothing really matters” part at the end, and so does “A Day in the Life”, which was also cited. I would have thought you were looking more for a song that starts as a ballad and ends up as a rocker, like any number of gospel tunes. Am I misunderstanding? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/31 "2014-11-22T08:17:07Z")
“Bohemian Rhapsody” is arguably in true [rhapsodic form](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhapsody_(music)), that is: > [@](#): > > …[A] one-movement work that is episodic yet integrated, free-flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, colour and tonality. An air of spontaneous inspiration and a sense of improvisation make it freer in form than a set of variations. The intro and coda, while superficially similar in tempo, are different in mood and instrumentation. Each of the sections are quite distinct from each other: [ol] [li]Intro - Close four-part harmony with minimal or no instrumentation[/li][li]Ballad - lead vocals backed mainly by piano[/li][li]Guitar solo - guess what this is[/li][li]Opera - everything[/li][li]Hard rock - everything with electric guitars[/li][li]Coda - recalls all elements of the song: slow tempo, a little chorus (“oh yeah”), a little guitar, a little ballad (“nothing really matters”), a little piano.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/32 "2014-11-22T08:32:10Z")
This is a challenging question. Two I can think of: “The Wheel and the Maypole,” XTC (which actually did begin as two separate songs) “You Never Give Me Your Money,” the Beatles I’d thought of offering “Beginnings” by Chicago and “Dry the Rain” by the Beta Band, but those are really just songs with extended codas. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/33 "2014-11-22T09:56:48Z")
Lots in prog rock, but an early example is Oh well by Fleetwood Mac. ---
**Author:** ![Uniqueorn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uniqueorn/32/2807_2.png) [@Uniqueorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uniqueorn)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/34 "2014-11-22T10:25:15Z")
“Scenes from an Italian restaurant” by Billy Joel ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/35 "2014-11-22T13:55:47Z")
Rolling Stones, “Can’t you hear Me Knockin’” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/36 "2014-11-22T14:46:01Z")
The Doors, “L.A. Woman” ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/37 "2014-11-22T15:17:13Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > [Station to Station, David Bowie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY77zDzNmYw) Even more so, Bowie’s earlier [Width of a Circle.](http://youtu.be/s2L4hL2IvUk) ---
**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:** [November 22, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/38 "2014-11-22T15:27:58Z")
“Crown of Creation” - Jefferson Airplane “Bluebird” - Buffalo Springfield “Matty Groves” - Fairport Convention 'Me & Bobby McGee" (Janis Joplin) kind of, sort of fits, although it’s a gradual, progressive change. It starts out low-key, melancholy but picks up steam with each verse until the end it’s pretty rocking and rolling. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/39 "2014-11-22T15:33:59Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > The Doors, “L.A. Woman” Possibly a stronger example is “Soft Parade” by the Doors. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310/40 "2014-11-22T15:38:24Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > FIRST > Protip: Stop listening after Uncle Albert. So, let me see if I get this straight: Stop listening as soon as the song gets really good? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-change-completely-and-stay-that-way-somewhere-in-the-song/705310.md?page=3)