Songs that change gears drastically

Cafe Society
1

Was just listening to Strawberry Fields Forever (Beatles), and I love the wacky coda that just arose so naturally from that wacked out fantasy. I’m trying to think of anything else like it… I guess it could appear anywhere in the song, such as the 1st/2nd halves, in the middle, as a very long intro, coda or bridge. Should be sufficiently long and different enough that it makes you do a double take…

The closest thing I can think of at the moment is Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (Billy Joel), which goes into the driving piano-led middle verses from a slow languid jazzy section. Suddenly Everything Has Changed (Flaming Lips) has a bunch of less drastic amorphous gear changes, as does Stairway to Heaven (Led Zep), Transatlanticism (Death Cab), and a bunch of other concept songs. What if God Was One Of Us (Joan Osborne) has a false intro country-twangy singer gal, but too short for what I’m looking for…

Any songs that change gears like Strawberry Fields’ coda but sustain it for longer?

(note classical doesn’t count, since just about every sonata, symphony, et. al would qualify :))

2

“Paradise By the Dashboard Light” by Meat Loaf has several “movements” like you’re looking for.

3

Off the top of my head:

Summer Eyes by The Young Gods changes tack into a completely different tune after about 6 minutes from a sort of rolling low key techno into a kind of reggae beat (hell, I don’t know what you’d call it) for the remaining 13 minutes

This is a Picture by Shellac changes into a different tune after a minute or so

Hit em with da Hee by Missy Elliot goes from sort of standard hip hop to the orchestral sample from Bjorks Joga halfway through, although that may be a remix.

I am the Resurrection by The Stone Roses goes into an entirely different instrumental after around 4 minutes

Karma Police by Radiohead

3 Days by Janes Addiction goes through at least 5 different codas through its 11 minutes.

Any good to you?

4

Metallica’s “Fade to Black” qualifies, I think.

5

The Stones’ Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ is virtually two songs glued together: a hard-rocking first half, and a jazzy instrumental second half.

Leyla (Eric Clapton) – same description.

Led Zep’s Fool in the Rain breaks into a samba in the middle.

The Beatles A Day in the Life used an unrelated Paul McCartney song fragment (“woke up…fell out of bed…”) as the bridge section of John Lennon’s song.

6

You mean like “Bohemian Rhapsody”?

7

I always thought Chop Suey by System of a Down felt like 3 or 4 songs mashed together. (and I love it for that reason.)

8

“Question” by the Moody Blues

“Narcolepsy” by Ben Folds Five

9

Yeah, Chop Suey is great.

Paranoid Android - Radiohead
The Spark that Bled - The Flaming Lips

10

It’s not that drastic a change, but “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand starts out slower until they play that first “riff,” then it’s faster.

11

I’ll throw in a current hit song:

Green Day - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, the ending.

Now watch as the Green Day haters tear me a new one. :wink:

12

Stairway To Heaven changes up at the end, as does Suite: Judy Blue Eyes, but neither is radical.

13

“Behind Blue Eyes” by The Who comes to mind.
“Tuesday Afternoon” by the Moody Blues, maybe, but that’s really two different songs in one, a la a lot of McCartney’s music.

14

Captain Crunchy Crunch mentioned Green Day, and from that same album, Jesus of Suburbia has five distint movements in it, what with being an operetta and all. There is also another song that does the same thing at the end of the album, but I can’t recall the name.

15

That would be Homecoming, bouv. With each section being called
[ul]
[li]Homecoming[/li][li]The Death Of St. Jimmy[/li][li]East 12th St.[/li][li]Nobody Likes You[/li][li]Rock And Roll Girlfriend[/li][li]We’re Coming Home Again[/li][/ul]

Incidentally, the names of each section of Jesus of Suburbia are:[ul]
[li]Jesus Of Suburbia[/li][li]City Of The Damned[/li][li]I Don’t Care[/li][li]Dearly Beloved[/li][li]Tales Of Another Broken Home[/li][/ul]

16

Getting back to the Beatles, how about “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”?

The Doors: “The Soft Parade”
The Who: “A Quick One While He’s Away”
Mothers of Invention: “Brown Shoes Don’t Make It”
Jethro Tull: “Aqualung”

…of course, the prog-rock brigade made their careers out of extended, multi-part compositions with contrasting tempos and dynamics, so you could add many, many other Tull and Zappa songs, as well as practically the entire oeuvres of Yes, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, etc.

17

I believe the Trucker’s Gear Change Hall of Fame is what you’re looking for :smiley:

18

Sum 41’s “We’re All To Blame”

19

I don’t think that, of the chart-worthy stuff, anything can beat the Bohemian Rhapsody. 5:55 of pure unadulterated changes. Acapella to aria to operatic to metal to aria.

But if you REALLY want to play that game I give you Rush: La Villa Strangiato.

  1. Buenos Noches, Mein Froinds
  2. To Sleep, Perchance to Dream
  3. Strangiato Theme
  4. A Lerxst in Wonderland
  5. Monsters!
  6. The Ghost of the Aragon
  7. Danforth and Pape
  8. The Waltz of the Shreves
  9. Never Turn Your Back on a Monster!
  10. Monsters! (reprise)
  11. Strangiato Theme (reprise)
  12. A Farewell to Things

They have other, longer pieces, but those are really several songs that make up a piece and not just one song with several movements.

20

Ooh! ooh! “Band on the Run”! And “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.”

There are a few songs on The Kinks’ Arthur album that change gears, including “Shangri-La” and “She Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina.”