# Songs that have a completely different bit in the middle **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 22, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914 "2014-12-22T15:17:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/21 "2014-12-22T18:36:24Z")
Well, Blondie’s song “Rapture” is practically the poster child for songs that take a dramatic turn in an unexpected direction. One moment you’re listening to this almost ethereal torch song sort of thing and two minutes later it’s a rap song about creatures from Mars that eat cars. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/22 "2014-12-22T18:37:24Z")
Harry Chapin’s “Taxi” has that falsetto part in the middle (“Baby’s so high, that she’s skying: Yes she’s flying, afraid to fall”) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/23 "2014-12-22T18:37:27Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Knights in White Satin? Nights. Nights nights nights nights. It’s about bedsheets, not broadswords. Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” I feel, has a weird middle. The song has one beat and it’s repetitive and you can dance to it, then there’s some sort of change. [It’s right at 2 minutes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY) ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/24 "2014-12-22T19:10:33Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Is a bridge the same thing as an in-fix? Abso-friggin-lutely!😉 ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/25 "2014-12-22T19:16:45Z")
Sweet’s “Love is Like Oxygen” has that mandolin-sounding interlude in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/26 "2014-12-22T19:19:53Z")
Whitesnake’s “Still of the Night” features a violin-sounding keyboard solo sandwiched by classic 80s hard rock. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/27 "2014-12-22T19:38:32Z")
Beatles’ **I Call Your Name** has a Ska instrumental break. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/28 "2014-12-22T20:01:52Z")
Rick Wakeman’s _Merlin_ from _Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table_ completely changes character and style in the middle (and again at the very end): [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CJYPut_Yrg8/hqdefault.jpg "Rick Wakeman Merlin The Magician") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJYPut_Yrg8) ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/29 "2014-12-22T20:17:56Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I’m listening to [“Just Like a Prayer”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79fzeNUqQbQ) right now and I’m trying to figure out what specifically we’re talking about. One of the reasons I said “certain versions of…” in the OP is that I couldn’t find a youtube version of the one I mean. It’s on the version on The Immaculate Collection though. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/30 "2014-12-22T20:21:54Z")
**BYOB** by System of a Down, which is a wild song in the first place, has that “blast off it’s party time” part in the middle that sounds different from the rest of the song. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/31 "2014-12-22T20:25:45Z")
(This isn’t quite what the OP wants, because it’s not the middle of the song that changes, just the ending: ) Layla by Eric Clapton. It’s really 2 separate songs…the piano ending is a total disconnect from the guitar beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/32 "2014-12-22T22:21:15Z")
Led Zeppelin’s _Fool in the Rain_ ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/33 "2014-12-22T23:07:02Z")
“Question” by the Moody Blues. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/34 "2014-12-22T23:27:19Z")
How about “Say You Say Me” by Lionel Ritchie? In the middle part is suddenly changes, picks up pace and sounds as if something fell out the sky. Some of the ones mentioned are good examples. Been busy but still trying to think of some others, but Ritchie is the one I can think of now. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/35 "2014-12-22T23:40:13Z")
I don’t know about the middle, but several Guns n Roses songs seem to change into a completely different song at the end. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/36 "2014-12-23T00:52:53Z")
**I Think I Love You** by (ahem) the Partridge Family. After the rarely heard harpsichord break, you have what appears to be the first draft of a middle eighth that feels more like that distinct clunking sound you get when you grind the gears by shifting wrong. It lasts only a few seconds before turning back to the more upbeat chorus but leaves the listener with the “What the hell was that about?” ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/37 "2014-12-23T05:37:04Z")
Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but the most awesome bridges are: Moonlight Seems Right, by Starbuck Pancho and Lefty by Nelson and Haggard. And, the first appearance of an orchestral string section in a rock song, in There Goes My Baby by the Drifters. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/38 "2014-12-23T08:25:40Z")
This is extremely common in progressive rock. One of the more bizarre examples would be Jethro Tull’s 45-minute “A Passion Play”, which in the middle segues into [“The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylG8QvwVB1Y) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/39 "2014-12-23T19:53:48Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Abso-friggin-lutely!😉 Cool. Thanks. I didn’t know what a bridge was until, as a middle-aged matron, I was rewatching **Who Framed Roger Rabbit** with a friend who laughed where I wasn’t expecting it. She had to explain that they’d made a joke about a bridge and then she had to explain what a music bridge was. It wasn’t funny then, but it was amusing the next time I watched, years later. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/40 "2014-12-23T20:15:28Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Nights. Nights nights nights nights. It’s about bedsheets, not broadswords. You know, when I typed it I first wrote “Nights”. Then as I was about to hit ‘submit’ I looked at it and thought “oops, typo” and changed it to Knights. I’m really not sure why. > [@](#): > > Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” I feel, has a weird middle. The song has one beat and it’s repetitive and you can dance to it, then there’s some sort of change. [It’s right at 2 minutes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m1EFMoRFvY) Agreed. I’ve always thought that bridge didn’t work in the song. I can’t listen to the link at work, but I assume we’re referring to the same section. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914.md?page=3)