# 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:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/41 "2014-12-23T20:39:00Z")
Happens a couple of times in [Linus and Lucy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6zypc_LhnM) (the Peanuts theme). ---
**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:** [December 23, 2014, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/42 "2014-12-23T22:10:53Z")
_American Girl_ by Tom Petty has a cheesy disco interlude in the middle of it. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/43 "2014-12-23T22:44:38Z")
Similarly (but even odder), “[Roll The Bones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tNLvNOu9Mw)” by Rush is their typical song - except for the rap interlude dropped in the middle (at 3:21, to be precise)! ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/44 "2014-12-24T00:32:47Z")
Thought of a Christmas classic, Brenda Lee’s “Rock Around The Christmas Tree”. That forceful saxophone. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/45 "2014-12-24T16:53:21Z")
Coincidentally, I ran across a classic example just yesterday, listening to the album _Portraits_ by the Buckinghams, which I picked up last week. The song “[Susan](http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+buckinghams+susan+youtube&FORM=VIRE3#view=detail&mid=7B18FD47100D31A3C4047B18FD47100D31A3C404)”, which made it to #11 on the _Billboard_ charts, is a sunny pop song that has a totally incongruous psychedelic segment inserted at the 1:30 mark. It sounds kind of like the orchestral crescendos in “A Day in the Life”, and according to Wikipedia, it includes a short section of Charles Ives’ “Central Park in the Dark”. It was added, over the protests of the group, by their producer/manager, James William Guercio. Many radio stations edited that part out. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/46 "2014-12-25T04:31:28Z")
Classical: [Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRmCEGHt-Qk) Middle section begins 5:32 and lasts until 11:55 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/47 "2014-12-25T04:48:25Z")
The baseball play-by-play in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” will throw most. (it was done by a famous (to fans) announcer from a MLB team who provided it - he insists he had no idea it was to be used as a sexual metaphor - right, Meatloaf is doing a documentary on baseball, suuuuure…). ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/48 "2014-12-25T05:44:12Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Nights. Nights nights nights nights. It’s about bedsheets, not broadswords. No, it’s Knights in White Satin. 😃 It’s about the finery the medieval King’s warriors wore while courting the ladies in between battles and dragonslayings. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/49 "2014-12-25T06:58:12Z")
The Chain by Fleetwood Mac AKA worst song to slow dance to. How incredibly awkward during an 8th grade school dance, I get matched with the boy I have a crush on and we have to slow dance to The Chain. Sure fine, starts off slow, sway back and forth, not too bad and then it stops for a fraction of a second, the lone bass line starts up at a faster pace. Now how to I dance? Keep the slow pace? Hell No! The song builds and goes even faster and louder into a never ending outro. So, do we start fast dancing now? Oh, forget it! Extremely awkward. I don’t look cool at all! Just walk away. What a dumb song. …and that was my very first slow dance with a boy. Yes, the scars of embarrassment are still there. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/50 "2014-12-25T12:40:29Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > The Chain by Fleetwood Mac > AKA worst song to slow dance to. How incredibly awkward during an 8th grade school dance, I get matched with the boy I have a crush on and we have to slow dance to The Chain. Sure fine, starts off slow, sway back and forth, not too bad and then it stops for a fraction of a second, the lone bass line starts up at a faster pace. Now how to I dance? Keep the slow pace? Hell No! The song builds and goes even faster and louder into a never ending outro. So, do we start fast dancing now? Oh, forget it! Extremely awkward. I don’t look cool at all! Just walk away. What a dumb song. …and that was my very first slow dance with a boy. Yes, the scars of embarrassment are still there. I sense that you’re still bitter. mmm ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/51 "2014-12-26T04:11:00Z")
No. My last sentence was sarcasm. Just remembering my train of thought as the incident happened. Everything’s a bigger deal than it should be when you’re 14. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2015, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/52 "2015-01-06T18:15:26Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The baseball play-by-play in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” will throw most. > (it was done by a famous (to fans) announcer from a MLB team who provided it - he insists he had no idea it was to be used as a sexual metaphor - right, Meatloaf is doing a documentary on baseball, suuuuure…). Phil “Scooter” Rizzuto. Former New York Yankee, then an announcer for many years, then he did commercials for The Money Store. Holy cow! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/53 "2015-01-07T00:42:14Z")
Led Zeppelin’s “The Song Remains The Same” has that extra long intro, goes into that different-tempo 1st (and, apparently, only) verse, then goes back to tempo 1 for the duration. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/54 "2015-01-07T00:53:42Z")
_Paranoid Android_ - Radiohead ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914/55 "2015-01-07T01:57:05Z")
[Daryl Hall’s “Babs and Babs”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=235nPzFOXSY) Starts out as straight ahead pop, at the 3:35 mark switches to eerie soundscapes, and then a minute later jumps right back to the original arrangement! And just for good measure, starts getting spacey again for the last two minutes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-a-completely-different-bit-in-the-middle/707914.md?page=2)