I was listening to the radio on the way into work and hear a couple of songs that inspired this thread. The first was YYZ by Rush and the second was Crazy on you by Heart. The Rush song I kept thinking was an intro to a song and kept expecting to hear the lyrics start. With the Heart song, I always get confused because I think it’s the intro to Crazy on you but really it’s Silver Wheels which always seems to be played before COY.
It got me thinking about songs that have long musical intros. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I imagine Doors have a few, maybe Rush or Van Halen.
I guess I’m looking for Rock songs, mostly.
Oddly enough, I’ve had Funeral For A Friend stuck in my head all day.
That John Mellencamp song. “I Need a Lover (Who Won’t Drive Me Crazy)”. Very long intro, after which hearing the actual song is sort of a let-down.
To Live is to Die by Metallica.
I was listening to the radio on the way into work and hear a couple of songs that inspired this thread. The first was YYZ by Rush and the second was Crazy on you by Heart. The Rush song I kept thinking was an intro to a song and kept expecting to hear the lyrics start. With the Heart song, I always get confused because I think it’s the intro to Crazy on you but really it’s Silver Wheels which always seems to be played before COY.
It got me thinking about songs that have long musical intros. I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I imagine Doors have a few, maybe Rush or Van Halen.
I guess I’m looking for Rock songs, mostly.
“Theme from Shaft” is 3 minutes long. It’s all instrumental for the first minute.
The original radio version of “Dreamboat Annie” by Heart had a long intro.
“New Year’s Day” by U2 has a rather long intro.
“Road to Hell” by Chris Rea.
If you’re looking for non-live stuff, which I assume you are, I offer you:
NIN - Something I Can Never Have from Pretty Hate Machine
“Toxicity” by System of a Down has pretty long intro, and although I haven’t timed it I always miss a few bars when I’m trying to sing it, much to the irritation of my little brother.
Life’s Been Good by Joe Walsh has a long intro that seems to have nothing to do with the music in the verses, although it repeats a few times during the song.
A lot of Opeth’s songs do this. One song in particular (Blackwater Park from the album of the same name) is a little over 10 minutes long with a 3 minute instrumental intro.
Roundabout by Yes, Low Spark of High-heeled Boys by Traffic, Locomotive Breath by Jethro Tull
“Radar Love”
“Gimme Shelter”
“Won’t Get Fooled Again”
“Down by The River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand”
“One Night in Bangkok” (Murray Head) comes to mind, with about a minute of orchestral tuning leading in.
I was also going to suggest “More Human Than Human” by White Zombie but the intro is arguably not musical (moaning of a, um, rhythmic nature).
As I recall when either song is on the radio, the intro is always skipped.
Bat out of Hell by Meat Loaf.
Rod Stewart’s Maggie Mae either has a 40-second intro, or there’s a 40-second bonus track that leads right into the song, depending on which way the album is labeled.
I Need a Lover by John Cougar.
Pink Floyd have a number of songs with long intros (almost all of them have long intros by radio single standards.)
A couple of examples:
Echoes (Meddle)
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Wish You Were Here)