What are some songs you think are over with at some point, but then continue on? I thought of this when I heard “Plush” by Stone Temple Pilots on the radio today. They also sometimes play an acoustic version of this song, apparently recorded in some small club. All that is playing is an acoustic guitar. Halfway into the song several of the people in the audience begin clapping, thinking the song is over before Mr. Wylan continues singing and playing, probably thinking, “Geez, guys, I ain’t finished yet!”
Some other songs with false endings:
“Centerfold” - J. Geils Band
“I Don’t Live Today” - Jimi Hendrix (fades in and out several times at the end)
“Court of the Crimson King” - King Crimson
There’s any number of songs that have a big pause in them, during which some clown will always start applauding at concerts (like they’ve never heard the sing before?). But, of course, I can’t think of any.
Oh, except Just by Radiohead.
dum-dum-Dum-Dum-DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM-DUM… first smattering of applause etc, quickly drowned out by scrapy guitar noise
BAH-bah-da… etc…
the first one that sprung to mind for me was They Might Be Giant’s When It Rains It Snows … where there is a 15 second pause right after it sounds like the song should be over, and then another verse is sung
I don’t mind a false ending at a concert on a record but when dance bands do it, it’s just cruel. Bands who play tangos seem to perversely enjoy false endings, the bastards.
Well, I know it isn’t a popular song, but Listen to the Band by The Monkees has a fake ending too. Every time we listen to it, my son will exclaim, “They got me again!” And yes, I do force my son to listen to my Monkees CDs.
Mike Oldfield’s Amarok has a nice one. It is kind of a “song” - it is a 60 minute long CD with only one track. There is a nice climax, a pause, then the drums start again and a Margaret Thatcher impersonator comes on to say that though endings normally happen at the end, that once we’ve gotten started we should just keep going, since the world is crying out for fresh beginnings. Then a jolly song starts, you clear the stomping of feet as she dances, then the sound of a window breaking, as she dances right out of it, then we go to the real ending.
–“Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley (The fade out and fade in toward the end.)
–“Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen (Where the E Street Band sounds like it’s wrapping things up only to have Bruce go into the last verse that begins, “The highway’s jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive…”)
“Magic Man” by Heart has a brief pause that sounds like the end of the song on first listen.
“Love is Like Oxygen” doesn’t have any extended pauses, but there are a few places during the song where it sounds like the song is just about winding down to the end, only to pick right back up again.
The fading guitars preceding the piano coda of “Layla” surely qualifies, as well.
The be-all end-all of false endings is Ana Ng, again by They Might Be Giants. It has several – at least two, I forget how many – false endings. On more than one occasion it’s fooled a commercial radio DJ, who then starts the station promo after the “end” of the song, only to have the song start again over the promo!
Possibly the best example “Bernadette” by the Four Tops.
Toward the end of the song a few secinds of total silence, then the singer yells out “BERNADETTE !!!”, and the song starts up again.
Great song.
Anywhere Is by Enya. As she utters the last word of the song, everything abruptly fades to silence, but after a few seconds the instruments start back up again and continue the melody for a while before fading out.
With A Little Luck by Paul McCartney and Wings has an instant where, though not complete silence, it sounds like the song is about to end - right around the usual length for a song, too. Then it resumes and runs a couple minutes more. The best part of the song, IMO.
And Rodeo by Aaron Copland has at least one false ending - I dunno how old the aforementioned Sing, Sing, Sing is but Rodeo is from 1942.
I think “Strawberry Fields” was the first single to fade out, then fade back in again. George Martin says it was done to hide an edit, but it’s the sort of thing John Lennon would’ve enjoyed for its own sake.
How about Pink Flyd’s “Bike”? Ends perfectly normally, and then all this … strangeness happens …
“White Punks On Dope” by The Tubes fades almost completely out, then comes back with the band playing at full tilt.
BTW, re: Strawberry Fields Forever, that fade was intentional, and not to hide an edit. We bootleg collectors have all the available outtakes and unreleased mixes, and there is no edit in that spot. The edit comes at almost exactly one minute into the song.
