Whatever the song is that ends with “I’m getting closer to my home” – perhaps by Grand Funk Railroad? I hate that damn song too much to want to google the title.
Cerrone’s 18 1/2 minute long mix of “Supernature”. Maybe not anthemic, but kind of continues the theme.
Simple Minds - “Don’t You Forget About Me”. Definitely anthemic…
A few more:
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” - The Rolling Stones
“Burn Down the Mission”- Elton John
“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” - Isaac Hayes
One cool thing about “Atlantis” is that the long repeating ending jibes perfectly with the ending from the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” One time, many years ago, I heard a mash-up of the two (if that’s the correct term) where someone had blended the two endings together, and it worked wonderfully. Whenever I hear either song, I usually sing along with the ending from the other.
Do you know his name? He seems to know all the chords, I’ve heard he prefers playing rhythm and doesn’t want to make it cry or sing - though he’s been known to do so at the crowd’s insistence- and I’ve seen him playing old guitars though I rather suspect he could afford newer. So I guess he may be George. But I’m not sure.
You probably can also add the end of Lenny Kravitz’s “Let Love Rule” to the mix since it’s a near steal.
That would be “I’m Your Captain (Closer to Home)”. It’s actually the one song by GFR that I like, largely because of the anthemic ending… good call; I’d forgotten about it.
“It’s the End of the World” by REM
Because most of the song is so hard to sing along with, the chorus and extended finale (including a fake out ending) are irresistible.
“MacArthur Park” has a pretty long ending, but it’s pretty long all around as well.
“Hey Jude” seemed to have started a brief rash of songs where 50% is repetitive fade-out. Most have been listed already (The Boxer, Atlantis, Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’).
There’s also:
Chicago, “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”
Three Dog Night “Celebrate”
Oh well by Fleetwood Mac.
Not sure if it’s anthemic, but the long ending and the dueling guitars at the end of Hotel California are what really makes the song for me.
What about “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses? Does that count?
The one that comes to mind is* Achille’s Last Stand* by Zeppelin. Crazy guitar, great drums, and then coda.
Starship Trooper by Yes should qualify.
Thanks to all for a lot of interesting suggestions. Some I don’t know and am looking forward to hearing. Some may not be exactly what I had in mind, but I love a good outro - and there are many here.
If this has mutated into outros generally, then Comfortably Numb would be hard to beat, and staying in the comfort zone, I can highly recommend the ending of Comforting Sounds by Mew.
Alice’s Restaurant: not just a long anthemic ending, but long in general. Win/win.
Let us know which ones you particularly like!
Thought of another – “Autumn” by Strawbs. The whole last section (“The Winter Long”) is an anthemic ending. (Strawbs were good at that.)
High Hopes - Pink Floyd
Are these actually called “anthemic” endings? I always thought of them as songs where either the writers were too lazy to write some kind of finale, or the musicians threw out the endings to extend their jam sessions. In neither case do the songs sound like what I think of as anthemic, at least not for that reason.