Whenever I hear the Eagles sing “Take it (very dramatic pause) to the limit one more time,” I just love that little silent pause. For me, it makes the whole song.
Similarly, when Men At Work sing “Who could it be bow?” and the horn kicks in the those five notes, I just love it.
When Bob Seeger sings the chorus to “Old Time Rock and Roll” and the drummer does that short drum roll, I go crazy. It sounds so cool.
You have any tiny, tiny parts of songs that you just love?
Shania Twain’s “Any Man of Mine”, they could make a whole song out of the ending line-dance part: Shania Twain - Any Man Of Mine (Official Music Video) - YouTube
The Breeders “Drivin on 9”, the fiddle part really works for me, especially when the drums come in: - YouTube
Metallica “The Struggle Within”, that pause and cool heavy riff is awesome: Metallica - The Struggle Within (HD) - YouTube
The “da-da-DA-da” at 28 seconds into “Springtime for Hitler,” and the big buildup to the chorus line at 1:38. The cutaways to Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder are hilarious!
The short guitar part at the end of each line of Brenda Lee’s “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.”
In Santana’s “Soul Sacrifice,” the four-beat silence just before the end.
About 2:20 into Queen’s “Fat Bottomed Girls” the drum riff is just perfect.
Two notes in Yes’s “Yours in No Disgrace” at just the right time, at 8:12 into the over 9 minute song.
A couple from The Cars:
The guitar bit just after the third “it’s all mixed up” in “All Mixed Up.” 43 seconds in…
The awesome break/segue from “Shooby Doo” to “Candy-O” on their second album.
A vocal one from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody: Gotta leave you all being and face the truth.
The way the singer’s voice gets deeper and huskier on the last two words is genius.
Tom Petty’s Running Down a Dream has a cool guitar part right after every time he says “running down a dream”.
J. Geil’s Freeze Frame - After every line the background singers go “dee-da-lee-da-dee”. I end up listening to that more than the main singer.
Meat Loaf’s “I Would Do Anything for Love”: The dramatic drums interspersed with the chorus starting at 3:20 (link).
Thompson Square “Are You Going to Kiss Me or Not”: Through out the song, the line “Are you going to kiss me or not” is sung as a duet, except for at one point at 2:15 when only the male singer sings it. I’ve always loved that particular part of the song. (link)
The Who, “Behind Blue Eyes”
“But my dreams, they aren’t as empty as my conscience seems to be”
In the middle of the word “dreams”, Roger Daltrey’s voice casually pops up about an octave, then scales back down, hitting every note perfectly.
It’s not nearly as easy as Daltrey makes it seem.
That is one of my favorites as well. Not complicated, but just . . . one of my favorite drum fills/transitions. A highlight moment of the song.
That actually reminded me of another similar spot for me; the drum fill coming out of the instrumental solo back into the verse at the end of Dave Matthews’ Band’s “Ants Marching” (4:04-4:07)
We actually have a poster named after this piece, K364:
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major, from 5:08 to 5:25.
Then there’s this, from Mozart’s 40th symphony, 1st movement from 5:50 to 6:33. Yeah, longer than a moment, sorry.
Lastly, there’s the ending to the 4th movement of his 41st symphony, from here to the end.
Ugh, those last two don’t really match the thread. Gonna leave them anyway - I like Smalin’s YouTube work.
In The Band’s “It Makes No Difference” from 3:50-3:55 out of the bridge and back into the chorus. The open-close hi-hat line and simple fill to the break when all the instruments stop except for the soaring echoy strings, and then the drum + vocal pickup into the harmony at the top of the chorus. Musical perfection.
I am not fluent in music terminology.
There’s a part in “Tempted” by Squeeze where the drummer does something very different from what he has been doing up to that point that is my favorite part of that song.
I am also a huge fan of the second guitar solo in “Dogs” by Pink Floyd, possibly because that’s usually the part of the song I’d be hearing when I got back from the bathroom when I was a DJ in college.
Radiohead’s Black Star: when the second vocal line threads in on the line “I keep falling over, I keep passing out”.
Stereo MCs’ Connected: the tiny bit where everything drops out. “Interstate 5, stayin’ alive…”
Tori Amos’ * Cornflake Girl *: when the bass slides in during the opening jangle.
I still laugh when I hear Arlo sing the last two words of “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant (excepting Alice).”
Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight at 3:14.
How do you link a video at a certain time?
Also, The Beatles 3:28.
I listen for “squeaks” from the re-positioning of the guitarist’s fingers. Is there a musical term for this?
Notable squeaky songs would be Wish You Were Here, and Every Breath You Take. Lots more, but those are two of my favorites.
Blues Traveler’s The Hook. The second time John Popper sings the last line of the chorus “…on that you can rely” and it’s this mini vocal gymnastic, I guess it qualifies as melisma, only it’s not annoying.