Been on an Elvis kick lately. This number has a very basic and primal style and sound to it, and the part that I find totally uplifting and catchy is the ascending keyboard run during the “it’s in your eyes” lyrics.
The guitar crescendo at 9:08 from Green Grass and High Tides, The Outlaws.
The drum rolls from Stranglehold, Ted Nugent.
The part in In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida where they play “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” on the organ.
The keyboard fill at about 2:00 in Boz Scaggs - Lido Shuffle
Not really itty bitty per se - how the catchy, head-nodding bass line carries the verses (along with its interplay with the vocals) in Chilliwack’s “Something I Like About That”.
The ending of Charlie Byrd’s “Charlie’s Blues.” Classic.
In Richard Thompson’s * 1952 Vincent Black Lightning*, there’s a 9-word phrase that to me is my favourite of all times:
“Red hair and black leather - my favorite color scheme.”
The background vocals that begin at about 1:08 and continue through the rest of the song. (Be advised: it’s kind of earwormy.)
In Efterklang’s Scandanavian Love, I absolutely love when the music lulls as they say, “I’m a little bit. I’m a little bitter.” and then picks back up. Scandinavian Love - YouTube
Dark Souls 2 OST’s Bearer of the Curse. It goes from exciting fight song to a sudden, eerie chanting accompanied by very soft music. Crawls up my spine every time. - YouTube
Ween’s Stallion Part 3. He’s been singing in a silly high-pitched voice, and then he switches to a slowly low-pitched voice to remind us several times that, dude, he’s the Stallion. Ween - The Stallion Pt. 3 - YouTube
Another tiny lyrical gem, this time from Dire Straits Industrial Disease
“Two men say they’re Jesus - one of them must be wrong”
Beatles - In My Life
I love the sped up piano that sounds like a harpsichord bridge @ 1:28.
If that’s not itty-bitty enough, here’s another. The seven second guitar solo @ 1:40 in Dr Hook’s Cover of the Rolling Stone. I always picture the guitar player falling off the stage after the last note, the fans catching him and standing him back up on the stage to finish the song.
When I hear that line I always think,
“At one of them must be wrong”
Also from the same song, I love the entire verse that begins, “Dr Parkinson declared…” but my favorite part is the chuckle at the end.
The short baritone sax solo on this:
Should be “At LEAST one of them…”
Reminded of one in the car today.
The Cars’ "Just What I Needed.
It starts off with a strong riff on the first beat for four bars… And then moves into two riffs. I love that first bar with two riffs.
Warning - old guy story here.
When DVDs first came out, along with the DiskMan, I got a copy of Sheryl Crow’s “Tuesday Night Music Club”. I was awed by the clarity at the beginning of “Leaving Las Vegas”. I’d crank up the volume; you felt the “THUMP” in your chest, followed by the “CRACK!” that was like two icepicks jammed into your ears, but in the best possible way.
The way John Philips tackles this line in “California Dreamin.”:
Well, I got down on my knees
The bluesy inflection he puts on “well”, and ending with that emphatically groovy “knnnneeeeees”.
.
Rockstar by Nickelback, a great song- made even better by a few spoken interludes by Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.
I’ll go with different Canadians - Rush, and my favourite little Geddy bit when he plays this quick little descending bass line at 1:37 in New World Man, which is then repeated twice (barely) at the very end.
In Led Zeppelin’s, “Kashmir,” Bonham’s snare drum is fed through a phase shifter; when they conclude the first bridge, JB has a short fill that swishes real nice. Later, as the song is fading out, he goes hog-wild on a snare roll and it swirls like a mad bastard. Oh, the colors.