What are the itty-bitty bits you love in certain songs?

Cafe Society
141

In the Allman Brothers’ Jessica, about a minute before the actual end, the song seems to be winding down to the end, then bam, it swoops right back into the middle of the song. (the first time I heard the song, I swear I felt a physical sensation of suddenly going over the top of a hill and freefalling down and back into the song).

Towards the end of the Nails’ The Things You Left Behind, the phrase “Heroin? Oh shit, not heroin” caught my fancy to such an extent that it became my go to non sequiturial phrase when confronted with any unknown powder in any situation.

142

I like “HIS HAIR WAS PERFECT” and all the "aahooh"s

143

I’m on the record with several friends on this: I would gladly give up everything I’ve ever written or created to have written that one line.

144

Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes”:

She’s precocious
And she knows just what it takes to make a (pause) pro blush

The pause, the rhyme, and the way Carnes sings it are all great.

145

I was listening to “Low Sparks of High Heeled Boys” today and there are a lot of great moments in that song. The one drum break that always grabs me is the four triplets in a row at about 4:36 just before kicking into the second part of the chorus.

146

a whole lotta ugly, here:

Rey Washam’s fine snare work in Rapeman’s “Log Bass” at 1:12.

couple Big Black offerings:

Crazy guitar wailings at 0:22 and 0:33, plus awesome slide down the bass neck at 0:57 in “Things to do Today”.

Fun firecrackers and various armaments, followed up with goofball laughter in “It’s My Disco” at 1:21.

whole buncha Pere Ubu:

David Thomas squakings followed by more goofy laughing at 3:39 in “Laughing”.

Cool ascending guitar run at 1:03 in “Street Waves”.

Creepy backing vocals (“…must have BEEN?!?!?!?!?”) at 1:12 in “49 Guitars and One Girl” (youtube got the song title wrong).

Sound of airplanes passing overhead(?) at at 0:17…0:22… in “Heaven”.

Sonic goat belchings in “Misery Goats” at 0:29 and 0:34. Fun jaw harp accompaniment too.

One pretty darned groovy bass line at 1:57 in “Go”.

In “Small Was Fast”, goofy backing vocals {“jungles, jungles, too many jungles”) (?) commencing at 1:00.

Guitar strum in “Petrified” at 0:06…0:12….

Backing vocal (“but it wasn’t where it wasn’t at”) at 0:28 in “George Had a Hat”.

One of the most gloriously effed-up gradual build-ups, ever, kicking off “One Less Worry”, and later on, Thomas loses it (as he can, from time to time) with his “woo’s” at 2:27.

Speaking of gloriously effed-up gradual build-ups, we’ll finish off with the illustrious Jon Wayne kicking off “Texas Polka”.

147

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Shows’ a capella

And we keep getting richer
But we can’t get our picture
On the cover of the Rolling Stone.

The way they sing it just bleeds their frustration.

148

This is my favorite thread to read through.

My entries:

Crosby, Stills & Nash’s “Southern Cross”, where one of them (Stills?) jumps in a bit early on several lines. (“I have been a, I have been around the world…”)

Bob Dylan’s “Things Have Changed”: I never fail to smile every time I hear Dylan sing “The next sixty seconds could be like an eternity” (knowing that the song ends exactly sixty seconds after that line is sung).

Bob Dylan’s "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35": The ruckus in the background, especially “Oh yes they will!”

The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”: Daltrey’s scream after the instrumental break toward the end of the song.
mmm

149

ABBA’s "Knowing me, knowing You (aaaa-haaaa). The “a-ha” makes the song.

150

The King’s Singers, Oh Danny Boy:

“For you will bend and tell me that you love me” (at 2:55).

151

Wow! Incredible harmonic texture!

Here’s one I like, from The Bangles’ “Manic Monday”, the little run in the opening 6 seconds, repeated right away, and then again at 1:11 and 1:20

152

Alan Partridge agrees.

153

I’m bumping this because I just listened to a song that has one of the mistakes that made it into the recording (I mentioned I like finding these recorded mistakes). Older rock has a lot of them because of the difficulties of analog, tape and the smaller number of tracks available: Things like hearing a guitar fuzz box stepped on, a cough, flubbed notes, unintentional feedback, etc. It’s more rare to find them in recent recordings. Here is an example of a modern one:

Modest Mouse "Missed the Boat". Right after the 22 second mark there is a squeal which I assume is from one of the violin bows.
154

Little vibrating/echoing bits in ‘Rock the Casbah’ (the Clash) - and where the lyrics go ‘the king called out his jet fighters’ and you hear…well, I guess the sound of jet fighters.

‘Another One Bites the Dust’ (Queen) - that vibrating reverberating sound after the ‘clap claps’ - sounds like an old fashioned sound effect of someone shaking a big sheet of metal, though I’m sure it’s done with guitars and amps and such was were in vogue at that time.

155

I’ve got two of those.

In Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” - it’s subtle but in the middle of his gentle finger picking at about 2:36 there’s one *PLONK *note that just doesn’t fit, like he hooked a fingernail or something.

Another, more noticeable, is in Joey Landreth’s “Still Feel Gone,” at about 1:32, similarly, in the middle of some gentle strumming/picking, a rogue *SQUAWK *note, that I love.

156

Keeping this going, I’m reminded of what I always imagined was a beer bottle being knocked to the floor by a drunken Replacements member, in Talent Show. It might be something else, but that would be fitting.

157

I too am a sucker for double-tracked guitar solos. See also the solo arouynd 2:20 in The Allman Brothers’s Blue Sky.

158

Yes, that’s what I’m talking about! I’ve heard the stray note in the Buckley cover but never heard the Landreth song. That’s a definite stray note as well.

Another one is Keef jumping in a bit too early around the 2:33 mark of Satisfaction:

159

There’s great bit in Dreams by the Cranberries. I’m not even sure what you call that in the background…ululating?

160

In The Doors Live at the Hollywood Bowl: the bit where Jim Morrison burps during When The Music’s Over.