The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Happy National Jelly Bean Day

QotD: Since I asked about openings the other day, how about- What are some of your favorite song endings?

I love how the ending to "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" just goes on and on until they run out of thread. If you're listening on vinyl, that hard break is a great opportunity to catch your breath, flip the record, and "Here Comes the Sun" greets you. If you're listening to a CD or mp3, it's way more jarring.

I like how "Hotel California" ends on a long guitar solo that just fades out.

David Gray's cover of "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" ends on a long acoustic jam with Gray impulsively throwing in some Van Morrison lyrics. I don't know why that hits me so hard, but it just feels like a perfect sort of closure for that piece.

Ben Lee has a song called "We Are All In This Together" that ends on the bridge, introducing a surprise 7th interval and then stripping down the arrangement until it's just the backup singers and handclaps. I love that trick.

In a similar vein, I just posted a review of The Last Broadcast, the second album from Doves, for my ongoing "Nostalgia Monday" series on Google+. The lead single from that album, "There Goes the Fear" is a lushly-arranged seven-minute epic that ends by dropping out all the guitars and vocals until there's nothing left but a frenetic percussion section, which plays until the snare beats out a quick tattoo to put a nice period at the end of the song. Check it out:

Generic wrote:I love how the ending to "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" just goes on and on until they run out of thread. If you're listening on vinyl, that hard break is a great opportunity to catch your breath, flip the record, and "Here Comes the Sun" greets you. If you're listening to a CD or mp3, it's way more jarring.

My favorite ending without question. Listening to it again right now. So good.

Abbey Road is one of my desert island albums. The very end of the album is also a good ending, too... they build up to this incredibly rich and luscious "we're going away forever, let's just try to remember the good times" ending, and then they take a step back and have a cute little ditty with "Her Majesty."

Fluffy wrote:Abbey Road is one of my desert island albums. The very end of the album is also a good ending, too... they build up to this incredibly rich and luscious "we're going away forever, let's just try to remember the good times" ending, and then they take a step back and have a cute little ditty with "Her Majesty."

I agree with this. Maybe my number one album, definitely one of ten to an island. Funny, I was going to mention the end as every time I hear the "love you make..." and those gorgeous harmonies, I get all smushy.

Other fun ones: "Schools Out" by Alice Cooper where the record grinds to a halt or the car wreck at the end of "Detroit Rock City" by KISS.

Beatles did have some great long ending. The above mentioned and I raise you a day in the life.

As far as long ending, I remember as a teeny thinking the end of Black Diamond by Kiss was really cool. It just keeps stepping down in pitch forever, lol.

As far as bad ass endings, some are the same answer to the best guitar solo question.
Free bird's last 4 minutes is just a long muva phukin solo that rocks out. Love it.
Zep's, when the levee breaks
Faith No More's "epic" I thought was cool how it transitions from the band to the piano. I always felt bad for the fish flopping though. But the piano exploding was cool. A good pino is an exploded piano, I always say. j/k, I don't say that.

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Beatles did have some great long ending. The above mentioned and I raise you a day in the life.

[...]

Faith No More's "epic" I thought was cool how it transitions from the band to the piano. I always felt bad for the fish flopping though. But the piano exploding was cool. A good pino is an exploded piano, I always say. j/k, I don't say that.

Both excellent picks that I'm a bit embarrassed not to have thought of myself.

Haydn's Farewell Symphony FTW!

Also, Yes' Gates of Delirium from Relayer ends with "Soon". The slide guitar and all that washy crap...awesome!

I was listening to the All Songs Considered Podcast this morning and they were talking with Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips and talking about the "i buried paul" outro of Strawberry Fields Forever. It is a very odd ending to say the least.

The Musical Box
2112
Bohemian rhapsody
YYZ
Can Utility and the Coastliners