The Clash‘s “Wrong ’em Boyo,” from London Calling, begins as if the band is going to cover the chestnut “Stagger Lee.” Then the band breaks down and Joe Strummer instructs the band to “start all over again,” at which point, as we all know, the band breaks into another cover, “Wrong ’em Boyo,” by a Jamaican band, The Rulers.
The first time I spun London Calling this instance of songus interruptus was quite a thrill. In the following years it would be a gimmick I could usually do without. Little did I know until just now, however, that the original version by The Rulers had the same outbreak of songus interruptus!
So there’s a head start in this Last Man Standing, which I hope has more than the Motown song I have in mind. Well-known live television performances may also be considered, but live shows that only you may have seen among us, may not. Good luck!
I’m not sure if it counts but, Teen Age Riot by the Sonic Youth?
I actuall SAW Elvis Costello’s famed SNL appearance where he stopped the Attractions’ playing ‘Less than Zero’ and then counted off into ‘Radio Radio’. I always thought there was some sort of Doors-On-Ed-Sullivan prohibition involved revolving around the ‘I want to bite the hand that feeds me…’ sentiment and NBC.
But maybe he’s just an extra-emotional guy…
Elvis’ (the REAL Elvis) “Milk Cow Boogie Blues” or whatever it was called:
“HOLD IT, boys… that don’t MOVE. Let’s get real, real GONE for a change.”
Fingertips by Stevie. If you listen closely before Part II starts, you can hear one of the guys in the band saying, “what key?, what key?” That’s probably more of a reprise candidate than an interruptus.
“Fingertips, Part II” is accepted. Nice call. Chickenfrank is presently Last Man Standing. (NOTE: That’s not the Motown song I had in mind.)
Replacements, Mr. Whirly starts out as a dismal rendition of Strawberry Fields before cutting loose.
Figured someone else would take that gimmie. Temptations, I Can’t Get Next to You. “Hold on, hold on…” Horns!
Howzabout ’30 Days in the Hole’ – Humble Pie.
Can’t really tell if that’s a breakdown or the intended into. Sure works though…
The Nazz: “Loosen Up,” which starts on a funky riff very much like the one that drives Archie Bell and The Drells’s “Tighten Up,” with attendant rap (“hi everybody, we’re the Nazz, from Philadelphia…home of the tunafish hoagie…etc.”).
When Stewkie says “in philly, we do a little thing called the Loosen Up, and it goes like this…” they blast into an entirely different song with a heavy rock riff (think Mc5).
“Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” with its burst into laughter was the first Dylan tune I could think of, but it seems like I’m missing others. The songs break definitely feels authentic, Dylan unusually sounds like he’s rushing things and the band sounds like they are saying a “Hail Mary” before they rush to find a place to jump in.
There’s a false start in the countdown on The Damned’s version of Help. It goes by so fast there’s no time for the songus to get interruptus.
Side two of RECKONING features that little snatch of a funk jam that falls apart and then leads into “(Don’t Go Back To) Rockville.” There are arguable points off for the fact that it’s clearly grafted onto the master, but I’ve always been disappointed whenever I hear “Rockville” start without that little bit.
is rockville really “clearly grafted onto the master?” i mean, i wouldn’t put it past r.e.m. to fake informality, even at that early stage, but it sounds to me like studio masters often do when there’s music that is interruped by a new song being taped over it.
either way, i think it qualifies as songus inerruptus, 48.
I was just listening to “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” last night. Good one, as are the others to date. The Great 48 is presently Last Man Standing, until now: The Beatles, “I Dig a Pony.”
I am the last one standing with AC/DC’s “Overdose.”
BTW, a very nice person gave me AC/DC’s new album for Christmas. Wish I could say it was great, but it ain’t. I mean, really — comparing it to the classic stuff is just sad. And I swear I’m not just geezing here. With one, two, maybe three exceptions, the songs are just sterile and boring — the exact *opposite* of everything the classic line-up delivered back in the day.
What about Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids?
“Sugar Mama” by Fleetwood Mac
… and by the way, the fact that it took Angus and Malcolm *nine years* to write the tracks for this new, even more boring than usual LP is also very sad.
I think Teenage Riot and Blank Generation fall more into the category of introductory passages. And I checked the REM funk thing, and it’s actually tacked onto the end of Camera rather than the beginning of Rockville.
I couldn’t confirm this on the internets, but I think I recall that the Bob Dylan laughter was the result of producer Tom Wilson secretly signaling the musicians not to fall in behind Dylan’s acoustic intro at the usual spot on this take as a way of keeping things loose.
I think Brownsville Station’s cover of Rumble qualifies. It starts off about the same tempo as Link Wray’s and then it kind of falls apart and Cub Koda says. “C’mon..Play the BEEP song right!” The band kicks into a pretty inspired take after that. The beep is dumb, but I think they just used to do that sometimes.
Sorry to hear about that AC/DC album, HVB. I’m pretty sure an exclusive deal with Wal Mart demands a certain level of suck to be included in every album.
“Chemical Warfare” by the Dead Kennedys
On behalf of Chickenfrank and Andyr, who quickly confirmed my hazy memory of another Temptations’ song that used the “Hold it, hold it…” aborted intro, “Psychedelic Shack.”
Chickenfrank and Andyr are standing together at the top of the heap…for now.
The Seed by The Roots and Cody Chestnutt.
I’m Looking Through You by the BeATles.
Revolution #1 – The Beatles
“Take Two…..”
these last two are false starts.
mod, weren’t you looking for examples of interruptions of one song to start another?
Where is that phrase in the rest of the song? I submit Paulie is playing something else we can’t ascertain!
I confess: “Overdose” is a false start, too.
you could be right, mockcarr.
but i always heard those noodlings at the beginning of “i’m looking through you” as a couple of attempts to start playing it that get a little tripped up before he really plays it right.
it’s the same chords as the song itself. the first little lick is the first chord of the song. the second pass is the first two chords of the song (played in the same rhythmic pattern as they appear in the song). the third pass is the beginning song itself.
so there’s little evidence for it being “something else.”
i know that i’ve done that many times with songs of mine that have guitar-only beginnings and that are a little tricky to play.
The Undertones song “Hard Luck” from Hypnotized walks the line between pre-song noodling and being a different song.
Oo I’ve got a good one that’s been on the tip of my brain since this thread started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE80W5xYbTI
Jimi Hendrix on Lulu’s show in 1969. He plays Voodoo Chile first, and then she introduces and makes him play Hey Joe. But then at about 7:45 he stops that song and says “We’d like to stop playing this rubbish,” and then he dedicates the following song to the Cream, breaking into Sunshine of Your Love, much to the consternation of the show’s producers, because the band doesn’t get far before they’re forced to stop. Unless someone has been holding something in reserve, I’m am the last person standing.
RTH’s favorite band, Jellyfish, released a live recording as a B-side – beginning with a cover of “Let ’em in” before going into “That is why”.
You’re being far too nice to mockcarr, Sat. “I’m Looking Through You” is clearly a false start. Mockcarr, for shame!
Since the live performances card has been played, I’m going to go ahead and submit “Hey Jude” from the Tripping The Live Fantastic live album, where McCartney primes the crowd for Hey Jude, but they start doing “If I Were Not Upon The Stage”, followed by some halfhearted “wait, wait, not that one!” banter, and then Hey Jude.
Hamish Stuart and I are The Last Men Standing.
“If I Were Not Upon The Stage”
Now there’s a song that probably has some choice lyrics.
Ok, then I’ll submit Ray Davies singing “Day-o” to get the audience to sing along but then going on to something else rather than singing the Banana Boat Song.
HVB, i’m glad *someone* picked up on how nice I was being to mockcarr.
alex, that’s a good one. you are indeed the last man standing thus far.
i have searched my post-electric Modern Lovers records in vain for examples of songus interruptus. i thought there’d be plenty since jonathan is so mercurial and spontaneous. then again, my collection from that period (which i find annoying) isn’t very thick.
doesn’t daniel johnston interrupt his own song on ‘hi how are you?’
doesn’t gbv’s “watch me jumpstart” (alien lanes) interrupt a song that clearly hasn’t concluded?
isn’t gbv’s entire output up to “under the bushes” one long example of songus interruptus?
I was just messing with you guys.
Does the intro to “All You Need Is Love” count?
No, the intro to “All You Need Is Love” is just that, an intro.
When I first read about All You Need Is Love, I thought the reference was actually to the outro where they sing a bit of She Loves You.