Songs that end well, songs that don't

I heard someone on the radio the other day complaining that too many songs just drift away, fading out instead of ending properly. I think I agree. It led me to think about some favourite - and not so favourite - endings. So, in my opinion...

Songs that end well...

A Day in the Life The Beatles - class.
Big Time Peter Gabriel - altogether now: Big big big big big big big big big big big big big big big!
London Calling The Clash - Morse code moment.
Love Cats The Cure - time for lots of silly dancing. Or is that just me?
Deeply Dippy Right Said Fred - you'll have to trust me on that one.
This Charming Man The Smiths - altogether now - dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum ...diddle-iddle, dum-dum-di-dum-dum, diddle-iddle DUM DUM!
This town ain't big enough for the both of us Sparks - I love a bit of falsetto, me.
Slave to the Rhythm Grace Jones - you're just waiting for that last intake of breath.

Songs that end badly...

Will you? Hazel O'Connor - yes we know you've paid good money for that saxophonist. But he can stop now. No, really. We've had enough.
Atomic Blondie - what a great song. What a dribble away ending. A good example of the type.
War Baby Tom Robinson - someone else who doesn't know when to pull the plug.
Light my Fire The Doors - eek! The last chord is a nails-on-blackboard experience.

And the jury's still out on...

Sinnerman Nina Simone - any of the endings played would have been great. I just think she should have picked one, and stuck to it. The song starts ending after about 7 minutes, and finally grinds to a halt after another 3.

Comments

Unknown said…
I *completely* disagree about "Will you" and "War baby", both could do with at least another 2-3 minutes in my opinion. The nice thing about a long, and unexpected coda, is that it transmutes the song into another thing altogether. Another example is the full-length album version of Layla.
Tracey Wheeler said…
Ah, I thought these two might prove contraversial. I agree about codas (codae?) at times: Layla is a good example, also 'Mr Blue Sky'. The reason I've come to grind my teeth in irritation at these 2 tracks (another 2-3 minutes would send me over the edge altogether!)is the new way in which one listens to music on MP3. When the song is pounding in your ears you notice the repetition more - and in the case of 'War Baby' the repetition of the lyrics is mainly what annoys me. This is rather the downside of MP3 for me - I used to like both these tracks, before I started listening so carefully! But, horses for courses - I said it was in my opinion. What endings annoy / give joy to other people?

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