Best pause in a song

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I will nominate the one in "Crazy" by Britney Spears and the one in "Last Stop This Town" by the Eels.

― Nick, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Belle and Sebastian, Like Dylan In The Movies - "When the music stops..."

― jorje c, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the earnest of being george - the bee gees

― , Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

bob hund - Ett fall och en lösning which is a cover of Pere Ubu's Final Solution.

― Marc, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The bit in the intro to "Jump Around" where the Harlem Shuffle stops and the real intro comes in.
Is there a pause in "Last Stop: This Town"? Are you thinking of the "I can't let you (out)" bit?

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i'll be absolutely crucified for saying so... but there's actually a really good example of this in New Amusements by Gene... um. honest. he does this little 'excuse me, i've just come.' groan at the end of it too.

― Wyndham Earl, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

You know, I just have a new reason to really hate Gene. Thanks!

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Best pause in the song I'm listening to now: Pizzicato 5 in "Such a Beautiful Girl Like You" right before "gogo sanji" is sung.

― A Nairn, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Right near the beginning of Unrest's "Cherry Cherry."

Runner-up: the one in "Fuanteidai" by Boredoms.

― Douglas, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, the "I can't let you out" bit. Would you not count that as a pause?

― Nick, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've always been partial to the one in 311's "Down".

― Vinnie, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, no, I wouldn't, because it isn't a pause. Go back and listen to it. The instrumentation just vanishes, but he carries on singing...

― Dom Passantino, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

shellac do a good pause on Terraform, and it creeps back up (you only hear the little percussions in certain situations)

― sam, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The best pause EVER is right after the bit immediately at the beginning of This Wreckage on Telekon by Gary Numan. It's just such a great way to start an album, I think the pause is after the first two seconds or something and it lasts about another 4 or 5 then there's another two second bit and ANOTHER PAUSE! (I think it happens three times actually)

― jamesmichaelward, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Fugazi's Waiting Room!

― bnw, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

that hesitant little scratch between "His Zodiac sign is Capricorn!" and the reentry of "Good Times" in "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel"

― M Matos, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

XTC "Neon Shuffle"

― Brian MacDonald, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

For chrissakes let's mention some POP ! As in using the pause as a heart-stopping, "something big and POP is coming right up your back alley in a second".

Some classic, heart-stopping pauses I have thought of in the last two minutes:

They Don't Know - Tracey Ullmann (her version, for the pause before 'Baby !' and the harmony-drenched last verse)

I Don't Like Mondays

Will You - Hazel O'Connor (you all know the bit)

All of My Heart - ABC (discussed here before)

and my fave

The Universal - Blur (before the tumultuous last instrumental chorus)

― Darren, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Don't have "Last Stop This Town" to hand right now but will download it tomorrow and examine it for pausiness.

― Nick, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Split, man."

― PJ Miller, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Love Shack

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

stop...

hammertime.

― thistleteeth, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The first thing to pop to mind was Wire's "Lowdown."

― nabisco%%, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Hard To Explain"- or is that more of a "fake ending"?

― Nate Patrin, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'Lowdown' is a very good suggestion. Mine is Rod Stewart's 'Reason To Believe'. Rod/Faces had a few good ones, as did Ian Hunter/Mott The Hoople.

― Martin Skidmore, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

no, no, no, no, no: yr all slacking here. the best pause, ever, is in the colourblind james experience's dance critters. he says: "and then the music stopped.....................and then started again" and guess where the pause is???!!! its just great!

― dbini, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

red light.................. green light!

(by Green Velvet)

― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

with the eels in mind, what's the pause on the 'beautiful freak' record? is it novocaine for the soul? I really like that record and the eels are a treat live

― sam, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"jackpot plus" by jawbox. it's got the most perfect little bit of feedback i've ever heard.

― dyson, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Beasties, when they let the beat . . . drop!

― nickn, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

NIN's march of the pigs!

― TrentLuver, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

yeah, the pause on the "Beautiful Freak" record comes in the big single, "Novicane For the Soul".

-snorf

― Brian the Snorf, Thursday, 6 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Stone Roses- I Am the Resurrection. Great closing jam, dead stop.

― Ryan, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Beach Boys "The Little Girl I Once Knew" is full of them

― mms, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebel - Come Up and See Me (Make me Smile)...

DADA DADADADA... ... You done it all, you've broken every cooode

― Rick, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Rick is OTM.

Although first one that came to my mind was "Cannonball"
Second: "Turning Blue" by Iggy

Possibly the funniest: "Boring Song" by Status Quid (aka The Heebeegeebies)

― Jeff W, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And still nobody has mentioned "Yes" by the Telescopes, where everyone stops playing their instruments after the first chorus, lets them fade out naturally, silence for about ten seconds, then the lead guitar kicks in and the rest of the them pile in for the second verse. My favourite pause, for sure.

― Rob M, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

a bit obvious, but 'This Charming Man'.

― jamie, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Stop!" by Jane's Addiction is pretty excellent, as is "Unity In Dub" by Austin ("Stop... GO!")

― Dan Perry, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Favorite pause would be Stop by Janes Addiction, or is it caught stealing, damm I forget and I dont really wanna listen to that album right now.
Last Stop does have a pause if I remeber, damm the albums buired right now so im not about to dig it out either.

― Mr Noodles, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Last Stop This Town" DOES have a pause, vocal and instrumental.

― Nick, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

northern connection. the bounce.

― GIDO, Friday, 7 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"If Reagan Played Disco" by Minutemen, because the pause is always just a little longer than you remember it being.

― Ernest, Sunday, 9 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The bit in Good Vibrations after the bridge just before they go "AAAAAAAAAH!" is the thickest bit of silent air ever recorded.

― dog latin, Sunday, 9 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm going to have to vote for waiting room by fugazi as well. i saw thwm do this live and they didn't even have eye contact at the time. Too cool. The bset use of silence belongs to Miles Davis. That guy would pepper his trumpet solos with the best pauses and breaks i'v e ever heard.

― Andrew, Monday, 10 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

DUH- Nirvana Unplugged- My Girl, at the end when Kurt drags in one last draw of breath,- intense.

― Kiwi, Monday, 10 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"I Need You Tonight" by INXS, mwah it's perfect

― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

when ice blacks out 00:50 into "alive on arrival". jay running out the door on "squeeze 1st".

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Monday, 22 September 2003 19:53 (twenty-two years ago)

"Mouth Breather" by the Jesus Lizard.

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)

"Breathless" by Jerry Lee Lewis

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 22 September 2003 20:26 (twenty-two years ago)

"Final Solution" by Pere Ubu (in between "....nuclear destruction" and...."Seems I'm a victim of natural selection"). Also covered surprisingly well by Peter Murphy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 22 September 2003 21:20 (twenty-two years ago)

since y'all have already brought up belle and sebastian's "like dylan in the movies" and jane's addiction's "stop!," i'll add billy joel's otherwise-excellent "all for leyna" and propose that it is pretty much automatically lame when a song pauses immediately after the word "stop." i'd vote for the belle and sebastian song as the worst ever in the category, with the pause serving to nearly ruin a perfectly good pop song.

i say more power to the artist who resists the temptation to stop when the lyrics say so.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 22 September 2003 21:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"My Troubled Mind" - Buff Medways

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 22 September 2003 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

"renegade" by styx
(ackerman junior high says),
and "my sharona"

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 00:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"Can't Hardly Wait" -- Replacements

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 00:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Steve Harley & The Cockney Rebel - Come Up and See Me (Make me Smile)...

DADA DADADADA... ... You done it all, you've broken every cooode

*fangirl [not necessarily for Steve Harley or Cockney Rebel] squeals*

― Legendary Nothingness (Dee the Lurker), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 02:10 (twenty-two years ago)

EPMD - "Get off the bandwagon"

Music stops... and Erick says "Sucker".

― Jacob (Jacob), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

The extra long pause in "Big Brown Eyes" by Old 97s: 'she's a port [extra long pause] in a storm' has always made me like them a little more than I probably should. Or, maybe, exactly as much as I should, I don't know.

― Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 03:46 (twenty-two years ago)

"Tears" by the Chameleons.

In the real world how will it be?
In a cold world how will it be?
In a lonely world
How will it be?
Will the ghosts just stop!

Following me

― sucka (sucka), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm agreeing with "Can't Hardly Wait"

― Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 05:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Tracer's answer from last june. You're one of my kind.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 05:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Agreeing with Steve Harley!

Also Princess Superstar, 'We Got Panache' - "never do look back unless we like what we saw, never do look back unless we like what we saw - OK, papa?" It always lasts for half a beat more than I think it will!

Alanis Morissette, 'All I Really Want' - "why are you so terrified of silence, here can you handle this?"

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Seeing Alex's comment on it, 'Final Solution' is IMHO one of the best - arguing over which version is better is a whole new ball game though (things you thought you'd never say #15628). I'll plump for Living Colour's cover of it (bonus track on one of the singles, no idea which one though) which substitues a cracking Vernon Reid gtr noise for the sound of nuclear destruction.

There's a very short one in 'We Have Joy' which tends to get extended a bit live - plus it has an abrupt stop, which is always good.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 08:00 (twenty-two years ago)

And after posting, I suddenly remember the best pause in music.

'Domino Rally' by Danielson Famile. Daniel's screaming "I'm coming, I'm coming, I'm coming...", the girls shout "Stop it!" and he does. Then he eventually comes back in with a plaintive apology and domino-based excuses. Genius.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 08:05 (twenty-two years ago)

That we've got this far without mentioning The Breeders' "Cannonball" is something of a feat.

MC Hammer wins though, obviously.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 09:04 (twenty-two years ago)

"Rick is OTM.
Although first one that came to my mind was "Cannonball"
Second: "Turning Blue" by Iggy

Possibly the funniest: "Boring Song" by Status Quid (aka The Heebeegeebies)

-- Jeff W (cworrel...), June 7th, 2002 9:00 PM."

Pere Ubu/ Final Solution - good call - but the first one to come to mind for me was "Worlds in Collision"

"Can't Hardly Wait" - also top notch.

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 10:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"She Said" by the Longpigs. Just rediscovering their album right now.

― jellybean (jellybean), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 11:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Rage against the Machine in 'Tire Me', the break right before one of the most intensity-charged snare flams ever.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Lex is so OTM about "We Got Panache"! She also has a great stop in "You Get Mad at Napster".

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's "Improper Dancing" by Electric 6 where he says "Stop....Continue".

― Nick H, Tuesday, 23 September 2003 19:32 (twenty-two years ago)

The new Wire single - 'In The Art Of Stopping', has great pauses. Really leaves you on the edge, wanting more.

― Sasha Gabba Hey! (sgh), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

shellac do a good pause on Terraform, and it creeps back up (you only hear the little percussions in certain situations)
-- sam (samspa...), June 6th, 2002.

Can't remember the song but it's a really long mulit-bar pause, counted out by Todd with a very quiet hi hat tick

― mei (mei), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

drive it all over me - my bloody valentine

― joni, Wednesday, 24 September 2003 12:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"Can't remember the song but it's a really long mulit-bar pause, counted out by Todd with a very quiet hi hat tick"

It's 'Disgrace'... I didn't realise there was any percussion there until I heard it played live (I've always had shit record players)

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 12:33 (twenty-two years ago)

"more" is what i want from every Wire song ever

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 12:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Virginia Plain - the pause goes on forever.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 15:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"Great Cop" - Fugazi. In fact, Fugazi owns this thread.

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 16:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Midnight Oil's "Read About It" is pretty peerless.

― d.w., Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"Heee-ee-ee-ee-eey............smoke weed everyday"

― Siegbran (eofor), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Is no one going to say "Unbelievable" by EMF?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Or is it "Unbelieveable"? I've never known!! I heard once that keeping the silent "e" was an old vestige of something, that now people just drop it.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 22:50 (twenty-two years ago)

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