Mistakes in songs.

Dylan sings, "I knew he'd lost control, when ahss--he built a fire on Main Street..."

It's a verbal flub, and sounds like he was about to sing "when I saw," and immediately corrected himself.

 

The Beatles - Chains
At 0:29, a large amount of distortion randomly comes out of one of the amps (maybe Lennon's?)

 

The Easybeats-I'll Make You Happy
As much as I love this group, they weren't the best at holding time. At the end of the guitar solo, the guitar descends down. Instead of ending after two bars, it ends slightly earlier (around 7 beats). To make things worse, the guitar solo continues and quickly stops during the next verse. Even in this video of them miming along to the song, Harry Vanda seems to look slightly confused (the tall one).

 

The Easybeats: Tryin' So Hard
Here's one more from the same EP. I want you to focus on the drums, particularly the kick drum (listen to the start). It's so bad that once when I was playing it, my friend thought the record was skipping. Trust me, it continues throughout the WHOLE SONG.

 

I've heard similar examples of covers that get the words wrong, and am often uncertain whether they actually screwed up or if it was intentional.

For example, the Blue Swede cover of "Hooked On a Feeling" stuffs up one of the verses royally.

The original BJ Thomas lyrics were

What's with that? Were they scared of using the word "addicted" because ** shock horror ** it could be construed as a reference to drugs?

 

On "Turn It Again" by the RHCP, Frusciante fails a note around 0:53.
I've always wondered why they left that in.

 

I always thought they were singing "stay affecting", almost like they changed it on the spot or something. Either way quite baffling, especially since this was the 70s

 

Really hard to miss the sloppy edit at the end here (with the ad libbed "Yeah!" from Sly). The flubbed false start of 30 Days in the Hole-Humble Pie also comes to mind.

 

Paul Weller imitates (badly) the guitar solo in Taxman (many think this is a direct ripoff of it). Not to mention his Rickenbacker is very out of tune here.

 

Drummer starts a beat to soon at 1.40, corrects it perfectly though.
Great cover version btw!

 

I always wondered what Donald Fagen was singing in Steely Dan's "Show Biz Kids" until I looked up the lyrics on Google

"Show biz kids making movies
Of themselves you know they
Don't give a f*** about anybody else
(You know you go to)"

Apparently that last "half a line" that he abruptly stops singing doesn't belong and was sung by mistake, since it's not listed in any lyric sites

 

I never thought of that as a mistake. The female singers continue the line, "lost wages". Lyric sites frequently get some lyrics wrong. Almost every time, in my experience.

 

I’ve wondered about Bowie’s “The Next Day” - at the end of the 1st verse, he sings “listen-“ though it’s not double-tracked, as the vocals are in for the rest of the song. The 1st word of the next verse is “listen”. Was this a mistake that sounded good and was left in? It (listen) makes another appearance at the end of the song, but I’m wondering if they thought it sounded cool (and it does) so it became part of the song structure

 

What exactly is that line? Sounds like he started singing something and then stopped himself

 

Isn't it a play on words? "You go to...Las Wages" (Las Vegas).

 

I don't think that is a mistake... more like un-poetic license

 

Lost wages, surely?

 

If you listen closely to the beginning of the song, the female singers sing: "you go to Las Wages, Las Wages. You go to Las Wages...". I feel it's a merging of Las Vegas and Lost Wages. Typical clever wordplay for Steely Dan, IMHO.

Edit: Upon relistening closely, I feel Some of the female singers might be singing "Lost Wages" and some Las Vegas", actually. I can hear a "w" and "v" sound and both a soft and hard "g".

 

Hmmm never thought of it that way, could be, never know with those guys...

 

Sounds like "In which we're living" to me, when I bring the vocal out a bit with audio software, but I'm not 100% positive: Share, Embed & Upload Audio with Clyp

 

Here we go again

 

I promise not to mention a certain vocal section on a certain Beatles album.

 

That actually sounds like a plausible explanation, morphing the two sounds.

 

Carl Palmer flubbing the drum intro here leading to the obvious expletive before he gets it on the second try. Also, on the Anthology 2 outtake version of "A Day In The Life", McCartney blows "Somebody spoke and I went into a dream" (
he sang everybody spoke so I went into a dream") and utters "Oh Sh$T".

 

Maybe not a mistake but a missed opportunity:

Three Marlenas:
"Man, I think I'm gonna buy myself a Rolls
Maybe a Chevrolet
One where I can pull that top down
Just let my radio play"

A person contemplating buy a Rolls would not simultaneously consider a Chevy under the same context. It WOULD make sense to use the word "cabriolet" instead. This is another word for a convertible. He is talking about pulling the top down. And it still rhymes and fits into the song.

I love the song, but every time this line comes around it irritates me to no end. It would be like "I think I am going to open a fine champagne or maybe a Bud Light." For those who drink alcohol. Or "I think I am going to buy a pair of Berluti Scrittos or maybe some Skechers."