These 10 tracks had some really small bloopers which went unnoticed when recording and still went on to become the great tracks they are today!
Often there are times when, while recording a song, there are some very small mistakes or glitches that occur. These glitches sometimes go unnoticed or are even left in deliberately by the sound engineers while recording. These glitches could have happened due to some work rushed in at the last moment to meet some deadlines and went unnoticed. These mistakes could have been corrected before release, but sometimes the instincts of the artist and the producer kick in, leading them to believe that they might work. They were not wrong. It just goes on to show that our music Gods also, like us, are in fact merely human and will err from time to time!
We take a look at the 10 bloopers in some of the biggest songs the world has heard:
Credits: msrstudiosny.com
1. Eric Clapton-Blues Power
The glitch in question happens in the clip above at exactly 00:09 seconds. If you listen to it closely at that exact second you can hear Clapton going “Pow..power” instead of him saying power once.Β Recording and mixing engineers traditionally build a vocal track by βpunching inβ (re-recording a rough spot) and βcompingβ (building a single vocal track from the best parts of multiple takes). Part of the reason why that happened is probably because of the fact that a lot of editing was done manual back in the day when this was recorded back in 1970. Now that we have digital methods and better equipment which guarantee precision, the scope of such errors is minimal!
2. Radiohead-You
“You” by Radiohead was the first-ever track on their first album “Pablo Honey” which came out in 1993. Needless to say, being the first track on their very first album, everyone in the band would have wanted to be super immaculate about the details on each track. On the track, Thom Yorke does an impressive 8 second wail of agony. It sound impressive to pull off something like that in one long take, but the story doesn’t end there unfortunately. At 00:05 seconds you can see a minor glitch where the earlier sample was cropped out and stitched in again to elongate it. Sigh.
3. Incubus- Made For TV Movie
This one is a very Β minor error which you’ll be able to figure only after repeated listening to that one section. Play close attention to the word “yeah” that follows up right after the “eyes deceive me” part. Notice the change in vocal tone shift on the word. Although very minimal, the trained ears behind the recording decks should have caught this the first time it happened!
4. John Lennon- Working Class Hero
In this particular recording the tonality change is so so evident at 00:10 and 00:26. Apparently John Lennon recorded a demo on a tape recorder at his home. Then when the day came for the actual recording, John and the recording engineer at that time preferred the emotion that was there in the home recorded version. It’s hard to believe that someone as great as John Lennon couldn’t do a retake of the same recording in the studio again!
5. Led Zeppelin- Since I’ve Been Loving You
Over the years, on a lot of Led Zeppelin songs, John Bonham’s squeaky bass pedal has been mentioned time and again. On “Good Time, Bad Times” and “Since I’ve Been Loving You”. This track perfectly shows what they were talking about. “The only real problem I can remember encountering was when we were putting the first boxed set together. There was an awfully squeaky bass drum pedal on ‘Since Iβve Been Loving You’. It sounds louder and louder every time I hear it! That was something that was obviously sadly overlooked at the time,”Β Jimmy Page said.
6. The Beatles- I’m Looking Through You
This one is actually hilarious. If you listen closely, you’ll notice the totally out of place tambourine chime at 00:05 seconds. That wasn’t planned. It seems almost musical and goes along with the recording. But in fact, the tambourine had been dropped, which is why the chime is so sudden and out of place. God knows why they couldn’t have re-recorded once more!
7. Christina Aguilera- BeautifulΒ
As Christina Aguilera sings, you’ll hear a faint screeching noise in the background. That’s nothing but a headphone bleed. The sound is coming from her headphone monitor into the microphone. Dave Pensado, who was recording the song said, “The song was about being beautiful and honest in EVERY way. That bleed is honest. It was one of the most honest vocal performances I had EVER heard. It was actually the scratch vocal.” Excuses, just plain excuses!
8.Β Pink Floyd β Great Gig In The Sky
As Rick Wright sustains the last piano chord you’ll notice the tone warbles a little, which is, in fact the tape speed going off for a second. A lot of people said this was done on purpose, to fit the songs on the vinyl album. But in fact the album ran for 19 minutes when one side could hold 30 minutes of material!
9.Β The Police β Roxanne
This clip has 2 endings of two different verses from the song Roxanne! Both the verses end with the words “night” and “right”. Notice the reverb tail on the word “night”. It goes on for a second before it trails off and seems natural. But then the word “night” just ends abruptly in less than a millisecond.Β Most likely, this is the result of a vocal punch-in and probably the reverb was recorded directly on to the tape.
10. The Dixie Chicks- The Long Way Around