Recordings with "wrong" notes/sounds in them

[fluffy_little_something]

Are there really published songs with wrong notes in them? I think I know a few, for instance here at 1:41 -1:43:


How can that slip through in the studio? Or is it deliberate?

Do you know such songs as well?

[BertKoor]

Eric Clapton - Cocaine. On one of the choruses the base plays his lick a full semitone sharp. Either intentional as a joke, or he was too stoned and no one bothered correcting it.

Can't think of the actual song, but the trumpet could barely hit that high note. Makes me cringe every time...

Edits were difficult back then on tape, especially when there's no spare track to record it on. Plus it takes tons of precious studio time while there's no budget. They'd rent a studio for a week and had to record & mix a full album in the time you and I spend on tweaking the reverb of a snare.

Plus there's something to say for just capturing the vibe and let imperfections slip through.

[Bodhisan]

Are there really published songs with wrong notes in them? I think I know a few, for instance here at 1:41 -1:43:


How can that slip through in the studio? Or is it deliberate?

Do you know such songs as well?

You've got good ears - I would have never caught that, and had to listen to it a couple of times to see what you meant. I always thought Paul McCartney was hitting a bad bass note in a song repeatedly (obviously, he wasn't) growing up, but that just meant he and I didn't agree on the note...and still don't. There are lots of "bad" vocal spots in records (Springsteen, Liam Gallagher) and slightly out-of-tune guitars/instruments - especially fiddle in Americana music - and that's one instrument that can you make you cringe if not done with either vibrator or spot on the note. I recently read an interview a friend forwarded to me of Rick Nielsen, and he was commenting how he loved the beautiful "mistakes" Jeff Beck (I think it was Jeff Beck - maybe it was Robin Trower) and other guitarists would make on record. Of course, that doesn't mean "wrong" notes...

[vurt]

all of mine?

[nineofkings]

Not wrong notes per se, but I've noticed some egregious vocal editing mistakes in some modern pop songs.

1:14-1:15 here, they leave an awkwardly overlapped, really loud breath noise in the lead vocal:

1:57 here, there's some weird phasey fade-in on the word "fine" (this band produced the album themselves so I can cut them a bit more slack):

This one makes me a little ill when I hear it. It's so glaring that it has to be intentional, right? But why would anyone do this on purpose? It was clearly sung far away from the mic in a reverberant space, and then aggressively noise gated. What this means is that in every gap in the vocal there's this awful awkward hard stop to the reverb tail that sticks out like a sore thumb - for the entire song. Sometimes even in the middle of words. The vocal editing on this just fills me with rage:

[donkey tugger]

The whole section from 3.12, but in particular the bass bit at 3.28. Not Peter's finest moment.

[nineofkings]

Speaking of Peter, the bass riff at 1:00 has always bothered me. It's not a mistake, but it sounds wrong to me. Still maybe my favorite song on the album though:

[funky lime]

Any Frank Zappa guitar solo ever

[fluffy_little_something]

Speaking of Peter, the bass riff at 1:00 has always bothered me. It's not a mistake, but it sounds wrong to me. Still maybe my favorite song on the album though:

And it repeats, so it is deliberate, but yes, not notes one would expect

[fluffy_little_something]

Someone mentioned vocals. The funny thing with vocals is that human singing is full of natural glides and pitch bends, so one can often kind of hide wrong notes and present them as transitions

I don't remember who said it, but someone said that there are no wrong notes if only you play fast enough

[donkey tugger]

I don't remember who said it, but someone said that there are no wrong notes if only you play fast enough

Someone from Slayer? Brings to mind also the old Eric Morecambe classic, "I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order."

[Frantz]

Has Yoko Ono ever hit a right note?

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Speaking of Peter, the bass riff at 1:00 has always bothered me. It's not a mistake, but it sounds wrong to me. Still maybe my favorite song on the album though:

Still, one of the greatest album openers, ever

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

My first offering:

Is this bass off-key, out-of-tune...or both Never had a problem with the song, until one day listening while incredibly stoned, via headphones. Now it just makes me a little sea-sick

[fluffy_little_something]

It's just the weed