Top Ten song fragments
This is pretty simple. I’ve listened and sang along with music since I was in Kindergarten and judging from the content in most music magazines, this makes me an expert on many levels. Any way, a top ten songs list is cliche, so here’s a top ten song fragments list. If you haven’t listened to these songs, do so. It will gain you credibility and all the women around you will say, “Oh my, that young man is credible, and he’s very handsome, too.”
10. Do Make Say Think — Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! (Winter Hymn,Country Hymn, Secret Hymn) — 5:43 to 6:05
As with most DMST songs, there’s an orgy of riffs and a long build up before the actual melody is revealed, but when it’s finally played, it’s one of the best melodies you’ve ever listened to. After the drums and guitar solos, the trumpets wash over the song like a calm blue tidal wave and bring peace to a chaotic mix of a CD.
9. Hint Hint — Same Skies (Young Days) — 1:36 to 2:03
A lesser known band, Hint Hint came out with this CD four years ago and I keep going back to it once every three-to-six months, mostly for this one song–nay, song fragment.
8. Hella — City Folk Sittin’, Sittin’ (Hold Your Horse Is) — the final two minutes
Any fan of Hella knows what I’m talking about. And if you don’t know what I’m talking about, listen to it. You’ll find out why this is (a) their most popular song on iTunes and (b) why they’ve closed with that song almost every concert they played before expanding to four/five band members.
7. Tortoise — TNT (TNT) — 0:38 to 1:10
Sometimes, these song fragments are perfect for certain moments. This is perhaps the best song to wake up to in the morning and Tortoise released this 10 years ago. Try it out some time: wake up from your alarm clock, plug in your ear buds and listen.
6. Against Me! — Rice and Bread (As the Eternal Cowboy) — 1:09 to 1:42
Rock and roll.
5. Hot Snakes — Past Lives (Automatic Midnight) — 2:13 to 2:26
When I want blistering-loud rock, Rick Froberg and John Reis come to mind. This is not their best song, but it’s their best song fragment, and it has shown mercy to the bands that precede it on this list.
4. Lightning Bolt — Dead Cowboy (Hypermagic Mountain) — 3:10 to 7:58
Of course you’re looking at the length of this segment, but this song is all about the smooth transitions between movements. And damn if these two Rhode Island boys didn’t nail it.
3. HORSE the band — Seven Tentacles, Eight Flames (R. Borlax) — 0:00 to 0:10
Opening an album is often difficult, especially for a band’s first try, so when Horse came out with this blazing hot intro, my attention was immediately grabbed. It’s still one of the best albums ever made.
2. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Dead Flag Blues (F#A#00) — 1:43 to 1:47
A stern, gravely voice reads “It went like this,” followed by the crescendo of a couple of morose violins dueting. It’s one of the few moments in a song that I can genuinely call beautiful.
1. Explosions in the Sky — Yasmin the Light (Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die…) — 1:35 to 2:10
If something is done right–just perfectly–it never gets annoying. A slow-tempo of some light drum beats, a couple of soft guitar riffs, nothing serious, and then WHAM, the music frenzies like piranha for 35 seconds, mashing a solid, quick rhythm with a faster tone and sweet, light-hearted melody before returning to the soft water flow of the Amazon. According to iTunes, I’ve listened to this song 100 times just for this forty-five second clip. That’s not including all the times I’ve rewound the song just to get back to the 1:35 marker, which would probably put it somewhere in the 200 range and make it the most listened to song, period. It’s a real wonder why no band tried to imitate this barrage of sound into a 40-minute CD.
