YOU ARE HERE: zharth.net / Zharth's Music Log / Week 78 (False Endings)
(Originally finalized on June 8, 2024)
Preface: When I started this new batch of themes ("Threedux"), I had no idea how many I'd end up adding to the archive. It was a project I started working on a few years ago, only to let it sit and stew for a while. Until this year, when I felt ready to push forward with it. A lot of the ground work had been laid down, and I had a slew of themes that just needed a little polishing. Once I started publishing them, the creative juices flowed. One turned into a few, and new ideas started springing to mind. Initial thoughts of completing the quarter (a set of 13 weeks) that had been started with Redux quickly gave way to a second new quarter. That felt like a natural place to conclude the series (after all, that's half the length of the original run). But now that we're here, I still have a long list of themes I'm dying to share. So I think I might just extend the series out to a full second year's worth of weeks (that's 26 more themes!). Which means this isn't truly the end. And in light of that fact, this week we're going to listen to a selection of songs that have false endings.
Monday: King Crimson - The Court of the Crimson King [In The Court of the Crimson King, 1969]
Comments: The eponymous track from their debut album, this song was tailor made for this theme. No stranger to sonic experimentation (at times even willing to exasperate the listener), prog rockers King Crimson weren't afraid to play outside of the box. This song - which wouldn't sound out of place at a Renaissance Faire - draws down to a full stop, but just as you're ready to lift the needle off the record (that's an old school reference for you newer music fans :-p), it crawls up out of its own ashes as if animated by some arcane necromancy, and like a phoenix, reignites itself anew.
Tuesday: Jeff Beck Group - Going Down [Jeff Beck Group, 1972]
Comments: Talented musician though he was, Jeff Beck never really chased popularity or conventionality. This is about the closest thing to a recognizable hit he could claim. Actually a cover of a song previously recorded by Freddie King (the least sung of the Three Kings of the Blues, but every bit as good as the other two), it's one of the first I think of when I think of songs with false endings. With a rollicking, start-and-stop rhythm, and lots of room for the instruments to solo, by the time it reaches the end of its run, you'll be surprised when it doesn't pick back up again.
Wednesday: Shannon Curfman - Playing With Fire [Loud Guitars, Big Suspicions, 1999]
Comments: We're taking a brief detour to the turn of the millennium to feature wunderkind Shannon Curfman, who released her debut album - playing guitar and singing the blues - at the remarkable age of just 14. From that album comes this scorching blues, which is one of my favorite songs with a false ending. Just when you think the song is finished, it flares back up for an incendiary instrumental coda.
Thursday: The Doors - I Looked At You [The Doors, 1967]
Comments: I surveyed a lot of songs for this theme, and I'll tell you, I had to make some executive decisions about what constitutes a false ending, as opposed to an extended outro, an unexpected coda, or even what you might call a 'pregnant pause' before the song just continues on. Sometimes it all comes down to a subjective feeling of finality, that ultimately betrays you. But this track from The Doors' debut album - a swinging, psychedelic surf tune - definitely seems to be playing with the listener's expectations. Something that Jim Morrison never was afraid to do.
Friday: Ten Years After - 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain [Cricklewood Green, 1970]
Comments: A surprising number of songs from the late '60s and early '70s feature what I call the "fakeout fadeout" - where the song fades out and then fades back in for the finale. I have no idea why this was a thing - in my head, I can picture the recording engineer rolling down the master volume prematurely, before changing his mind and deciding to capture the band as they continue to play on. But it's probably a deliberate effect, perhaps to make the song feel looser and unrestrained. One of my favorite songs with a fakeout fadeout is 50,000 Miles Beneath My Brain by Ten Years After, an overlooked gem by a criminally underrated band.
Saturday: Led Zeppelin - Over The Hills And Far Away [Houses of the Holy, 1973]
Comments: This isn't Led Zeppelin's only song with a false ending - but I already featured Thank You in a previous theme, and frankly, I like this song better anyway. In a similar pattern to the last song, it starts with a gentle acoustic rhythm, before flipping on the rock switch with a heavy drum beat and electric guitar. And when you think it's finally winding down to a close - surprise, you get an unexpected organ outro! Not unlike Thank You, as a matter of fact.
Sunday: The Allman Brothers Band - It's Not My Cross To Bear [The Allman Brothers Band, 1969]
Comments: From The Allman Brothers Band's very first album, this is one of my favorite of their not so over-played songs, melding a little bit of gospel with the blues, and featuring another fakeout fadeout. Anyone with a strong moral compass is going to feel pulled toward self-sacrifice now and again, but this song is a ballad for those times when self-care is more important - you can't save them all. And that's okay. "I'll live on, and I'll be strong. 'Cause it just ain't my cross to bear."
Honorable Mention: The Beatles - Helter Skelter [The White Album, 1968]
Comments: Already featured on a previous theme, this is one of the first songs I think of when it comes to false endings.