Oh, I have so many of these, though I’m thinking mostly of a slightly longer time slice. But still, in the spirit:
1) When Phoebe Bridgers says “I turned around, there was nothing there / Yeah, I guess the end is here” in “I Know the End.” That whole third verse is brilliant, brilliant, brilliant but that part is nonpareil.
2) The second time in Rick Ross’s “100 Black Coffins” when he raps the lines, “I need a hundred black preachers / With a black sermon to tell /ย From a hundred black Bibles / While we send them all to hell.”
3) In ZZ Top’s “Jesus Just Left Chicago” the first part of the initial dirty guitar solo after the first verse.
4) In Yelle’s “Qui Est Cette Fille” after the bridge when she starts off with, “Faisons un petit jeu que tu ne connais pas….”
5) The very first part of Ministry’s “Dream Song” when the woman says, “When you’re dreaming, you feel alive.”
6) The start of Stereolab’s “Lo Boob Oscillator” when Laetitia sings “La / La lune est libre je crois / Qui rayonne au-dessus.”
7) The bass lead-in in Lucinda William’s “Righteously.” What a set-up for a perfect song.
8) Speaking of bass, the bass figures Blu DeTiger starts playing at 0:44 in “Figure It Out.”
9) In First to Eleven’s cover of Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” when Audra sings, “Pickin’ up whatever is mine.” It’s better than the original, and I love the original.
10) The first seven words of Big Mama Thornton’s “Hound Dog.” It is infinitely superior to the Elvis version.
11) In Julie Driscoll’s cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch,” the first time Julie sings the chorus. That might just be the best cover of all time and hardly anyone knows it.
12) The initial keyboard chord and melody in the first seven seconds of Van Halen’s “Jump” before the drums kick in. That Oberheim OB-X sounds so fucking good oh my god.
13) In Clou’s “La tempรชte” in the outro when they are layering her voice and the drum-like bass kicks in.
14) The Cranberries’ “Ode To My Family” when Dolores sings, “My father, my father, he liked me….” Heartbreaking.
15) The part in Sleigh Bells’ “Rill Rill” when most of the backing music goes away and Alexis sings the third verse against only electronic finger snaps and a drum.
16) In Kate Rusby’s “Planets” when the bass kicks in for the first time as Kate sings, “You said, turn around so I cannot see your tears falling….”
17) Dead Sara’s “Weatherman” when Emily screams, “So go for the kill!” the second time.
18) MXMS’s “Death Row” when Ariel starts off with “Lies on my lips, crucify the sun / Ties on my wrists, executioner’s drum….” That entire song is more gangsta than 99.9999% of all gangsta rap.
19) Jane’s Addiction “Been Caught Stealin’,” the “Well, it’s just a simple fact….” part. The whole song is great, but the syncopation in that section really hits. I remember in 1990 when this video came out, how big a scandal it was and how I thought the goth pole-dancing girl in it was the hottest woman I’d ever seen. Ha.
20) The chord, drum hit and “Stars….” in Hum’s “Stars” at 0:33.
21) In Kitten’s Memphis when Chloe sings for the second time, “Plane ride 5 AM / How’d we end up at a dirty hotel down in Memphis?”
22) Muireann Bradley’s cover of Kansas Joe McCoy’s and Memphis Minnie’s “When The Levee Breaks” when she starts to play the solo finger-pickin’ part the first time. So, so good and honors the original.
23) In MoloKali’s “Butterfly Milk” when the slightly-more melodic part starts and the woman sings, “Vue Tech….”
24) Ninajirachi’s “Sing Good” when Nina says, “‘Cause I can’t really sing good, but I’m still gonna try it.”
25) In Baby Queen’s “Obvious” when Bella sings, “But then she would die / Before I said goodbye.” Oh no, Bella, take it back. Take it all back.
I could list thousands. Thousands. But I should stop. I have other things I should do. Music is such a gift, though. I do not get along with people who do not like music.
