Give me pause
September 14, 2024 6:11 PM   Subscribe

I am interested in more songs that feature pauses within the music, like

what you hear at :12-20 and :50-56 here, or the first 50 seconds of this.

What other pause-y songs can you recommend me?
posted by jolenex4 to Media & Arts (21 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Divided Sky by Phish
posted by knile at 6:13 PM on September 14


You might be interested in this previously
posted by Mitheral at 6:23 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]


Madonna's Don't Tell Me is perhaps the pausiest top 40 hit.
posted by eschatfische at 6:27 PM on September 14


Walter Franco’s me deixe mudo
The beginning of River of Orchids by XTC
posted by umbú at 6:47 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]


Beasties, Sabotage
posted by runincircles at 6:59 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]


Oh, great AskMe.
Dusty Trails by Lucius, pausey starting at around 3:10

A couple very well done non-silent pauses in The Cure's Pictures of You at 2:12 and 3:30
posted by jerome powell buys his sweatbands in bulk only at 7:11 PM on September 14 [2 favorites]


"La donna e mobile " from Verdi's Rigoletto has a great pause around 15 seconds in.
posted by cider at 7:27 PM on September 14


Ooh, also Short Skirt / Long Jacket has good pauses.
posted by cider at 7:32 PM on September 14 [7 favorites]


A very well know example from the world of punk is Fugazi’s song Waiting Room, which gets started and then completely stops. Similarly, the Jesus Lizard’s Mouth Breather comes to a complete stop at about 1:37.
posted by mr_roboto at 7:41 PM on September 14 [3 favorites]


Wild Night, Van Morrison
posted by effluvia at 7:50 PM on September 14


There’s this version of Tom’s Diner (check out 3:20-3:40)
posted by umbú at 8:13 PM on September 14


Caetano Veloso - Pulsar
Maria Tănase - Doina
Arvo Pärt - The Deer's Cry
The Breeders - Cannonball
posted by hydrophonic at 8:47 PM on September 14 [3 favorites]


Saw this and immediately thought of Electric Six's "Improper Dancing", which was posted in the previous thread Mitheral linked (wait until like 2:48 or thereabouts). Not quite the same kind of thing as the examples you linked, but certainly dramatic.

Very different vibe, but I think Henry Cowell's "The Hero Sun" qualifies here (I'm linking a score video that has some of his other pieces because I think the score helps show what's happening, but it's timestamped to the right piece at 3:52; the others are good too though!) If you listen closely to the pauses such as the opening section, 4:15, etc., you can actually hear each individual note dying as the corresponding key is released, which is really cool.

You may also be interested in the ragtime technique known as "stoptime" (e.g. Joplin's "Stoptime Rag", or more briefly in "The Ragtime Dance" [although that version doesn't include the foot stomps?]), which pauses the music but emphasizes the continuity of the rhythm through the pause.
posted by dick dale the vampire at 10:40 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]


These other old threads I saw in the "Related Questions" link might be useful too:
Beautiful fermatas in pre-1920 classical music?
Songs with Short Pauses -- despite the title, looking for a specific song, but there are many suggestions and leads and such.
posted by dick dale the vampire at 11:08 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]


Brand New: Jesus Christ
posted by cozenedindigo at 3:00 AM on September 15


A good one: Hello, I Love You, by the Doors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f1z-nHvt3c
posted by JimN2TAW at 3:59 AM on September 15


Get Down from the musical Six
posted by soelo at 8:12 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]


16,955 kps by Spunkshine

Also, the ultimate pause: 4'33" by John Cage :)
posted by falsedmitri at 8:25 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]


There's a pause in All I Really Want by Alanis Morissette.
posted by Too-Ticky at 12:29 PM on September 15


Chop Suey - System of A Down
Maybe Hurt?
Then there's the end of the chorus of Everybody's gotta learn sometime.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:40 AM on September 16


Just heard the song "Ghost" by Anna Margo via a reddit post; there's a very firm silence at about 0:48 where the intro transitions into the main part of the song (accompanied by some kind of EQ change or something?), but it's so quick it doesn't really interrupt the rhythm at all. I'm wondering if that's relevant? OTOH I didn't particularly enjoy the song.
posted by dick dale the vampire at 10:26 PM on October 4


« Older Auto connect between Sony bluetooth headphones...   |   Rental agreement--what am I missing? Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments