Have you noticed any ERRORS on your favourite recordings? Maybe some background chatter or other noises not meant to be in a song?

I was putting "South Bronx" by Boogie Down Productions on my playlist for June, from a cleaned up master and I could hear a FIRE ENGINE SIREN leaking through on the tape like damn that song could not sound more like a city even though I KNOW it was unintentional.

Just now I was listening to "Wash Your Face In My Sink" by Dream Warriors, and there is MIDI FEEDBACK that is very clear when the beat goes silent or bassline only.

I still love these songs and glad they weren't scrapped over these anomolies.

The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" was recorded in one take and is riddled with mistakes. More from wikipedia (and I think it's the same song that has dogs barking in it that were just in the neighborhood and within microphone shot):


A significant error on the Kingsmen version occurs just after the lead guitar break. As the group was going by the Wailers version, which has a brief restatement of the riff two times over before the lead vocalist comes back in, it would be expected that Ely would do the same. Ely, however, overshot his mark, coming in too soon, before the restatement of the riff. He realized his mistake and stopped the verse short, but the band did not realize that he had done so. As a quick fix, drummer Lynn Easton covered the pause with a drum fill, but before the verse ended, the rest of the band went into the chorus at the point where they expected it to be. This error is now so embedded in the consciousness of some groups that they deliberately duplicate it when performing the song.

There is more on wikipedia.

And bouncing off "Louie Louie", I think "I Would Die 4 U" sorta falls into the outer realm of this. But listen before you princehomos start debating me.

Duane Tudahl noted how on October 25, 1984, "Very few of the lyrics were actually used, and because it was such a loose jam, Prince actually had to say 'verse' and 'song' to let them know when he’d start singing. It was obvious that Prince was still working out details of the jam, most of which would be edited out. The track was brought back to the warehouse for additional overdubs. The beginning of the tape included Prince’s instructions to his engineers: “'You guys mix this down to a cassette or a 2-track or something so I can listen to the cassette. Okay, let’s jam'.”

Now while that's not a mistake, if you listen to the original 30-minute jam, you hear a lot more of Prince giving direction to the band, and to Susan Rogers or whoever for turning up monitors, less sax here, more keyboards there. He's trying to keep the song together and cohesive for its intentions as a 12" single. It was a very off-the-cuff moment for Prince to actually put on record. On the released version, a lot of those call outs and instructions are muted (or there is an attempt to mute them because some come off as muted or muffled).

It does display how well the Revolution could turn on a dime under Prince's direction but also just how loosely the song was recorded in one take. There are mistakes, I'm being generous there, in it, depending on how you define a mistake. (For those who wear purple-tinted glasses and think everything Prince did was purposeful and genius, this is not for you.)

I don't know if it's exactly a mistake, but the entire Gonna Buy Me A Dog by The Monkees. The song was supposed to be sung straight, but Micky thought the song was stupid and didn't really want to do it. Don Kirshner wanted them to record it. So he and Davy Jones just sang it in a goofy style. I think Micky figured the company wouldn't release it like that, but they did and put it on their debut album. The song was used in several episodes of the show.

Every time I hear the Jackson 5´s version of Never Can Say Goodbye, I could swear that Michael sings STAY and not SAY during the very first time he says those words around the 11 seconds mark.

But people keep telling me that there must be something wrong with my ears.

Listen and decide for yourself:

KoolEaze said:

Every time I hear the Jackson 5´s version of Never Can Say Goodbye, I could swear that Michael sings STAY and not SAY during the very first time he says those words around the 11 seconds mark.

But people keep telling me that there must be something wrong with my ears.

Listen and decide for yourself:

Oh no, I always heard that too. But I am TEAM YANNY (Yanny vs. Laurel)

MickyDolenz said:

I don't know if it's exactly a mistake, but the entire Gonna Buy Me A Dog by The Monkees. The song was supposed to be sung straight, but Micky thought the song was stupid and didn't really want to do it. Don Kirshner wanted them to record it. So he and Davy Jones just sang it in a goofy style. I think Micky figured the company wouldn't release it like that, but they did and put it on their debut album. The song was used in several episodes of the show.

That's a great example. It's a goofy song and no one singing it was taking it seriously. It was a mistake to ever record it. lol

this thread leaves an open door for all the haters .......mariah....madonna....janet...

Ooh! I love recording goofs Thing is I'm not sure if they were intentional or genuine lol so I'm not sure Sly Stone's Riot album is full of those moments.

Holly penis! I remember now Isn't the way Prince's "Dorothy Parker" recorded was a mistake?

luvsexy4all said:

this thread leaves an open door for all the haters .......mariah....madonna....janet...

I would be fascinated to hear on one of their polished pop recordings a door or chair creaking or someone's elbow clicking as they hold their headphones up.

Hamad said:

Holly penis! I remember now Isn't the way Prince's "Dorothy Parker" recorded was a mistake?

Microphone levels set up in a way that his voice was distorted ("in the red"). I think it sounds cool!

Hamad said:

Holly penis! I remember now Isn't the way Prince's "Dorothy Parker" recorded was a mistake?

So was "Forever In My Life".

The beginning cheap TDK cassette-like his at the beginning of Zeps Immigrant Song.

De La Soul's debut album is full of these, but it adds to the spontaneous feel of it.

TrivialPursuit said:

Hamad said:

Holly penis! I remember now Isn't the way Prince's "Dorothy Parker" recorded was a mistake?

So was "Forever In My Life".

And If I Was Your Girlfriend, I believe

thedoorkeeper said:

Why "no Beatles"?

What I was wondering...

purplepolitician said:

thedoorkeeper said:

Why "no Beatles"?

What I was wondering...

Probably because it's too easy and they've been talked about ad nauseum.

I love mistakes in music, but only because I'm a nerd:

MJ goes noticabely flat on "Dirty Diana" a few times

That cringe worthy wrong and LOUD ass chord on the electric piano Sly and the Family Stone "If You Want Me to Stay"

The tempos out of place and instruments not locked tight on D'Angelo "Untitled" and Fatback "Backstrokin'"

Stevie slipping and banging that ONE LOUD ass note on the keys at the end of the end of last verse on "All I Do..."

Michael B. struggling to find the groove on the kick drum during the last section of Sexy MF, so he just strikes the snare drum in rhythm a few times

JoJo saying drowDing instead of drowning on "Stay"

I have more but that's just off the top of my head.

And you csn hear MJ stomp his foot on "Will You Be There" befoere he songs "...and fight til the end but I'm only human".

Do we need to mention the crappy distortion on "Litte Red Corvette" and the horrible sound of "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker"? I know Susan Rogers already explained why the latter sound so murky, the board or something was operating at half strength or something, due to Prince's impatience or something like that when she was trying to set up a new console. But why the hell doe Little Red Corvette have all of that distortion?

Adisa said:

"Teddy Jam" - Guy

Turn the volume up all the way at the end of the song as it is fading out. The producion suddenly stops and somebody says "Damn!". Probably Aaron Hall while he was still singing and Teddy cut everything off but how no one managed to hear that is beyond me lol.

"Lets Be Friends" - New Edition

Somebody is yelling "wooooooooo" over Ralph Tresvants fade out in the end. You also have the turn the volume up at the end..it is kind of obnoxious. Probably Bobby Brown.

The Time - I Don't Wanna Leave You"

For some odd reason some of you are okay with this, but at 6:00 the beat suddenly falls out of it's groove, skips a kickdrum and keyboards come into a whole new groove with the same drums but new percussion and bass. I am sure this song has an extended version in the vault, but this has bugged me for years.

[Edited 5/27/18 4:30am]

paisleypark4 said:

The Time - I Don't Wanna Leave You"

For some odd reason some of you are okay with this, but at 6:00 the beat suddenly falls out of it's groove, skips a kickdrum and keyboards come into a whole new groove with the same drums but new percussion and bass. I am sure this song has an extended version in the vault, but this has bugged me for years.

That happens in a couple of songs. The extended "Paisley Park" has some weird start-stops in it.

Also, I believe there is a mistake in Janet Jackson's "When I Think Of You". The two chords in the verse are pretty simple back and forth. But in the first verse, when she says "anytime my world gets crazy", the chord that hits on "crazy" is really wonky compared to the rest of the song before and after. My stepbrother picked up on that back in 1986. It sticks out to me now. I tried to ask Jimmy Jam on Twitter recently if that one chord was intentional (given that the word is "crazy" that it lands on and maybe it was meant to sound crazy or off), but I never heard from him.

The Police - Roxanne

Listen at :04 seconds

There was an upright piano in the studio, which Sting sat on thinking the lid was closed. Tape was rolling for his vocal, so the sound of his butt hitting the piano and his subsequent laughter were recorded. These sounds were mixed into the intro, providing a unique texture.

paisleypark4 said:

The Time - I Don't Wanna Leave You"

For some odd reason some of you are okay with this, but at 6:00 the beat suddenly falls out of it's groove, skips a kickdrum and keyboards come into a whole new groove with the same drums but new percussion and bass. I am sure this song has an extended version in the vault, but this has bugged me for years.

[Edited 5/27/18 4:30am]

That was on purpose

rdhull said:

paisleypark4 said:

The Time - I Don't Wanna Leave You"

For some odd reason some of you are okay with this, but at 6:00 the beat suddenly falls out of it's groove, skips a kickdrum and keyboards come into a whole new groove with the same drums but new percussion and bass. I am sure this song has an extended version in the vault, but this has bugged me for years.

[Edited 5/27/18 4:30am]

That was on purpose

And Id love to have that extended coda jam thats probably in the vault. Shits funky.