Songs So Bad, They’re Brilliant

We all love a musical mistake.  Playing the wrong note or singing off-key can be awful, but sometimes delightful, and makes the artist a bit more human.  One such example is The Police classic “Roxanne.”  Ever wonder why there’s laughter at the beginning of the track?  The answer is because Sting absentmindedly walked backwards into a piano in the studio, and a dissonant piano noise sounded.  This caused him to laugh; both the piano bang and the guffawing were kept in the final recording.

The legendary garage band classic “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen has a wonderful misstep.  It occurs when the singer comes in too early, near the end of the song.  The drummer comes to the rescue and covers with a drum fill that gives the song a dramatic kick.

These little moments are blunders, but what about a whole song?  What makes a weak song curiously endearing?

Here are three that, on the surface, are a bit insubstantial.  But when listened to with different ears, they’re a delight.

Nazz’s – “Loosen Up”

Todd Rundgren’s band intentionally does a cheeky satire of “Tighten Up” by Archie Bell & The Drells. “Tighen Up” is played with strident efficiency; “Loosen Up” does the opposite.  Each Nazz member misses their mark, and they make a mess out of the song.  It’s a short song, but illustrious.

Bob Dylan – “If Dogs Run Free”

On New Morning, Bob Dylan’s eleventh album, he chose to do a jazzy number.  While it has tasteful scat singing by Maeretha Stewart, the song is one of the weaker tunes on an otherwise fine album.  Over Al Kooper’s skipping piano notes, Dylan provides a rambling talking vocal about dogs, people, and freedom.  It’s an unambitious piece of music.  Yet, check out The Bootleg Series Vol. 10:  Another Self Portrait (1969-1971). Dylan sings it, and the results are stunning.

On this version, Dylan sings with intent.  He sounds like a man desperate to break out of confinement and gain independence.  Seeing dogs run free is infuriating to him.  This version has Dylan desperately asking, “If dogs run free!”, implying, then where does it leave him?

The Beatles – “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”

Hidden on the B side of the single “Let It Be” is the infamous “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number”).   John Lennon toyed with the idea of releasing it on his own, but it ended as a Beatles single. It’s an ugly song that has everything The Beatles usually avoided.  They sing rudely and blurt out nonsense.  A large chunk of the song has the sound of throat clearing.  The music sounds like a theme song to a variety show gone wrong.  The lyrics are an inane repeat of the song title.

But then there’s the Anthology 2 version. It comes to life with musical shifts, with a fine ska section that keeps the song light.  Ian MacDonald, in Revolution in the Head, wrote, “The result of all this blind-flying is, thanks to the band’s natural humour, quite funny, while the track remains interesting as a glimpse of their creative process preserved in its inchoate initial stages.”   

-Vincent Maganzini

Photo: Todd Rundgren (Getty)