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Before I even get into the subject, let me just state up front: I know there are plenty of other songs that are usually played back-to-back on the radio. These are just some of my favorites. How about you all? Let’s hear what some of your favorite pairs are in the comments below.
1 & 2) “Heartbreaker” and “Living Loving Maid (She’s Just A Woman)” – Led Zeppelin
These two songs open side 2 of the 1969 release, Led Zeppelin II, the second studio album the band put out. In all my years of listening to the radio, I’ve never, ever heard them played separately. Interestingly, however, when the band played “Heartbreaker” live, they NEVER went directly into “Living Loving…” because guitarist Jimmy Page hated the tune.
Also interestingly, on many of the bootleg recordings I own, in the middle of the extended “Heartbreaker” guitar solo, Page starts playing Bach’s “Bourrée in E Minor.” This is later mocked in the movie This is Spinal Tap. During a performance of the song “Heavy Duty,” the band suddenly breaks into a minuet by composer Luigi Boccherini.
3 & 4) “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “With a Little Help from My Friends” – The Beatles
These two songs open the eighth studio album released by the Beatles, the 1967 release, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. While you might think the crowd sounds interspersed in the transition between the two songs are Beatlemania-Ed-Sullivan-Show-esque, they actually have nothing to do with the band. Yes, they were recorded years earlier. Yes, they were recorded by producer George Martin, but those cheers are from a British theatrical show called Beyond the Fringe, which was very popular in the early ’60s.
5 & 6) “Eruption” and “You Really Got Me” – Van Halen
Off their groundbreaking eponymous first album from 1978, these two songs come after the opening track, “Runnin’ with the Devil” on side 1. “Eruption” is, as most people know, one of the most famous guitar solos of all time. It, too, has something in common with the “Heavy Duty” mockery noted above, in that the chord structure is ripped from traditional Baroque tunes (like the Bach and Boccherini pieces mentioned).
Though VH’s remake of The Kink’s “You Really Got Me” is often played alone, I’ve never heard “Eruption” played alone on the radio. (It’s not even two minutes long.) It’s always followed by the Ray Davies’ cover.
Check out past On Music posts here.
Comments (68)
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You’ll probably want to rewrite:
>>The Kinks remake of “You Really Got Me”
to something like this:
>>remake of The Kinks’ “You Really Got Me”
as The Kinks wrote the original
posted by Nathan on 5-11-2009 at 6:28 am
My favorite has to be Brain Damage/Eclipse from Dark Side of the Moon. Classic!
posted by SamR on 5-11-2009 at 6:28 am
“We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” by Queen
posted by Sherb on 5-11-2009 at 6:35 am
The Guess Who : No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
posted by Jack P. on 5-11-2009 at 6:54 am
Long Distance Runaround / Fish (Schindleria Praematurus) by Yes off of the Fragile album. Together, they are about six minutes long, and if you didn’t already know they were separate songs, you would just think that LDR had a cool outro. However, a few soulless stations tried playing just the first song alone, and it was almost painful…. the equivalent of hearing We Will Rock You without We Are The Champions.
posted by Jeffastro on 5-11-2009 at 6:57 am
Queen’s “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”.
Seriously, it’s like Champions is We Will Rock You’s whiny 4th verse.
posted by Matt on 5-11-2009 at 7:25 am
Aqualung / Cross Eyed Mary
posted by Rich S. on 5-11-2009 at 7:30 am
Queen: We Will Rock You/We Are The Champions
You COULD play the songs separately – but why would you WANT to? :)
posted by MC on 5-11-2009 at 7:32 am
Queen: “We Will Rock You” followed without fail by “We Are The Champions”
posted by Travis on 5-11-2009 at 7:53 am
Jack, I was going to say that one. I really particularly enjoy that one.
posted by Dave on 5-11-2009 at 7:53 am
Aqualung and Cross Eyed Mary.
I used to think they were one song, until I bought the album.
posted by Rich S. on 5-11-2009 at 8:00 am
I may be wrong, but I believe the Guess Who tune(s) were intended to be together, like a two-parter.
Another candidate is ZZ-Top’s Waiting for the Bus and Jesus Just Left Chicago.
Although they are played separately these days, Queen’s We Will Rock You was ALWAYS followed by We Are the Champions when I was growing up.
Boston: Foreplay/Long Time.
Again, not always played together, but that headphone phreakout that preceeds Jet Airliner on Steve Miller’s Book of Dreams.
Do we always hear that solo acoustic guitar bit before Crazy On You by Heart? I don’t know if it’s a separate piece.
The album version of Rod Stewart’s Maggie Mae has a nice intro, too. Don’t know if that’s separate either.
posted by BassMan on 5-11-2009 at 8:00 am
What about songs that were pulled out of the context of a longer work on an album?
Make Me Smile and Colour My World by Chicago were both edits from a ’suite’ entitled Ballet for A Girl in Buchanon.
I would disqualify Pink Floyd from that catagory since they could fill the list.
posted by BassMan on 5-11-2009 at 8:04 am
Chicago’s “Hard To Say I’m Sorry” and
“Get Away” are unique in the fact that they were played on some stations back to back (as it was originally intended) but many stations chose do a fade out on then end of “Hard To Say I’m Sorry”.
posted by Gordon Daily on 5-11-2009 at 8:05 am
My question: What determines which tunes wind up with the ‘back to back’ status? Is it by request of the record company . . . something one DJ does that catches on . . . etc. Anybody know?
captcha: 74th melanoma
posted by EV on 5-11-2009 at 8:16 am
Jack, No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature were meant to be 2 songs but were actually combined into 1 song. The last verse is made up of the what would have been the frist verse of each song together. There is no way to divide the song. So while I love the song it really doesn’t fit as a “Back to Back”
posted by KevinGa on 5-11-2009 at 8:24 am
Back in the 70s and 80s, when we played vinyl records on air, some radio stations played albums and others played only singles (45s). The album versions were almost always longer and some pairs of songs had such a short silence between songs it was near impossible to manually switch off the sound when the first song was over. So it became tradition to play those pairs together.
Some, like No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature and Hard to Say I’m Sorry/Get Away were mashed together on the original album version and edited on the single. No one faded a song out early; the difference was whether you were hearing the single or the album. You never heard the two Zep songs separately because they did not release singles.
posted by Miss Cellania on 5-11-2009 at 8:32 am
The Police; “When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around” is always followed by “Driven To Tears.”
posted by Dominic on 5-11-2009 at 8:34 am
Or is it the other way around?
posted by Dominic on 5-11-2009 at 8:37 am
2 of my favorites:
Traveling Man and Beautiful Loser from Bob Seger
Feeling that Way and Anytime from Journey
posted by ggb on 5-11-2009 at 8:53 am
Yes: “Your Move,” and “I’ve Seen All Good People.” Also, “Long Distance Runaround,” and “The Fish.”
posted by Joe Maz on 5-11-2009 at 9:10 am
Don’t Want You No More/It’s Not My Cross to Bear – The Allman Brothers Band
posted by Willie Deuel on 5-11-2009 at 9:30 am
Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time”. Not sure if it counts, since they appear as one track on the album, but I usually think of them as sort-of-separate songs… or “Part 1″ and “Part 2″ of the same song, or something…
And I hate to bring disco into it, but Donna Summer’s “Bad Girls” and “Hot Stuff” are meant to go together (the one leads into the other on the album), although you’ll often hear them separately as well.
posted by tnstatc on 5-11-2009 at 9:35 am
Queen was the first thing i though of when i was this post.
Another one that came to mind was Brain Stew/Jaded by Green Day
posted by Andy on 5-11-2009 at 9:42 am
Read through all the comments to make sure this wasn’t already on here (like the 5 or so Queen comments):
Journey: “Feelin’ That Way” is always followed by “Anytime”
…at least it should be.
posted by Pat on 5-11-2009 at 9:50 am
Not a common one but I’ve heard it before Neil Young’s “Southern Man” followed by Lynard Skynard’s “Sweet Home Alabama”.
posted by D Hue on 5-11-2009 at 9:56 am
@nathan
good catch!
thanks!
posted by David K. Israel on 5-11-2009 at 10:00 am
Black Sabbath – War Pigs/ Luke’s Wall
posted by Cody on 5-11-2009 at 10:04 am
“The Load-Out/Stay”, by Jackson Browne
posted by Henry on 5-11-2009 at 10:24 am
Age of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In from the musical Hair … I’m not sure if it’s actually one song, but it might count?
posted by Reese on 5-11-2009 at 10:33 am
I always await INXS’s “Mediate” after “Need You Tonight,” as they roll into each other on the album… but DJ’s got sick of “Mediate” about 10 minutes after the album was released…
posted by Rich on 5-11-2009 at 10:41 am
With the exception of sports games, I don’t think I’ve ever heard Queen’s “We Will Rock You” without the accompanying “We Are the Champions”
posted by Barb on 5-11-2009 at 10:55 am
I always wondered if Jimmy Page playing a couple lines from Boureé in the middle of Heartbreaker was a nod to Jethro Tull, who opened from LZ on at least one tour of North America. JT had recorded a bluesed-up version of Boureé on their second album, which they would have been playing on that tour.
posted by jimm on 5-11-2009 at 11:12 am
Am very surprised that no one has mentioned Journey’s “Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin’” followed by “City of the Angels.” Or am I off the mark on this one? Thanks!
posted by Marty on 5-11-2009 at 11:25 am
Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road!!!
posted by chris on 5-11-2009 at 11:42 am
The opposite:
when i was a kid i thought Wings’ Band On The Run was two songs that they always played together…hehe
posted by deej on 5-11-2009 at 12:28 pm
Steve Miller Band- Thresold/Jet Airliner.
Threshold is the Steve Miller equivalent to Pink Floyd’s “Any Colour You Like”. Incredibly trippy.
Coldplay- White Shadows/Fix You
They sound like they run together, but like most of the songs listed here I’ve never heard them played together
posted by Ian on 5-11-2009 at 12:49 pm
Queen’s “We Are the Champions” and “We Will Rock You” are typically paired together.
posted by steve on 5-11-2009 at 1:24 pm
The Hellion/Electric Eye by Judas Priest are alwayd played together,
and Intruder/(Oh) Pretty Woman by Van Halen are played together in the music video.
posted by Andy on 5-11-2009 at 1:30 pm
These days they won’t play “Fly Like an Eagle” by the Steve Miller Band without its “Space Intro”.
posted by Dinosaur on 5-11-2009 at 1:41 pm
Bargain and Behind Blue Eyes
by the Who
posted by noah on 5-11-2009 at 1:55 pm
Grateful Dead – Sugar Magnolia/Sunshine Daydream
posted by Scott on 5-11-2009 at 2:46 pm
On the cassette(i know!) version of LZ II, the two songs were on separate sides! Unlucky saps who bought the cassette had no idea why the songs were played together on the radio! Made for great fun at our high school(only the uncoolest dudes had cassettes!).
posted by SoonerSteve on 5-11-2009 at 2:52 pm
Green Day Brain Stew/Jaded
posted by Ryan on 5-11-2009 at 3:24 pm
I third the nomination of Journey: “Feelin’ That Way” going into “Anytime”. I feel that is the best example because neither song is an “intro” or “outtro”, they are both songs that could stand on their own, but never do (as it should be). One just flows right into the other.
posted by dagnabbit on 5-11-2009 at 3:34 pm
What about tracks 4 & 5 on Def Leppard’s album High and Dry? Bringin on the Heartbreak goes right into this reverberating bass that turns into the next track. Of which I have only heard Bringin on the Heartbreak a handful of times on the radio and only once or twice letting it go into the next track. Usually they fade out on the reverberating bass line.
posted by Lisa on 5-11-2009 at 3:54 pm
Soft Cell – Tainted Love & Where Did Our Love Go (both cover songs but at different points of the album)
posted by M on 5-11-2009 at 6:35 pm
Brain Stew –> Jaded
by Green Day
two separate tracks on the album, but combined on the single, and always played together on the radio.
posted by CarlG on 5-11-2009 at 7:43 pm
Paul McCartney – “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” followed by “Smile Away” – I was surprised to hear this pairing played in full.
posted by life of the beatles on 5-11-2009 at 8:03 pm
How about most of side 2 of Abbey Road? My local AOR station plays a couple of different chunks of the grand suite from time to time.
posted by eroe777 on 5-11-2009 at 9:41 pm
These songs are always played consecutively, as one leads into the other seamlessly. I think most people think its one song.
Happiest Days of our Lives -> Another Brick in the Wall Part II
posted by Tony on 5-11-2009 at 9:57 pm
Rusted Root – the first two songs on the album “When I Woke” (Drum Trip and Ecstasy) don’t sound right unless they are back to back!
posted by Dawn on 5-11-2009 at 10:05 pm
Romance in Durango/Black Diamond Bay from Bob Dylan’s Desire album
posted by juls on 5-11-2009 at 10:23 pm
Santana- Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen leading into Oye Como Va on the album “Abraxas” . It seems so natural that it almost sounds wrong not to hear them played together. Was a time when you heard the first one you knew the second was coming, but unfortunately not too many stations play it that way now. 2 great songs!
posted by Mdu57 on 5-11-2009 at 10:31 pm
Santana’s Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen seamlessly seques into Oye Como Va or was it just a strange trip?
posted by juls on 5-11-2009 at 10:31 pm
movin in stereo and all mixed up – the cars first (and best) LP
posted by Denise on 5-12-2009 at 12:41 pm
How about three songs played back to back to back? Robert Palmer’s Sailin’ Shoes/Hey Julia/Sneakin’ Sally through the Alley. You just couldn’t have one without the others.
Yes, I know that Sailin’ Shoes was a cover of a Little Feat song (and the Little Feat album by the same name had one of the greatest album covers ever).
posted by David on 5-12-2009 at 1:34 pm
“We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions” by Queen
Totally shocked that was not 1st on the list and it didn’t even make the top 3. Comments show many people thought the same thing.
The Album that I think of being played continuously starts like this…
“As I mentioned near the close of the last record, this record you are now playing is another example of the…”
posted by Mike on 5-13-2009 at 12:02 pm
The Doors “Peace Frog/Blue Sunday” from
the Morrison Hotel album is my fave.
Honorable mention to Green Day’s “Jesus
of Suburbia”, which is actually 4 songs
and 9 minutes of sonic brilliance.
posted by Jack on 5-13-2009 at 3:16 pm
I cannot believe that I have read 59 comments and have not found one single Rush fan. Is there nobody who grew up listening to WDVE in Pittsburgh and remembers that Freewill was always played directly after Spirit of Radio?
posted by Steve on 5-14-2009 at 9:43 am
Heh, yeah our classic rock station has a contest called My Three Songs, where they all have a similar theme. I once submitted a suggestion to the DJ that she play Living Loving Maid, We Will Rock You, and Feelin That Way (Journey, backed by Anytime…almost, Marty!)
Yeah, she turned my suggestion down because she deemed it too confusing. I think not!
posted by Johnny Cat on 5-16-2009 at 10:34 pm
The Beatles’ She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, Followed by Golden Slumbers, Carry that Weight, and The End.
posted by Amy on 5-18-2009 at 11:07 am
I’ve been looking to put together a themed playlist like this for a long time. This is a great thread.
My additions:
Po’ Black Maddie > Skinny Woman – North Mississippi Allstars
Mike’s Song > I Am Hydrogen > Weekapaug Groove – Phish
Help On The Way > Slipknot > Franklin’s Tower – Grateful Dead
To Live Is To Die > Dyer’s Eve – Metallica
ALone > Sweet Talking Hippie – Blues Traveler
posted by Musical Voyeur on 5-18-2009 at 1:50 pm
Also:
Rainy Day Dream Away > 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn To Be) > Moon Turn The Tides > Still Raining Still Dreaming – Jimi Hendrix
posted by Musical Voyeur on 5-18-2009 at 2:21 pm
Pure Prairie League>>>”Falling In And Out of Love/Amie/Falling In and Out of Love”
posted by sep on 6-14-2009 at 11:40 am
Jackson Browne: The Load-Out/Stay (live). More airplay than the entire list and comments combined.
posted by Robert Holdridge on 8-9-2009 at 12:14 pm
By coincidence I “acquired” a copy of Living Loving Maid from a radio station where my friend did some part time work. It is a one sided promo 45 and was stored rather shodily. It plays ok but I wish it was in better shape. It is the only promo I’ve ever seen that didn’t have a B-side.
posted by pwscott on 8-12-2009 at 10:10 pm
Hey Lisa, track 5 is called “switch 625″ and is listed on the album as a separate song- I have requested both songs and got the dj to play ‘em but otherwise they rarely do…
posted by tacanz on 9-10-2009 at 5:08 pm