This is a picture of the band Pavement, whom I had the privilege of seeing last Tuesday evening. One of the songs in that night’s set list was a song called Fin, the last song on the Brighten the Corners album. While swaying and singing along to this great tune, I started thinking of other “Last Songs” on albums that were well placed as the last song.
Please keep in mind that this is my personal list, which is limited to my own taste in music. If you’d like to add some of your own in the comments, please do. So without any further ado, here’s my list in alphabetical order by artist.
- The Arcade Fire / Neon Bible / My Body Is A Cage
- The Beatles / Abbey Road / Because*
- Belle & Sebastian / If You’re Feeling Sinister / Judy And The Dream Of Horses
- Blanche / If We Can’t Trust The Doctors… / Someday
- Built To Spill / Keep It Like A Secret / Broken Chairs
- Catherine Wheel / Happy Days / Kill My Soul
- Guns N’ Roses / Appetite For Destruction / Rocket Queen
- The Kinks / The Village Green Preservation Society / People Take Pictures Of Each Other
- Led Zeppelin / Led Zeppelin IV / When The Levee Breaks
- Modest Mouse / The Moon & Antarctica / What People Are Made Of
- Muse / Black Holes And Revelations / Knights Of Cydonia
- Nirvana / In Utero / All Apologies
- Pavement / Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain / Fillmore Jive
- Pavement / Brighten The Corners / Fin
- Pixies / Doolittle / Gouge Away
- Pulp / His ‘n’ Hers / Razzmatazz**
- Radiohead / Pablo Honey / Blow Out***
- Radiohead / The Bends / Street Spirit (Fade Out)
- Elliott Smith / Either/Or / Say Yes
- Supergrass / In It For The Money / Sometimes I Make You Sad
- Television / Marquee Moon / Torn Curtain
- Weezer / Weezer (Blue Album) / Only In Dreams
* Not the last song, but the last song on the first side of Abbey Road is you are listening to it on record. It has a “last song” feel to it for me.
** This is the last song on the US version of the album, apparently. None the less, it has that last song feel.
*** Creep (Clean Version) doesn’t count!