Songs That Stutter: The Top 12

Note: This article is definitive proof that my crack staff here at Shoe: Untied will never run out of material. The world is a bottomless pit of content, man.

So yeah, there have been a ton of great songs that feature stuttering. Again, I know this is an odd topic but this website is an eclectic and sometimes mystifying place so deal with it. Hey, you clicked on the link for some reason, not me. So without further ado, I give you my Top 12 songs that include stuttering. I can’t believe I just typed that.

12. Saturday Night – Bay City Rollers

Gonna rock it up
Roll it up
Do it all, have a ball
Saturday night
Saturday night

S-S-S-Saturday night
S-S-S-Saturday night
S-S-S-Saturday night!

Note: These guys were actually advertised as being the next Beatles. Hilarity. Catchy tune though.

11. My Sharona – The Knack

Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch
Of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo!
M M M My Sharona.

Yeah, I know. Those lyrics don’t really hold up well. Still, you can’t beat the “My my my I yi woo!” though. Timeless.

Note 2: These guys were also lauded as the new Beatles. They weren’t. Fun band though.

10. Lola – The Kinks

She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said Lola
L-O-L-A, Lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo Lola.

Believe me when I say that the lyrics get even more interesting from there.

9. Movin’ Out – Billy Joel

Anthony works in the grocery store
Savin’ his pennies for someday
Mama Leone left a note on the door
She said, Sonny, move out to the country
Workin’ too hard can give you
A heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack
You oughta know by now.

That’s really sort of a backwards stutter though, right? It’s at the end rather than the beginning. Still a stutter to me and it’s my site so there.

Update: Billy actually stutters another time in the song when he sings “M-m-m-Mamma Leone left a note on the door . . .”. Just noticed that.

8. You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet – Bachman Turner Overdrive

Oooh, oooh she looked at me with big brown eyes and said,
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet
B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothin’ yet
Here’s something that you never gonna forget
B-b-b-baby, you just ain’t seen n-n-nothin’ yet.

Just stuttering aplenty in this one. It’s also a great, great song.

7. Jaded – Aerosmith

Hey j-j-jaded, you got your mama’s style
But you’re yesterday’s child to me
So jaded
You think that’s where it’s at
But is that where it’s supposed to be
You’re gettin’ it all over me and serrated.

Did I ever tell you the story of meeting the boys from Aerosmith? Of course I did. Still, here’s the link.

6. My Generation – The Who

Why don’t you all f-fade away (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
Don’t try to dig what we all s-s-s-say (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m not trying to ’cause a big s-s-sensation (talkin’ ’bout my generation)
I’m just talkin’ ’bout my g-g-g-generation (talkin’ ’bout my generation).

Quite possibly the first stuttering song I ever heard. The Who used to use it to end their shows, just before they destroyed everything on set.

PS- Thanks to Paul Cunningham for pointing out I forgot to include it originally!

5. Katmandu – Bob Seger

K-K-K-K-K-K-Katmandu
I think that’s where I’m going to
If I ever get out of here
I’m going to Katmandu!

I’m pretty sure Seger had never been to Katmandu (Kathmandu is the correct spelling by the way) but he’s said it just sounded like an exotic and cool place to want to go to.

4. Back in the U.S.S.R. – The Beatles

Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia’s always on m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-my mind.

You knew I’d include The Beatles, right? Again, sort of a reverse stutter but I love it.

3. Changes – David Bowie

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes, don’t want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes (Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-changes, just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can’t trace time.

Such an iconic song and one of my all-time favorites. I read a great story about the time Bowie was at rehearsals, paused, and asked his backup singers to sing without accompaniment. Turns out that for 2 1/2 months they’d been singing “turn and face the strain” rather than “turn and face the strange.” On a related note, now that I read that back it’s not that interesting. Gorgeous song though.

2. Bad to the Bone – George Thorogood

On the day I was born
The nurses all gathered ’round
And they gazed in wide wonder
At the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up
Said “leave this one alone”
She could tell right away
That I was bad to the bone.

Bad to the bone
Bad to the bone
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
B-B-B-B-Bad
Bad to the bone.

One of the greatest rock songs ever, I always loved this George Thotogood cover. I also love the “B-B-B-B-Bad” repeated over and over. Good stuff.

And now, here’s #1 . . .

Bennie and The Jets – Elton John

Say, Candy and Ronnie. Have you seen them yet?
Ooh, but they’re so spaced out
B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets
Oh, but they’re weird and they’re wonderful
Oh, Bennie. She’s really keen
She’s got electric boots, a mohair suit
You know I read it in a magazine, oh
Bennie and the Jets.

One of my favorite Elton songs, and it reminds me of a few years ago when I had a kid from Seneca HS in northern Ohio come to one of my basketball camps. His name was Bennie, and of course I sang “B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets” to him constantly. Kid had no idea was I was singing about.

So there you go kids. What did I miss?