I was listening to Sophie Ellis Bextor's version of "Take Me Home" recently and I was shocked that bum note at 0:28 made the final version of the song I mean she sounds completely flat and it affects my enjoyment of the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6gLOmjP5GY
Anyway, are there any other cases of bum notes in recorded songs?(please not live versions as they don't count).

On the Barbara Streisand track " Make it like a memory" from her album 'Guilty' she sings a long bum note at one point and seems to run out of air just towards the end of it- she recovered it well but it's there...

I can't hear the bum note mentioned in the OP, it sounds fine to me.

The bass guitar in this old Billy Joel song sounds slightly out of tune to me though, with a bum note at 0:29 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEm3Kx7bAxo

I agree; am I missing something?!

Anyway, here are some *definite* bum notes.

*cough*

It's the way she sings "unwind" like a dying calf

Lumidee - Never Leave You. The singing throughout is pretty bad, especially the intro.

Yeah I can't hear the bum note in Sophie E-Bs song either? Sounds in tune to me.

I can't think of any unintentional recordings, but I remember Janet Jackson sung a flat note in 'Runaway' but they kept it in and she follows it by saying something like 'ooh didn't quite hit that note there' One of her best tracks IMO!

This was actually a production fault. Lumidee was always singing in the "right" key but when they remixed the single for a worldwide release, they added a completely random bassline.

Not that I'm defending the song as it is a bit crap but pretty sure this is what happened in this case.

Bob Dylan - everything
David Essex - everything
Ian Brown - everything

Marc Almond , particularly around the Soft Cell years had an amazing poweful voice which could go off key at times. But, it actually didn't detract from the material cos his delivery has always been passionate, infact, even Almond himself prefers the original of Say Hello Wave Goodbye, to the 1990's revised polished version.

Guest vocalist Sasha on Sean Paul - I'm Still In Love With You.

Can somebody confirm - would these be classed as "bum notes?" The first song that sprung to mind was Girls Aloud - Life Got Cold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wurjnwmtrqk

I have always thought that 1:03 was a bum note ("day by day" sung by Cheryl of all people) and 1:25 ("... in heroes anymore" also by Cheryl)

They aren't "off" per se but they're not perfect notes either & have vocal effects on them. Though I always thought that track was supposed to be performed slightly "off" or sullenly.

As for the OP, that Sophie Ellis Bextor note is not off. She is slightly "bending" the notes though, which is the style the original is sung in too.

Jason Derulo has a bad one in Little Mix's Secret Love Song

How on earth did I forget Marc Almond? I remember seeing his first ever television appearance on something like Look North, and I think my jaw must have dropped open in horror. I honestly thought is was some kind of comedy duo having a laugh.

You'd be run out of the Top Of The Pops 1982 - BBC4 thread for comments like these, where Marc Almond and Soft Cell are currently enjoying a run of their biggest hits, Torch just having been No2. All magnificent.

As for bum notes, this 1975 top ten hit has plenty of them - https://youtu.be/vANcgolYNds

The classic was the late Kenny Ball, the traditional jazz band trumpet player. He could play a bum note at any time.

Couple of Kate Bush ones:

Mrs Bartolozzi - Kate goes really out of tune at one point during this. She explained in an interview that she tried rerecording the song, but couldn't capture the same 'feel', so kept the out of tune version on her album.

Among Angels - she starts playing this on the piano, but starts in the wrong key, apologises, then sings it beautifully.

Either you're way more sensitive to pitch than I am, or- as with the Sophie Ellis Bextor example- you're talking about the same vocal inflection that sounds entirely intentional to me. Matter of fact, it wouldn't even have occurred to me that anyone might have thought that it *wasn't* intentional?!

Sounds nothing like a truly "bum note" at any rate.

However, I *will* note the obvious flaw that at 1:05 the singer loses track of which song she's singing and accidentally launches into "Wonderwall".

Anything sung by Ollie Murs

Coldplay - Us Against The World

Chris attempts a really low harmony when he sings "So, whatever you do... don't let go" and it's blatantly out of tune but then he changes key on the next line and all is good.

The bum notes in Say Hello Wave Goodbye are awesome and make the song even more heartbreaking. I'm not sure I've heard the 90s polished version and have no desire to. Didn't they also do an updated version of Tainted Love (that was nowhere near as good as the original).

On boyzone's love me for a reason Stephen Gateley struggles to hit the high note, a valiant effort though.

The Police - Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (sorry Sting!).

Liam Gallagher - take your pick

The solo in "Seek and Destroy" from Metallica's first album has a bum note at the admission of Kirk Hammett himself. It sounds a little discordant and so works as part of the song but was apparently not what he was going for!