Radio KBwD is on the air

So just why do the end of songs fade out instead of coming to an abrupt end?

Well, if you've got a good ending to the song then use it?

Aside from musicians' writer's blocks regarding nice, neat and efficient ways to wrap-up songs, the reasons vary but a consensus emerges when it comes to pop music when it started getting played regularly on the radio in the 50s. Quite simply, it signalled to the DJ that the song was about to end so he would have time to put another disc on the turntable while introducing it or cut to commercial.

With that in mind, we'd like to feature a song that has probably one of the most famous fade-outs of all time... that to everyone's sheer delight fades back in again before fading once more to end the song.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from Tupelo, Mississippi via Memphis, Tennessee, it's Elvis Presley performing "Suspicious Minds".





(note: Word around the campfire is that Elvis was singing with such passion at the first designed fade-out, the singers decided to pick it up again, giving the song one more minute of life.)





And this being Christmas Eve, we're in the giving spirit and want to feature a second song that also fades-out twice.

Ladies and Gentlemen, from Manchester, England, it's The Smiths performing "That Joke isn't Funny Anymore".




No word if it was Morrissey's impassioned singing the convinced Johnny Marr and the rest of the band to keep the song rolling.