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1The moment in a song where the refrain comes around for one last time, tempo dramatically slows down, and volume increases to full. Tempo often increases a few bars after for a flashy finish.
2
3Common in modern production numbers, where the entire ensemble gets to sing and tap their hearts out. It doesn't have to be the entire chorus, though... or from a musical.
4
5Often used to lead into a BigRockEnding. Compare TruckDriversGearChange. Bonus points if ChorusGirls show up to form a kick line.
6
7----
8!!Examples:
9[[foldercontrol]]
10
11[[folder: Pop]]
12* "Your Cover's Blown" by Music/BelleAndSebastian.
13* "I Won't Give Up" by Music/JasonMraz.
14[[/folder]]
15
16[[folder: Rock]]
17* The OneHitWonder "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes repeats the first verse slower in the ending. The same thing happens in the ''[[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 He-Man]]'' parody cover by Slackcircus.
18* "The House of the Rising Sun" played by Music/TheAnimals. Only in the instrumental portion at the ''very'' end, after the lyrics are done.
19* "Magical Mystery Tour" by Music/TheBeatles.
20* Music/BillyJoel's "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)".
21* "Lookin' Out My Back Door" by Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival.
22* Music/DanielAmos's "Sudden Heaven", from ''Music/FearfulSymmetry''.
23* Played straight in "Come On Eileen" by Music/DexysMidnightRunners, but then subverted as the song ends up slightly faster than how they started!
24* "American Pie," by Music/DonMcLean.
25** And, by extension, [[Music/WeirdAlYankovic Weird Al's]] "[[Film/ThePhantomMenace The Saga Begins]]."
26* Music/{{Genesis|Band}} does this with 'Home By the Sea' ... in the second part, 'Second Home By the Sea'.
27* Music/JethroTull's "With You There to Help Me" from ''Benefit''. The flashy finish actually continues on [[EndingFatigue for about two minutes.]]
28* "Castles Made of Sand" by Jimi Hendrix. Slowdown? Check. ("And so castles made of sand... slip into the sea... eventuallyyy.."). Normal end? Yeah, that too. (The slide guitar melody from the intro is repeated with added reverb)
29* "Black Diamond" by Music/{{KISS}}.
30* Music/LedZeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven".
31* "You and Me" by Lifehouse.
32* Music/MeatLoaf's Bat Out of Hell does this several times. Actually, it's more of a Bridge Slow Down, but whatever.
33* "Family Snapshot" by Music/PeterGabriel.
34* Inverted by "Amtrax" by Music/PrettyBalanced. The last chorus is significantly faster than the previous ones.
35* Right at the end of "[[Music/{{Queen}} Bohemian Rhapsody]]".
36* While a bit hard to distinguish, Music/{{REM}}'s song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" supposedly slows down during the last chorus. WordOfGod says the band noticed bassist Mike Mills looked pained during recording and slowed down somewhat, and Mills was taken to the hospital afterwards[[note]]Both the recording and the tour for ''Monster'' were quite the TroubledProduction: every band member save Peter Buck fell ill or required medical attention at least once[[/note]].
37* Music/Starflyer59's "Your Company", the last track from ''Leave Here a Stranger''.
38* Music/TheStoneRoses' "I Wanna Be Adored".
39* Music/{{Weezer}} does this arguably twice on their Pinkerton album, once in "Pink Triangle" and a lesser example in the interlude of "The Good Life".
40[[/folder]]
41
42[[folder: Metal/Alt Metal]]
43* "Shoot to Thrill" by Music/{{ACDC}} fakes out one of these, because the song gets back to its normal speed just before the end.
44* The Swedish death metal band Arch Enemy has quite some songs ending like these. A couple examples would be "The Last Enemy" or "Nemesis".
45* PowerMetal band Cellador has the song "No Chances Lost" ending like this.
46* ''Babylon'' by Music/{{Edguy}}.
47* "Powerslave" and "Run to the Hills" by Music/IronMaiden.
48* Music/{{Megadeth}} has "A Tout le Monde" and "Trust".
49* Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Nothing Else Matters".
50* Music/{{Opeth}}'s "The Drapery Falls" kind of ends like this. "Deliverance" as well (though the "rock" ending after the LastChorusSlowDown is rather long).
51** "Rather long" here means that the song extends for another four minutes after the last chorus. You know - longer than the average rock or pop song. And this four minute extension is home to some awesome riffs in a [[UncommonTime bizarre time signature.]]
52[[/folder]]
53
54[[folder: Punk/Alternative/Indie Rock]]
55* "Zehn kleine Jägermeister" by German punk metal band Die Toten Hosen.
56* The Dropkick Murphys' version of "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya" does this epically.
57** Dropkick Murphys love this trope in general. "Black Velvet Band" and "Skinhead on the MBTA" are just a few other examples that come to mind.
58* Music/VampireWeekend's "Sunflower".
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder: R&B/Soul]]
62** "Thin Line Between Love and Hate" by New-York based R&B group The Persuaders (though it doesn't play the entire chorus).
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder: Jazz]]
66* The Music/FrankSinatra version of "New York, New York" is another solo example.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder: J-Pop]]
70* "A-RA-SHI" by Music/{{Arashi}}.
71[[/folder]]
72
73[[folder: New Wave]]
74* The last verse of {{Music/Nena}}'s "99 Luftballons" (99 Red Balloons).
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder: Country/Folk]]
78* "Playboys of the Southwestern World" by Music/BlakeShelton uses a last chorus slowdown, but only on the first half of the last chorus.
79* "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood does this, complete with drumline and dramatic cymbal crash after "and I proudly stand up".
80* Music/WillieNelson's version of "Blue Skies" (originally composed in 1926 by Irving Berlin) does this not once, but ''twice''. Towards the end of the song, the chorus reappears at half tempo - that is, what notes normally would have been crotchets (quarter notes) are now minims (half notes); and then it happens again: the notes are now four times as long as they were originally, and the original crotchets are now semibreves (whole notes).
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder: Classical]]
84* Music/RufusWainwright ''loves'' this trope.
85[[/folder]]
86
87[[folder: Other]]
88* Also frequently done with the final chorus of "The Battle of the Hymn of the Republic", usually paired up with the most stirring, heartfelt, tear-jerking moment of a patriotic speech or battle.
89* Music/CreatureFeature's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1C4xP1ikY4 ''Such Horrible Things'']].
90* "The Cliff" by the Red Army Chorus. "...udaloye zhityo aaaaataaaaammaaaaaaannnaaaaaa..."
91* Frequently done with the final verse of John Philip Sousa's "Stars And Stripes Forever", although Sousa probably didn't originally write it that way, seeing as how it's a ''military march'' and all.
92[[/folder]]
93
94!!Other Examples:
95[[foldercontrol]]
96
97[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
98* The full version of the ''Anime/HeartcatchPrettyCure'' [[AnimeThemeSong opening theme]] could be considered as having this... except it's a ''Second-to-Last'' Chorus Slow Down.
99* "Return to the Sea" from ''Manga/MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' goes a little too far with this one. When it slows down, it also changes its tune enough that, until the full version came out on the CD, people thought the last part was a different song.
100[[/folder]]
101
102[[folder: Film]]
103* "Prince Ali" from ''{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}''.
104** In the Broadway version of the same film, there's also "High Adventure," originally written for the film and restored for the Broadway musical.
105** Found in "A Friend Like Me" in the musical ''Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular'' that ran at Disney California Adventure.
106* "Be Our Guest" from ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''.
107** Oh, it gets better... The eight-minute extended version of "Be Our Guest," heard in the stage version, lampshades this!
108--->'''Cogsworth''': OH NO!! ''NOT THE KICKLINE!!!''
109* "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" from ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'' has its last verse get sung at a slower tempo than the first two verses.
110** Additionally, "For the First Time in Forever" ends with Elsa's solo, then Anna's and Elsa's CounterpointDuet, which are done at a slower tempo than the opening two verses that compose Anna's solo.
111* "The Inquisition" from ''Film/HistoryOfTheWorldPartI''.
112* The title song of ''Film/VictorVictoria'', at least in the ScreenToStageAdaptation.
113[[/folder]]
114
115[[folder: Theater]]
116* ''Theatre/TheBookOfMormon'' does this with "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream," slowing down from fast HeavyMetal to grandiose big-band swing, and speeding back up again after six bars.
117* The title song of ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}'' is a solo version of this, slowing down (with a TruckDriversGearChange) to begin the final strain ("Start by admitting from cradle to tomb"). The opening number, "Willkommen," is also subjected to this.
118* "They Both Reached For The Gun" from ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}''.
119* "What Would We Do Without You?" from ''[[Theatre/CompanySondheim Company]]'': "Okay now, ev-'ry-bo-dy..."
120* ''Theatre/HelloDolly'' does this with its title song... TWICE!
121* The most characteristic example from ''Theatre/LaCageAuxFolles'' is the title song, but "Masculinity" and "The Best Of Times" also have this.
122* "Beyond My Wildest Dreams" from the stage adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' slows down in the first phrase of the last chorus, before returning to normal tempo. "One Step Closer" and "If Only" also feature this trope.
123* Then there is also the act one finale to ''Mame'', which is the title song. ''TWICE!!''
124* ''Theatre/{{Matilda}}'' does this in "Miracle" (solo), "Telly", "When I Grow Up" (CounterpointDuet), and "The Smell of Rebellion".
125* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'': The last repetition of "Masquerade" is much slower, and louder, than the rest of the piece. However, it doesn't speed up again, but rather suddenly falls sideways into a minor key as the Phantom crashes the party, and then gets cut off.
126* In ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'', "Glory" does this in the section when the full ensemble starts singing "The gates of heaven await" to a slow rock beat, with a big "you ain't seen nothin' yet" flourish.
127* Parodied in some productions of ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance'' during the number "With Catlike Tread", starting with the Joseph Papp NYC revival. Some productions take this to further extremes by performing [[OverlyLongGag AN ALMOST INFINITE NUMBER OF ENCORES]] to this particular moment, each slower and louder than the one before, regardless of the inevitable fatigue.
128** Also from the same play, "I Am The Very Model of a Modern Major General" frequently gets this treatment. Then ''inverted'' to all hell if an encore is called for (which is likely). It's fairly common for a Major-General Stanley who can handle it to say to the conductor "''Presto agitato, sil vous plais, Maestro''" ("''Very'' quick, if you please, Master").
129* "SpringtimeForHitler" from ''Film/TheProducers''. '''[[SerialEscalation FUCKING TWICE!!!]]'''
130* ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'' pulls an UnbuiltTrope with "I Cain't Say No," though within the DreamBallet and not sung, and slows down dramatically near the end of the ''first'' of two choruses.
131[[/folder]]
132
133[[folder: Video Games]]
134* "That's Death" from the Literature/{{Discworld}} adventure game ''VideoGame/DiscworldII: Mortality Bytes''.
135* "Sweet Soul Brother" from ''VideoGame/JetSetRadio'' does this.
136* One song in the RhythmGame ''[=O2Jam=]'', "Identity part II," does this, and, if you're playing it on Hard difficulty, you are then suddenly greeted by rapid scales and a charlie foxtrot of notes arranged to form a word in Korean hangul. The latter is humanly impossible to clear without missing any notes.
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder: Web Original]]
140* The full-length version of WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd's ThemeTune.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder: Western Animation]]
144* "Raise This Barn" from the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Apple Family Reunion".
145[[/folder]]
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