Siamese Twin Songs

Siamese Twin Songs (or if you prefer Conjoined Twin Songs but it doesn't have the same ring) are those which are separate, consecutive tracks on an album where the first one leads into the second as if they were one song. If the first is played without the second, it sounds as if it has been cut off in the middle. If played on the Radio they are almost always played together.

If downloaded they generally come as separate files, and if ripped from a CD they always do. Fortunately, there is software to combine them into one file, at least if they are in either MP3 or open source formats, thus eliminating the annoyance of hearing what sounds like a song ending in the middle when playing songs in random order (shuffle mode).

A very distant cousin to the Cliff Hanger. Also compare Fading Into the Next Song.

Not to be confused with "Siamese Twins Song" from Big Fish or any other songs with the words "Siamese" or "twins" in the title.

Examples of Siamese Twin Songs include:

• Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)."
• Pink Floyd's "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse."
• Everything from Pink Floyd's The Wall flows smoothly into the next track, unless the next track was on the other side of the record when it was originally released. Some songs have no clean break between one song and the next. (Others could stand on their own if the track break was slightly earlier or later, but this varies between versions of the album anyway.)
  • "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" has an ending that builds up and then crashes into "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2" with a scream.
  • "Empty Spaces" and "Young Lust".
  • "Don't Leave Me Now" joins up with "Another Brick in the Wall Part 3", which has no clean break between it and "Goodbye Cruel World".
  • "Waiting for the Worms" and "Stop", arguably, since the former ends with a Scare Chord and Pink shouting the word "Stop!", which otherwise doesn't appear in the latter song.
  • And, of course, "Outside the Wall" and "In The Flesh?",^[1] for a Book Ends effect.
• From the South Park Christmas Album "O Tannenbaum" (sung by Hitler) and "Christmastime in Hell" (with vocals led by Satan). (Though since "O Tannenbaum" and its English translation "O Christmas Tree" have been around much longer than South Park it was not "born" a Siamese Twin and this example might be better described as a Frankenstein's Monster or Human Centipede song).
• Stevie Wright's "Evie", parts I, II and III - would be examples of Siamese Triplet Songs.
• Arguably ACDC's "Big Balls" and "Rocker", though they may have been separated some time after birth.
• The Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (the title track for the album) and "With a Little Help From My Friends"
  • The entire climactic medley from Abbey Road - each song fits the trope.
• Camper Van Beethoven's "Opi Rides Again" and "Club Med Sucks", sort of: On the original version of Telephone Free Landslide Victory they were listed as one song called "Opi Rides Again / Club Med Sucks", but the most recent reissue of the album converted them to separate tracks. They're always played together live, too.
• Queen's "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions".
• IQ's "Leap of Faith" and "Came Down", such that it seems surreal to listen to one without the other.
• The White Stripes' "Pricky Thorn, But Sweetly Worn" and "St. Andrew (This Battle Is In the Air)".
• Judas Priest's "The Hellion" and "Electric Eye" on the Screaming for Vengeance album.
• Green Day's "Brain Stew" and "Jaded". They were even released as a single together as "Brain Stew/Jaded".
  • "Last of the American Girls" and "Murder City" from 21st Century Breakdown sound incomplete when separated if you've previously heard them together, but they can work on their own if you like songs that end/start with a random burst of Morse Code.
  • "Holiday" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" from American Idiot are also conjoined if you're looking for it but otherwise capable of standing alone.
• Weezer's "Pink Triangle" continues directly into "Falling for You" via a guitar melody and Studio Chatter noise.
• System of a Down's "Thetawaves" and "Roulette" is an odd one. The former is a hard rock song and the latter is an acoustic ballad. Somehow they managed to blend them together to seem like one song.
• Cyndi Lauper's "He's So Unusual" and "Yeah Yeah."
• Seussical features the songs "Alone in the Universe (Reprise)" and "Solla Sollew." The first is only a minute long and acts as a prelude for the second. Furthermore, the track break is put in the middle of a rising transition note. Five seconds later would've made the jump much less jarring.
• Coldplay used this trope twice on Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. First was between "Life in Technicolor" and "Cemeteries of London," but it happens again when "The Escapist" ends the album and flows right back into "Life in Technicolor."
• ZZ Top's "Waitin' for the Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago".
• Pendulum's "The Island" Part 1 (Dawn) and Part 2 (Dusk).
• Van Halen's "Eruption" and their version of "You Really Got Me." It's a bit jarring when The Best of Both Worlds separates the two songs.
• Gorillaz's "Fire Coming Out of a Monkey's Head" is paired with "Don't Get Lost in Heaven," and "Don't Get Lost in Heaven" is paired with "Demon Days." The three flow into each other quite well, forming the climax of the album.
  • The Tea Party did the same thing on Interzone Mantras. First up is "Cathartik" which plays into "Dust to Gold" which plays into "Requiem."
• Silversun Pickups have "There's No Secrets This Year" and "The Royal We."
• Rishloo's "Turning Sheep Into Goats" and "Systematomatic".
• Madonna's "Dear Jessie" and "Oh Father". Interestingly, both were released as singles, but in the opposite at which they play.
• Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Poorboy Shuffle" and "Feelin' Blue."
• Dream Theater's "The Mirror" and "Lie."
• The Strawbs' "The River" and "Down by the Sea". While easily separable, they are presented this way on the album,^[2] and usually performed this way live.
• The Alan Parsons Project's "Sirius" and "Eye in the Sky".
• Almost all of Blue Oyster Cult's Secret Treaties album does this, with "Career of Evil" leading into "Subhuman" leading into "Dominance and Submission" leading into "ME 262." Then after the side break, "Cagey Cretins" stands on its own, but "Harvester of Eyes" leads into "Flaming Telepaths," which has No Ending, leading into "Astronomy" which starts without any gap after Telepaths' sudden stop.
• Childish Gambino's "All the Shine" and "Letter Home" follow each other on the album, and feature the same riff. "Letter Home" is short enough that it probably qualifies more as a coda to "All the Shine" than as an actual song.

1. ↑ They're the last and first tracks of the album, respectively
2. ↑ (Bursting at the Seams)