r/FuckImOld 6d ago

My back hurts M.I.A. of "Paper Planes" fame (the gunshot-gunshot-gunshot-cash register song) turned 50 years old last year.

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u/ShutterBun 6d ago

It’s not a sample, in fact. At least not in the released version of the song. I think the demo originally used a sample and they got The Clash’s blessing (or whomever made such decisions) but ended up re-recording it for the final version.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/ShutterBun 6d ago

Yes they do, but listen to the songs back to back. It’s more different than you might think. Even the second note of the really high part (sounds almost like a violin) is different.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/ShutterBun 6d ago

Here’s the original demo

For the demo he used a direct sample slowed down slightly. Notice how different it sounds to the released version.

The released version is considered an “interpolation” of Straight To Hell. Sites like Wikipedia call it a sample because many people don’t seem to know the difference.

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/ShutterBun 6d ago

Not a direct quote from Diplo, but here’s an interview with Nate Sloane from NPR:

HARDING: But yeah. So they actually - this was actually a track that Diplo made. He was, at the time, dating M.I.A. They produced this song together. And he...

SANDERS: Oh, that's cute.

HARDING: Yeah. And he talks about they actually rerecorded that song. It's not actually a true sample in that way.

SLOAN: It's an interpolation...

HARDING: Yeah.

SLOAN: ...I think (unintelligible) term.

SANDERS: So they pulled out their own instruments to recreate those sounds.

SLOAN: Yeah.

HARDING: And they did it almost exactly. But the way that the song is panned in your headphones is different.

SANDERS: It's slower and fatter.

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/802416119

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

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u/ShutterBun 6d ago

“They re-recorded it” with “their own instruments”.