What is a 'button ending'?

The musical term describing an emphatic ending to a phrase or piece. Typically, in pop music, a recording ends with a 'repeat to fade'. Usually, this is short, but a famously long example is the ending of Hey Jude, which stretches for several minutes 

A 'button' is when the ending of a piece of music is sharply defined. In a musical, this is the cue for audience applause and will often be accompanied by a visual sign, like the performer extending his or her hands. A button can also provide cover for a transition to a new scene.

Button endings are characteristic of TV and radio advertising, where the ending needs to be sharply delineated. They can also mark a dramatic moment on stage or screen: the final chord of the shower scene in Psycho is a famous example. 

Buttons in songs

Buttons are often used to end a pop song, too. Can't Buy Me Love is a Beatles example,  or more dramatically She's So Heavy in the Abbey Road medley. Here, the tape seems to cut out - a trick likely to test the nerves of radio presenters terrified of 'dead air' or radio silence.

Other examples from rock include: Pull Me Under by Dream Theater, Beetlebum by Blur,  Last Exit by Pearl Jam, Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones, and New Rose by The Damned.  

Metaphorical buttons

A button can also refer to a song or musical phrase that summarises a theme. In this sense, the overture in a musical is a series of buttons - short phrases outlining what will follow. It can also refer to a song that broadly does the same for a longer piece - Hal David described his lyric for the song Alfies as 'a button' for the film. 

The Bond theme song does similar - fairly literally in the case of Goldfinger: 'the man with the Midas touch'. With You Only Live Twice, the connection is more elusive. (Note to Paul: Bond is a talented guy, but how does the living twice thing work? Asking for a friend.

The term has also crossed into non-musical film and television. In sitcoms, for example, a punch line needs a button to allow time for laughter. This space can then in turn be used to cover a change in scene