“Eternity is a very long time, especially towards the end.”
- Woody Allen
The question I saw recently was “What song over 7-minutes long is a 10/10?”
A long song is like a big book; it better be compelling early or people will bail on it faster than a cat tossed into a bubble bath. Very few long songs ever make it on the pop charts. Apparently, Taylor Swift holds the record with her 10:13 version of All Too Well. I'm thinking in this age she's the only one that could pull that off. Prior to that the highest charting was Don MacClean's American Pie in 1972 (8:31) and The Beatles Hey Jude in 1968 (7:11)
In the album rock era, long songs were more common. The Allman Brothers Fillmore East album alone had four: Stormy Monday (8:31), In Memory of Elizabeth Reed (12:46), You Don't Love Me (19:06) and Whipping Post (22:40).
A few favorites of mine:
Free Bird, goes without saying.
When the Levee Breaks: Led Zeppelin
Scenes From an Italian Restaurant: Billy Joel
Champagne Supernova: Oasis
Purple Rain: Prince
Won't Get Fooled Again: The Who
I Heard it Through the Grapevine: CCR
Funeral For a Friend: Elton John
Green Grass and High Tides: The Outlaws
But my two favorites are by the same artists. I share below. What about you?