Songs Sung Long

A typical song that you might hear on the radio is around four minutes ago. Many are shorter, and some of course are longer. Some are a lot longer. Just to be clear, we're not talking classical compositions or obscure progressive rock. We're talking songs that you could conceivably hear on Top 40 radio, or in most cases, could have heard on Top 40 radio a decade or three ago, since most of these songs are from a few years ago. Perhaps oldies radio is where you'd hear these songs today. In any case, we're looking at a Good/Bad/Ugly rating of songs that are over six minutes long.

"American Pie" by Don McLean: Some songs are long by needless repetition, preposterous solos, or excessive intro (and/or outro. And then there is "American Pie" and its half a dozen verses. That may not seem like all that many, but each one is fourteen lines long. You know what else is fourteen lines long? A sonnet. That's right, as in Shakespeare. Fourteen lines of rhymed iambic pentameter. The verses in "American Pie" aren't exactly picture-perfect sonnets, although they do come close, and feature some pretty clever rhymes. But you string half a dozen sonnets together with as many refrains, and you've got a very Good example of how to make a long song.

"Hey Jude" by The Beatles: Written by Paul McCartney for Julian Lennon during his parents' divorce, the song was originally supposed to be "Hey Jules" but Jude was easier to sing. Especially when you sing it something like three hundred times mixed in with the nah-nah-nah-nahs to close out the song. The Beatles were undoubtedly brilliant, and it's catchy song to sing along with, but why exactly there is more outro than main song is beyond me. I'm not kidding on that part, the song is basically over at the three minute mark, and the next four minutes are a studio musician sing-along while Paul tries out his vocal range. It just gets long and Bad after a while.

"Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty: I was surprised to learn that the original album version of this song is only 6:01 long, which barely qualifies for this long song list. It just feels really, really long. It might be all the saxophone, which, while integral to the song, starts to feel a little overdone. Ah, who am I kidding, it doesn't just starts to feel overdone, it *is* overdone and becomes tedious. After listening to the song a couple of times back to back while writing this article, I went from enjoying the song to disliking it to pretty much hating it.
If I should ever happen to run into Gerry Rafferty on the street I'll have to tell him "Dude, there was way too much sax in 'Baker Street'" and he'll be all "Yeah, I know, but the guitarist couldn't make it, so we went with the alto sax instead." And as annoying as the sax solo might be, the same thing as a guitar solo would be downright Ugly.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who: The original album version of this song is actually only one second shorter than "American Pie", but it doesn't feel half as long. Perhaps it's the sheer energy and power that gets you nodding your head and playing air guitar. Perhaps its the balance between instrumental sections and verses. Perhaps, and this one is most likely true, we all just want to scream along with Roger Daltrey. Even the fact that this is the theme song for CSI: Miami doesn't detract enough to bump this song below Good.