Yesterday, Rolling Stone online put together a list of what they called “The Fifty Best Songs Over Seven Minutes Long.” Not so much. Sure, there were some all-time great songs on that list, but other songs weren’t even the best long song by the particular artist, much less on a 50 best ever list.
So, I figured that I’d do my own. Thanks to the magic of an iTunes playlist sort, it didn’t take very long to put together. Here are my rules: because some artists (Neil Young, Velvet Underground) work better with long songs, I figured that it was OK to have multiple songs by individual artists. I did, however, discount anything that had never been commercially released, which wiped out a lot of Bruce Springsteen songs.
Like Rolling Stone’s list, this is alphabetical by artist.
50 Great Songs Over 7 Minutes Long That Didn’t Make Rolling Stone’s List of the Fifty Best Songs over Seven Minutes Long
- Ryan Adams – Nobody Girl
- The Beatles – I Want You (She’s So Heavy)
- Belle & Sebastian – This Is Just A Modern Rock Song
- Dan Bern – Simple
- Bettie Serveert – The Ocean, My Floor
- Boston – Foreplay /Long Time
- James Brown – Cold Sweat
- Buzzcocks – I Believe
- Creedence Clearwater Revival – Ramble Tamble
- Miles Davis – Shhh/Peaceful
- Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism
- Deep Purple – Smoke on the Water (Live)
- The Dream Syndicate – The Days of Wine and Roses
- Drive-by Truckers – The Living Bubba (Live)
- Drive-by Truckers – Angels And Fuselage
- Bob Dylan – Idiot Wind
- Bob Dylan – (Stuck Inside of Mobile with the) Memphis Blues Again
- Bob Dylan – Visions of Johanna
- Grandaddy – He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s The Pilot
- Guns N’ Roses – Breakdown
- Hüsker Dü – All Work and No Play
- Led Zeppelin – In My Time of Dying
- Led Zeppelin – Achilles Last Stand
- Bob Marley & The Wailers – No Woman, No Cry (London 1975)
- Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
- New Order – Temptation (12″)
- Pink Floyd – Shine On You Crazy Diamond Pts 1-5
- Preston School of Industry – Encyclopedic Knowledge of
- Prince – Let’s Go Crazy (12″)
- The Rolling Stones – Miss You (12″)
- The Patti Smith Group – Land
- Bruce Springsteen – Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
- The Stratford 4 – Telephone
- The Temptations – Papa Was A Rolling Stone
- Tonio K – The Ballad of the Night the Clocks All Quit (And the Government Failed)
- U2 – An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart
- UB40 – Don’t Let It Pass You By
- The Velvet Underground – Sister Ray
- The Velvet Underground – Ocean (Live 1969)
- The Velvet Underground – What Goes On (Live 1969)
- Joe Walsh – Life’s Been Good
- The Who – A Quick One, While He’s Away (Live)
- Stevie Wonder – As
- Yes – Close To The Edge
- Yo La Tengo – Pass The Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind
- Neil Young – Down by the River
- Neil Young – Over and Over
- Neil Young – Natural Beauty
- Neil Young – I’m The Ocean
- Neil Young – Like a Hurricane
Brand New – Limousine
also
Don McLean- American Pie
Alice’s Restaurant – Arlo Guthrie
Excellent list, thanks for including Sister Ray.
Blue Room by The Orb brought ambient to another level. Full length version comes in at a whopping 40:00 but in order to qualify for the British charts as a single rather than an EP they did a 39:57 version and promptly charted at No.8
What a great list. I’m sure there’ll be a few arguments but I wont quibble with a list that includes the astounding Beatles – I Want You (She’s So Heavy) AND the Stones – Miss You.
Your list is way more entertaining and much more relevant than the Rolling Stones list. These songs are good too.
1. Pink Floyd- Interstellar Overdrive
2. The Died Pretty- Mirror Blues
3. Van Morrison- Almost Independence Day
4. Eleventh Dream Day- Tenth Leaving Train
5. Rainy Day- Rainy Day, Dream Away
6. Television- Little Johnny Jewel
All of the suggestions that people have left above are really good. A couple were on early versions of the list, and might have made it had I decided to limit each artist to a single song.
I’m not big into techno, so I’ve never heard that Orb song, but I really love the story about how they gamed the U.K. charts.
Here are some others that I might have added:
Genesis – Supper’s Ready
The Seeds – Up in Her Room
Jethro Tull – Thick as A Brick
Flipper – Sex Bomb
Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon (All Night Version)
Kraftwerk – Computer Love
David Bowie – The Width Of A Circle
The Doors – When The Music’s Over
The Doors – The Soft Parade
The Doors – Riders on the Storm
Neil Young – Cowgirl In The Sand
Chemical Brothers – It Began In Afrika
I used to listen to at least ten of those songs over and over and over. “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,” “When the Levee Breaks,” “Layla,” “Heroin,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” “The End,” “Only in Dreams,” “Hey Jude,” etc. I had no idea how much the seven-minute song has meant to me over the years. Alas, who has the time anymore?
SHAME ON ROLLING STONE for leaving out:
Catherine Wheel: “Black Metallic”
Bruce Springsteen: “Rosalita,” “Incident on 57th Street,” “New York City Serenade”
Bob Marley: “No Woman, No Cry”
Stevie Wonder: “Living for the City”
Bob Dylan: “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding),” “Visions of Johanna,” “Idiot Wind”
Boston: “Foreplay/Long Time”
Don McLean: “American Pie”
Jackson Browne: “The Load-Out/Stay”
There are some others that I also would’ve overlooked, but Rolling Stone has more time to research this stuff and therefore should not be excused for passing over these brilliant gems:
The La’s: “Looking Glass”
Peter Gabriel: “Come Talk to Me”
Joni Mitchell: “The Sire of Sorrow”
Sade: “No Ordinary Love”
David Gray: “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”
Dave Matthews Band: “Proudest Monkey”
Chris Blake: “Harbor” (it probably just missed the cut, right?)
What about Mew – Comforting Sounds?!!
This is a futile effort, there are just too many good songs to be included on such a list. The list needs to be at least 300 songs long to do justice to all the great 7-minute-plus classics out there. Here are just a few of my favourites not mentioned on either list:
The Allman Brothers – You Don’t Love Me (Live at Fillmore East, 1971), Jessica, Mountain Jam (Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival, 1970)
David Bowie – Heroes
The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Midnight Rambler (from Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!)
The Who – My Generation (Live at Leeds, 1970), We’re Not Gonna Take It
Bob Dylan (There are soooo many!) – Chimes of Freedom, Ballad in Plain D, With God On Our Side, Desolation Row, Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, Hurricane, Black Diamond Bay
Deep Purple – Child In Time (studio original/Made in Japan version), Strange Kind of Woman (Made in Japan version), Lazy (Made In Japan version)
The Doors – L.A. Woman, Light My Fire
Eagles – The Last Resort
Guns ‘n’ Roses – November Rain
Janis Joplin – Get It While You Can (Live), Ball and Chain (Live)
Jimi Hendrix – Voodoo Child (the 15-minute one), 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)
Led Zeppelin (again, quite a few) – How Many More Times, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Stairway to Heaven, Kasmir, In the Light
Meat Load – Bat Out Of Hell, Paradise By the Dashboard Light, For Crying Out Loud
Pink Floyd – all the long ones from Animals, Us and Them
Santana – Soul Sacrifice (Live at Woodstock)
Supertramp – Rudy, Cannonball, Another Man’s Woman (Live)
Thin Lizzy – Black Rose
Van Morrison – Cyprus Avenue, Madame George, Ballerina
Shakti – Joy
Rush – 2112
Grateful Dead – Turn On Your Lovelight (Live/Dead version)
Dire Straits – Tunnel of Love, Telegraph Road
New Order – Blue Monday
Crosby, Stills & Nash – Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Ten Years After – I’m Going Home (Live at Woodstock), Love Like a Man (Live at the Fillmore East), Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (Live at the Fillmore East)
And there’s plenty more where that came from… Now, back to my homework…
Ive seen so many names of groups and songs pretty much no one has heard of. How about a list of GREAT songs that were over 5 or 7 minutes long Not a list of obscure songs that only a really big fan of that group knows aboout like
A group of small furry animals gathered together in a cave grooving with a pict. Dont you know that one its bu PINK FLOYD, dah! should this one by on any list? No about 80% of the stuff mentioned above lets get a real list of well known ie hit songs by known groups which means they actually made it in the music world
Deep Purple Child In Time
Led Zeppelin Achilles Last Stand
Black Sabbath Wheels Of Confusion
The James Gang The Bomber
Wishbone Ash Phoenix
Boston Foreplay/Long Time
Creedence Clearwater Revival Graveyard Train
Neil Young Down By The River
Thin Lizzy Black Rose
The Outlaws Green Grass And High Tides Forever
Grand Funk Creeping