Long songs that you did not realized were lengthy

[roadman65]

I was listening to Captain Jack by Billy Joel on my car cd player and noticed that particular song is over 7 minutes long on the counter.  Despite it surpassing NY State Of Mind which is over 6 minutes long that  actually does seems long when played, Captain Jack seems  shorter than it when played.

Then you have Guns n Roses November Rain which is 8:57 breaking a record for the Billboard Top Ten  when that particular song made the top 10, as no song has ever been that long in that regard.  That song does not seem long at all, and if it does you would think its 6 minutes long. 

Any songs you heard and were surprised that they exceeded 7 minutes or longer?

[Flint1979]

I think Fred Bear by Ted Nugent is about 7 minutes

[renegade]

I think Fred Bear by Ted Nugent is about 7 minutes

" About"  7:43

[Takumi]

There's the full 8-minute version of Money For Nothing.

Silent Running by Mike And The Mechanics doesn't seem like it's over 6 minutes long. I suppose it's the long intro.

[Flint1979]

I think Fred Bear by Ted Nugent is about 7 minutes

" About"  7:43

Funny thing is I know the lyrics to the song and it doesn't seem like it's that long of a song but it does have a lengthy guitar solo I guess

[Flint1979]

Stranglehold is another Ted Nugent song that's long that's longer than Fred Bear and it seems long too.

[mgk920]

My favorite version of Why Can't I Be You by The Cure is 8:07.

Also, the full version of Do You Feel Like I Do by Peter Frampton, with the 'talking guitar' interlude, is 13:48.

Mike

[abefroman329]

I didn't realize how long Stairway to Heaven was till I once drove to a convenience store while it was on the radio, got out of the car, went into the store, bought and paid for something, went back to the car, and it was still playing.

[Takumi]

I didn't realize how long Stairway to Heaven was till I once drove to a convenience store while it was on the radio, got out of the car, went into the store, bought and paid for something, went back to the car, and it was still playing.

Kashmir too.

[Flint1979]

I didn't realize how long Stairway to Heaven was till I once drove to a convenience store while it was on the radio, got out of the car, went into the store, bought and paid for something, went back to the car, and it was still playing.

I once drove 12 miles when that song was on.

[Beltway]

Hey Jude?  Of course I never realized that it wasn't long.

[michravera]

I was listening to Captain Jack by Billy Joel on my car cd player and noticed that particular song is over 7 minutes long on the counter.  Despite it surpassing NY State Of Mind which is over 6 minutes long that  actually does seems long when played, Captain Jack seems  shorter than it when played.

Then you have Guns n Roses November Rain which is 8:57 breaking a record for the Billboard Top Ten  when that particular song made the top 10, as no song has ever been that long in that regard.  That song does not seem long at all, and if it does you would think its 6 minutes long. 

Any songs you heard and were surprised that they exceeded 7 minutes or longer?

The Manfred Mann album version of "Blinded by the Light" is over 8 minutes and doesn't feel long at all. Surprisingly, it only uses about half of Bruce Springsteen's lyrics (even including those that are done in voice over) from a song of his that ran less than 6 minutes. A Manfred Man version using all of Springsteen's lyrics would likely run over 20 minutes.

Some memorable Springsteen lyrics omitted from the Manfred Mann version:
Some all-hot half-shot was headin' for the hot spot, snappin' his fingers, clappin' his hands
And some fleshpot mascot was tied into a lover's knot with a whatnot in her hand

and

Now in Zanzibar a shooting star was riding in a sidecar humming a lunar tune
Yes and the Avatar said "Blow the bar! but first remove the cookie jar. We're gonna teach these boys to laugh to soon.

and

Some kidnapped handicapped was complaining that he'd caught the clap from some mousetrap he'd bough last night.
I unsnapped his skullcap and between his ears I saw a gap, but figured he'd be alright.

and

I stood up, spun around, spit in the air and fell on the ground and ask him which was the way back home.
He said "Take a right at the light and keep going straight until night and after that you're on your own"

and

Now some hazard from Havard was skunked on beer playing backyard bombadier
And Scotland Yard was trying hard. They sent some dude with calling card. He said "do what you like but don't do it here!"

and

Some all-hot half-shot was headin' for the hot spot, snappin' his fingers, clappin' his hands
And some fleshpot mascot was tied into a lover's knot with a whatnot in her hand

and those lyrics that are obscured by the voice over

And now young Scott with a slingshot finally found a tender spot and throws his lover in the sand
And some bloodshot forget-me-not whispers, "Daddy's within earshot, save the buckshot, turn up the band"

[Flint1979]

I listened to Stairway to Heaven today in it's entirety. I drove about 6 miles.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/43.579995,-83.846834/43.5221708,-83.7980596/@43.5644664,-83.864979,12.11z/data=!4m3!4m2!3e0!5i1

None of the addresses shown are anything other than just where I was at when the song started and where I was at when the song ended and the route I took.

[jp the roadgeek]

I've made it from my house past Hartford (20 + miles) on a single live version of Playing in the Band, Scarlet/Fire, or Help>Slip>Franklins by the Grateful Dead.

Jungleland by Bruce Springsteen is 9:33. 

There are also several long Yes songs; the album version Roundabout is 8:29, Yours is no Disgrace is 9:41, and the title track from Close to the Edge is 18:12, which is 1:07 longer than Iron Butterfly's In-a-Gadda-da-Vida, and just 22 seconds shorter than Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant Massacree 

[Takumi]

The full version of Genesis’ Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is just short of 9 minutes long. It gets a bit repetitive, but at the same time the radio version just feels too short. (There are probably quite a few more Genesis songs that fit that statement.)

[amroad17]

"Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws is 9:49 of pure Southern Rock bliss.  It doesn't seem that long.  In fact, I am listening to it now on YouTube.
"Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan is another long song (at 7:36) that does not, to me, seem that long.

[jp the roadgeek]

Dire Straits has a couple of long ones besides Money For Nothing.  Tunnel of Love comes in at 8:11, but live versions can span out to over 13 minutes.  Telegraph Road is 14:17.  Creedence's version of Heard it Through the Grapevine and the Chambers Brothers Time Has Come Today each clock in around 11 minutes.

This whole thread reminds me of what I did at a bowling alley once.  They had a CD jukebox, and you could play any song on any CD.  One of the CD's in there was The Allman Brothers' Eat a Peach.  Naturally, I chose Mountain Jam, which clocks in at 33 minutes and 40 seconds.  About 20 minutes in, the guy at the counter is searching for the plug because they people were getting annoyed waiting for their song to play.  I just watched the struggle and complainers and laughed.

[kendancy66]

Dire Straits has a couple of long ones besides Money For Nothing.  Tunnel of Love comes in at 8:11, but live versions can span out to over 13 minutes.  Telegraph Road is 14:17.  Creedence's version of Heard it Through the Grapevine and the Chambers Brothers Time Has Come Today each clock in around 11 minutes.

This whole thread reminds me of what I did at a bowling alley once.  They had a CD jukebox, and you could play any song on any CD.  One of the CD's in there was The Allman Brothers' Eat a Peach.  Naturally, I chose Mountain Jam, which clocks in at 33 minutes and 40 seconds.  About 20 minutes in, the guy at the counter is searching for the plug because they people were getting annoyed waiting for their song to play.  I just watched the struggle and complainers and laughed.

I had the eat a peach album double album, and Mountain Jam spanned 2 sides of 1 of the albums.  But when it was converted to cd it only took one cd for both albums

[Verlanka]

The full version of Genesis' Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is just short of 9 minutes long. It gets a bit repetitive, but at the same time the radio version just feels too short. (There are probably quite a few more Genesis songs that fit that statement.)

The song "Firth of Fifth" goes on for nine and a half minutes.

Then there's "Supper's Ready," which is 23 minutes long.

[1995hoo]

The full version of Genesis' Tonight, Tonight, Tonight is just short of 9 minutes long. It gets a bit repetitive, but at the same time the radio version just feels too short. (There are probably quite a few more Genesis songs that fit that statement.)

The radio edit is kind of jarring on that song if you're used to the album version, although I suppose (consistent with the thread concept) it's not a song I "didn't realize was lengthy" because I've always thought it seems like a very long song.

[doorknob60]

"Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws is 9:49 of pure Southern Rock bliss.  It doesn't seem that long.  In fact, I am listening to it now on YouTube.

That one will always seem long to me, because my introduction to it was in the video game Rock Band. By far the hardest song in the game, and I would usually fail about 7-8 minutes into it on expert. Never managed to do it without cheating. Great song though.

For me, I never realized War Pigs by Black Sabbath was so long. It's 7:58, but it always felt like an average 4-5 minute song to me until I specifically looked at its length.

[Buck87]

"Nights in White Satin" by the Moody Blues

...because I hadn't heard the full version with the orchestral arrangement at the end until a few years ago

[abefroman329]

"Green Grass and High Tides" by The Outlaws is 9:49 of pure Southern Rock bliss.  It doesn't seem that long.  In fact, I am listening to it now on YouTube.

That one will always seem long to me, because my introduction to it was in the video game Rock Band. By far the hardest song in the game, and I would usually fail about 7-8 minutes into it on expert. Never managed to do it without cheating. Great song though.

For me, I never realized War Pigs by Black Sabbath was so long. It's 7:58, but it always felt like an average 4-5 minute song to me until I specifically looked at its length.

I knew how long War Pigs was thanks to owning most of the games in the Guitar Hero series.

[kphoger]

My favorite version of Why Can't I Be You by The Cure is 8:07.

The Cure is not afraid to spend many measures at a time with no words–even without any solos to speak of, just regular music over the regular chord progressions.  I find it quite refreshing, but it does make for some long songs.  One example I'm rather fond of is 'From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea', which clocked in at 7:44 on the album 'Wish'.

[formulanone]

My favorite version of Why Can't I Be You by The Cure is 8:07.

The Cure is not afraid to spend many measures at a time with no words–even without any solos to speak of, just regular music over the regular chord progressions.  I find it quite refreshing, but it does make for some long songs.  One example I'm rather fond of is 'From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea', which clocked in at 7:44 on the album 'Wish'.

Though the product of another time, listening to Disintegration back in the day was always odd..."wait, I'm still on the same disc?" Not many single-disc albums clock in at over 71 minutes; though at a time before MP3s were commercially available.

As for really long tracks - it's hard to call them songs - there's Disc One (or two, if on LP) of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. Pharoh's Dance and the eponymous track feel like several songs throughout the 20+ minutes of each one, but then all of the melodies tie itself together. Of course, you wouldn't realize that if you're looking at the track listing, but the first time I'd heard it, I had no idea.