The longest song.

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If you don't count classical compositions, what are the longest songs/tracks which are truly great? For me, number one must be Pharoah Sanders' "Karma", which clocks over half an hour. Other favourite twenty minutes plus songs are from Miles Davis' electric period and Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi sextet. Any good examples beyond the realm of jazz?

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 10:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Lots of Acid Mothers Temple stuff. Isn't the full mix of "The Blue Room" by The Orb 45 minutes or something?

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 10:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

There's loads of stuff that's really long (Brian Eno's "Thursday Afternoon" is a CD album that has one 61 minute track), but almost nothing that's really long and truly great.

I would recommend "The Hymns From The Grand Terrace" as written by Jimmy Webb and performed by Richard Harris. It's "only" 9 minutes, but it's definitely ace.

― wardytron, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

the 45 minutes of "thick as a brick" (parts 1 and 2)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

(by jethro tull)

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

How about "Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet" by Tom Waits & Gavin Bryars? I think that's great, and the full composition runs to 74 minutes.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

Goldie's "Mother" I don't remember exactly but it lasts about 60 minutes

But the longest track I adore is the 15 minutes long Funkadelic's "Knee deep". Classic.

― Sami (Sami), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

I know there are a lot of over-long ambient tracks (one or two tracks for an album), but they're rarely any good. "Karma" is great because it has a sense of progression, not of endless floating.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

Goldie's "Mother" I don't remember exactly but it lasts about 60 minutes

You seemed the miss the word "great" in my post. "Mother" = utter shite.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

GO!!!!! by Boredoms on Super Roots 5 is 64.19 minutes of intense super-bore slo-mo hardcore thrash and is fucking amazing

― schnellschnell, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

there are some nice bits here and there in 'Mother' but its too needlessly long to bother with i guess

if i looped Cliff Richard's 'Congratulations' over and over The Orb's 45 minute version of 'Blue Room' would this count?

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 11:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Motorpsycho - the Golden Core [12'59"]
building intensity, letting go (but not quite), out of this world (really). makes me feel *really* emotional (not emo)

― willem (willem), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 12:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

no really a song , but ...

Long player . ." a thousand year musical composition" http://www.longplayer.org/

I think eno made some generative programs that could tinkle and make refridgerator like noises forever..

― jk@?___________________, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 12:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, there's quite a few 60-or-more minute songs in metal:
Abruptum - Vi Sonus Veris Nigrae Malitiaes (61:36 or so, of course, whether or not it's really great can definitely be an interesting discussion)

Green Carnation - Light of day, day of darkness (an exact hour, I think, and quite good)

Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - The Key To The Gates Of Apocalypse (not entirely sure how long this is, as i don't have it. 70-something minutes, I think! But from what I've heard, it's basically a bunch of songs in one long track. What I heard from it wasn't very impressive, but I know many people who love it)

I'm sure there are a few in sludge too, though the longest one that comes to mind now is Boris' Absolutego, which is what, 55 or so minutes? Not very songy though, but great stuff.
But if we're going down that road, I guess we could mention Merzbow's Rainbow Electronics (73:22) and Robert Rich's 8 hour sleepconcert DVDthing.

Other than that, I quite dig most of what Devil Done have done, which includes several 40 minute songs.

― Øystein Holm-Olsen (Øystein H-O), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 12:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

The 23 minute (well, 22'59, to be correct) "Supper's Ready" by Genesis is the greatest piece of music ever made.

However, "Amarok" by Mike Oldfield is great too, and I believe that one lasted for 55 minutes or something

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 12:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Didn't 'djed' by tortoise clock in at 23mins? Although it could be argued it was 4 tracks dj'ed together. hmmmmmm. Why can't stuff that's mixed count as a single composition?

― neil, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 12:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

Grayfolded: The John Oswald "plunderphonified" version of The Grateful Dead's Dark Star runs in at 103:32 minutes.

― christoff (christoff), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 13:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

eno's 'discreet music' is 30 minutes long and feels like ironing your brain to a flat surface.

― matthew james (matthew james), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 15:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sleep -- "Jerusalem" (52 minutes).

― Rokovoko, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 16:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

A very good & rather long free improv w/ spoken word piece by Fishbone called "X-Quewz Mee, Dr. Madd Vibe, Emergency House Call Pull-Ease" (clocking in at 21:20) is well worth the listen. Angelo/Dr. Madd Vibe OWNZ the English language.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 16:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

John Cage's 639-year-long "As Slow As Possible," now playing at a church in Halberstadt, Germany.

― Justyn Dillingham (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

The funniest thing about Justyn's post is that he's not kidding.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Chris Butler supposedly wrote the longest pop song, "The Devil's Glitch" or so Guiness sez. More importantly the form Waitress and Tin Hueyist's song is also good.

― jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 19:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

Manuel Göttsching - E2 E4

Ok, so technically an album, but it sounds like one big long GREATEST song ever.

― Chewshabdoo, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 20:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

I second Chewshabdoo's pick. I've listened to it many times as a single song.

Also, the KLF's 'Chill Out' is sort of a single track (and Jimmy Cauty's 'Space' too).

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 21:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

as teenagers my friends and i all loved carnage visors, 27 mins [the cure instrumental, 1980]. got drums and guitar lines but totally ambient effect on the listener: after 3 minutes, nice vampire music, after 6 minutes, boring, after 10 minutes, i can't believe it's not yogurt, after 15 minutes, you can't hear it anymore, after 20 minutes, you are humming along again, after 23 you are totally concentrating on it, then you start waiting for the end, for that last chord which sounds slightly different...

― mitch, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 21:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.af.lu.se/~fogwall/jpg/vexscor2.jpg

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 21:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

Er, I guess that's a classical composition. Sorry.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 16 April 2003 21:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

the 40 minute version of Blue Room by the Orb.

639 years, wow....

― disco stu (disco stu), Wednesday, 16 April 2003 23:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

Time to Melt by Lard

― M Carty (mj_c), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

Edge of Sanity's 'Crimson' is definitely the longest death metal song, 40+ minutes. It's grebt.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 17 April 2003 09:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

However, "Amarok" by Mike Oldfield is great too, and I believe that one lasted for 55 minutes or something

whoa, so that's where nargaroth gets his song titles from.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Thursday, 17 April 2003 10:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

"the diamond sea" by sonic youth clocks in at just under 20 min and it's pretty damn incredible.....

― the overfriendly concierge, Thursday, 17 April 2003 15:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

Acid Mothers Temple has a version of "Pink Lady Lemonade" on the "Do WHatever You Want..." collection that is 60 min., but I think the champion is Fushitsusha's "I Saw It! That Which Before I Could Only Sense" which is sround 90 min. It won't fit on one CD.

― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Thursday, 17 April 2003 20:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

"the diamond sea" by sonic youth clocks in at just under 20 min and it's pretty damn incredible.....

Yes, and the ep version is even loooooooooonger!

― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Thursday, 17 April 2003 20:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

each of the "songs" on metal machine music is 17 minutes long! does that count?

― Tad (llamasfur), Thursday, 17 April 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

i am devastated that another mitch has shown up on ilx. thank goodness i'm not a cure fan.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 17 April 2003 21:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

what a narcissistic post that was. i'd offer a genuine answer to the thread title in atonement, but everyone's already said everything i could think of.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 17 April 2003 21:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Colder still" by Nurse With Wound from Thunder Perfect Mind goes fr some 34 minutes, what a ride.

― rex jr., Friday, 18 April 2003 19:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm 15 minutes into it right now!

― rex jr., Friday, 18 April 2003 19:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

If "Chillout" counts as a single track even though it is split into 14 tracks, then FSOL's "Lifeform" EP.

― Leee (Leee), Friday, 18 April 2003 19:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

one year passes...

Longest songs in my current mp3 rotation:

Alan Silva - "Seasons" (2:24:00)
Cecil Taylor - "Second Act Of A" (1:47:44)
Anthony Braxton - "Composition 105A" (1:05:21) (it's jazz, like Zappa)
Nurse With Wound - "Salt Marie Celeste" (1:01:56)
Nurse With Wound - "Music For The Horse Hospital (1:01:45)
Cecil Taylor - "3 Phasis" (57:13)
Cecil Taylor - "B Ee Ba Nganga Ban'a Eee!" (48:13)
Miles Davis - "Gondwana" (46:49)
Anthony Braxton - "Composition 129+" (46:07)
AMM - "Coffin Nor Shelf" (45:40)
AMM - "Like A Cloud Hanging In The Sky?" (45:24)
Anthony Braxton - "Composition 110A" (45:09)
Anthony Braxton - "Composition 105B" (43:51)
Miles Davis - "Zimbabwe" (41:47)
Art Ensemble Of Chicago - "Reese And The Smooth Ones" (40:54)

― Keef, Monday, 26 July 2004 01:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I know you said no classical stuff, but my former teacher and friend Dary-John Mizelle (a student of Stockhausen) once composed (and performed) a piece that lasted over four days.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 26 July 2004 02:26 (nineteen years ago) link

"less than you think" on the latest wilco album is ridiculously long and even more annoying

― gem (trisk), Monday, 26 July 2004 02:48 (nineteen years ago) link

The Necks' have songs which go for an hour.

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 26 July 2004 04:22 (nineteen years ago) link

LaMonte Young and the Forever Bad Blues Band's "Dorian Blues in G" runs for 2 hours and change (but no CHORD change!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 26 July 2004 06:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I've looked this thread over twice. Has no one mentioned "Autobahn"?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 26 July 2004 06:33 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...

The last track on Beatles' Abbey Road fills the inner groove, and on an LP goes on forever - about two seconds of sampled party noise over and over

― Ian Hampson, Friday, 8 October 2004 15:01 (nineteen years ago) link

DIdn't Fantomas just release a full length album consisting of a single track?

― Wooden (Wooden), Friday, 8 October 2004 15:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Didn't Prince?

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Friday, 8 October 2004 19:39 (nineteen years ago) link

Ravel's "Bolero" :P

Oh right, no classicals allowed.....:)

OK, well there's the full version of Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang.

And on Loose Ends' album from 1987/8 there are about five songs linked together by the same bassline. That must clock up around 20 minutes. Funky stuff....

― JTS, Saturday, 9 October 2004 21:26 (nineteen years ago) link

"Amarok" by Mike Oldfield lasts almost an hour, and is possibly the best thing he has done this side of 1980.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 9 October 2004 21:29 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm beginning to like Vladislav Delay's "Anima" (one track, sixty minutes) more and more, even though I thought it was dud when I bought it. The weird samples at the end scare the hell out of me, and the whole thing sounds more disquieting than it's calm, ambient surface would suggest at the first hearing.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 10 October 2004 10:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Tuomas, you could have been describing Paul Schutze's "Deus Ex Machina" (59:00) just then.

Too bad classical is excluded, or I'd mention Morton Feldman's String Quartet #2 (six hours, seven minutes and change on the Flux Quartet recording). But it is, so I won't.

"Grayfolded" isn't 103:32. Oswald made two constructions, "Transitive Axis" (59:59) and "Mirror Ashes" (46:46).

― William Crump (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 10 October 2004 12:32 (nineteen years ago) link

Almost forgot: Rhys Chatham, "Two Gongs" (61:39)

― William Crump (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 10 October 2004 12:34 (nineteen years ago) link

'Longplayer'.

It goes for 1000 years without repeating. Top that bitches.

― Sasha (sgh), Monday, 11 October 2004 03:26 (nineteen years ago) link

at least it feels like stairway to heaven or whole lotta love will never end, does that count?

― JAROD, Monday, 11 October 2004 03:38 (nineteen years ago) link

A Change Of Seasons - Dream Theater (about 23 min)
Black Rose Immortal - Opeth (20.14)
Echoes - Pink Floyd (23.28)

Those are some of my favorite epics. ;)

― Haywood Jablowme, Thursday, 14 October 2004 01:20 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm going to go ahead and say Built to Spill's live cover of "Cortez the Killer" is rad (25min) even if, in doing so, I admit my deep and abiding passion for fucking KILLER electric guitars and a lot of pot. So what.

― skowly (skowly), Thursday, 14 October 2004 01:49 (nineteen years ago) link

a related qn.:
how many of these pieces/ compositions actually justify their length ?
(or to put it a positive way, are there any that don't ?)

― george gosset (gegoss), Thursday, 14 October 2004 09:57 (nineteen years ago) link

two years pass...

Well, I think "Karma" does, insofar as it keeps it's tension for the whole 30+ minutes. I'm not so sure about those songs that really just suites.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 February 2007 10:04 (seventeen years ago) link

In fact, I think Pharoah Sanders is one of those rare artists whose songs seem to work best in the extended form. One reason I didn't like Thembi as much as some other albums of his was that all the songs were under 10 minutes.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 February 2007 13:42 (seventeen years ago) link

An interesting question: are there any pop tunes over 8 minutes that'd work as pop? Because the long-form song seems to work only in genres which favour epic or trancelike qualities, or extended improvisation.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 February 2007 13:47 (seventeen years ago) link

macarthur park, obviously.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Stairway to Heaven is 8:03.

But hang on, you said the long-form song seems to work only in genres which favour epic or trancelike qualities.

Why can't pop be epic to trancelike again?

(you'll be telling me stairway to heaven isn't a pop song now)

― Johnney B English (stigoftdump), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:09 (seventeen years ago) link

pop can certainly be epic, but I can't think of a single trance-like pop song.

maybe this is because entering a trance-like state requires amounts of time and an extended approach to composition that's incompatible with the catchy, immediacy of the pop format.

― m the g (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:13 (seventeen years ago) link

A real song with lyrics all the way through and no ambient interludes or anything is the version of Willie Deadwilder by Cat Power off the Speaking For The Trees DVD.

18 minutes long and pretty amazingly IMO actually manages to hold your attention for the duration.

― Treblekicker (treblekicker), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Yeah, there are epic pop tunes, but usually they tend to be miniature epics, i.e. not that long. Maybe it's a question of radio play only.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 1 February 2007 14:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Hmm...howbout Dylan's "Sad-eyed Lady of the Lowlands"? That's definitely a POP song, with an obvious melody, a simple structure, and a refrain that reliably returns after every couple of verses. But it's only about 11 minutes long, so I dunno how "epic" that is.

― M. Agony Von Bontee (M. Agony Von Bontee), Thursday, 1 February 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

That's definitely a POP song

hmmmm

― the original hauntology blogging crew (Enrique), Thursday, 1 February 2007 15:37 (seventeen years ago) link

three months pass...

I think "Night Falls On Hoboken" by Yo La Tengo is a great long song. I loved how they opened with it on the "...And Nothing..." tour: talk about setting the pace for a show! That was the tour with the percussionist who played a lot of gong, which was totally awesome. It was a polarizing show: lots of people were falling asleep, because the version they played was way longer than the album version too. I was a little disappointed at the time b/c Ira only ripped one guitar solo (on "Stockholm Syndrome") the whole show, but afterward I realized it was all about "Night Falls On Hoboken". They pretty much just played it, and the rest was encore.

I don't know if that song counts as pop.

― Euler, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:51 (sixteen years ago) link

The entirety of Mike Oldfield's 1990 work "Amarok". It lasted for an hour, and was his best album since his 70s heyday.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 11 May 2007 11:55 (sixteen years ago) link

xpost - Well, it is a pop song! In the sense that it's not a symphony or an extended jam session or anything.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Friday, 11 May 2007 20:14 (sixteen years ago) link

However, "Amarok" by Mike Oldfield is great too, and I believe that one lasted for 55 minutes or something

-- Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, April 16, 2003 7:21 AM (4 years ago)

The entirety of Mike Oldfield's 1990 work "Amarok". It lasted for an hour, and was his best album since his 70s heyday.

-- Geir Hongro, Friday, May 11, 2007 6:55 AM (8 hours ago)

Yeah, I think you covered that one.

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Friday, 11 May 2007 20:18 (sixteen years ago) link

three months pass...

Does ANYONE have a list - or know where to find one - of the 10 (or more) longest UK No.1s? i.e. the list that Oasis' dronefest 'All Around The World' will top?

It's for a low-rent feature.

Cheers!

― Matthew H, Thursday, 23 August 2007 10:43 (sixteen years ago) link

"O Superman" is longest surely?

― Tom D., Thursday, 23 August 2007 10:55 (sixteen years ago) link

Only No.2, wasn't it?

― Matthew H, Thursday, 23 August 2007 11:52 (sixteen years ago) link

You're right!

― Tom D., Thursday, 23 August 2007 11:54 (sixteen years ago) link

im gonna ignore the 'no classical' restriction...morton feldman wrote a six hour string quartet and i love every second i've heard (just listened to an hour and half of it so far)........anyone else dig morty?

― bstep, Thursday, 23 August 2007 14:24 (sixteen years ago) link

Oh, most people round here

― Tom D., Thursday, 23 August 2007 14:27 (sixteen years ago) link

the longest song ever (in minutes) is Michael Jatas - Love is Hurting me (15:12 minutes)

― r1o natsume, Thursday, 23 August 2007 14:44 (sixteen years ago) link

The 7" single version of Dan Le Sac and Scroobius Pip's "Thou Shalt Always Kill" repeats the line, "Thou shalt not make generic repetitive music." for infinity.

― Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:30 (sixteen years ago) link

But they're shitmunks, to be fair.

― Noodle Vague, Thursday, 23 August 2007 16:37 (sixteen years ago) link

eleven years pass...

12 hours of songs over six minutes on KEXP tomorrow, celebrating the solstice. Streaming at kexp.org from 6am Seattle time, 2pm imago time.

https://www.kexp.org/events/kexp-events/long-songs-longest-day-year/

https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2019/06/20/40528948/20-requests-for-kexps-the-longest-songs-on-the-longest-day-program

― quelle sprocket damage (sic), Thursday, 20 June 2019 21:45 (four years ago) link

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