Top 120 Songs Under 120 Seconds (ILM Poll #95)

Hold On is the first of my top ten to place.

COOOKIE

“Hold On” is one of my fave Lennon songs and I’m always surprised that it’s not mentioned more

https://i.imgur.com/pni0fR2.jpg
82. Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack (1:55)
0.3837 points
5 votes

sweet I voted for Dang Me, perfection

https://i.imgur.com/sbnFD5K.jpg
81. The Dicks - Dicks Hate the Police (1:58)
0.3855 points
4 votes

that's it for today! spotify list is here, and here's the countdown so far:

Rank - Artist - Track - Length - Points - Votes

120 Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Love For Tender (1:58) 0.3 3
119 Sleater-Kinney - Little Mouth (1:45) 0.3036 5
118 Randy Newman - Dayton, Ohio - 1903 (1:53) 0.3042 5
117 James Brown - Think (from 'Live at the Apollo') (1:58) 0.3078 5
116 Beastie Boys - Flute Loop (1:55) 0.3126 7
115 Arthur Russell - Eli (1:56) 0.3141 4 (1)
114 Beck - Hollow Log (1:54) 0.3144 4
113 The Clash - Koka Kola (1:48) 0.3177 5
111 The Sea Nymphs - On the Dry Land (1:46) 0.3195 3
111 Minor Threat - Straight Edge (0:46) 0.3195 5
110 The Beach Boys - Caroline, No (a cappella, Pet Sounds, Disc 3) (1:54) 0.3237 5
109 The dB's - Big Brown Eyes (1:59) 0.3243 6
108 Boards of Canada - Olson (1:32) 0.3246 5
107 Liz Phair - Glory (1:30) 0.3258 5
106 Prince - I Wonder U (1:40) 0.3261 6
105 Elastica - Vaseline (1:20) 0.3285 5
104 Maurice Williams - Stay (1:34) 0.3288 4
103 Buddy Holly - Words of Love (1:56) 0.3297 6
102 Roxy Music - Tara (1:47) 0.3309 5
101 Minutemen - Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing (1:31) 0.3318 5
100 Fats Domino - Walking to New Orleans (1:58) 0.3342 4
99 Noname - Self (1:35) 0.3384 4
98 Cardiacs - Horsehead (1:21) 0.3411 4
97 The Beach Boys - Our Prayer (1:10) 0.3432 5
96 Neil Young - Cripple Creek Ferry (1:33) 0.3435 6
95 V/A - Knight Rider Theme (1:17) 0.3495 5
94 DEVO - Too Much Paranoias (1:57) 0.3549 5
93 Neutral Milk Hotel - Communist Daughter (1:57) 0.3573 5
91 Napalm Death - You Suffer (0:02) 0.3672 8
91 Captain Beefheart - Frownland (1:39) 0.3672 5
89 Lizzy Mercier Descloux/Rosa Yemen - Rosa Vertov (1:48) 0.3675 5
89 Hüsker Dü - Never Talking To You Again (1:41) 0.3675 7
88 Scott Walker - 30 Century Man (1:28) 0.3681 5
87 Raymond Scott - Lightworks (1:40) 0.369 5
86 Bikini Kill - In Accordance to Natural Law (0:28) 0.372 4 (1)
85 John Barry Orchestra - James Bond Theme (1:50) 0.3729 8
84 Roger Miller - Dang Me (1:51) 0.3816 4
83 John Lennon - Hold On (1:52) 0.3819 6
82 Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack (1:55) 0.3837 5
81 The Dicks - Dicks Hate the Police (1:58) 0.3855 4

i was the number 1 'in accordance..' voter, very little goes harder

pretty cool when that dicks track kind of kicks back in near the end

Confession: I don't recall hearing the Dicks before. This was a Mudhoney thing to me before this moment. *face goes red*

Other track that feels new and intriguing, despite listening to the playlist plenty: Rosa Yemen
Track I somehow didn't consider, but should have: Noname
Tracks I actually voted for: Devo, Cptn Beefheart, Scott Walker

This is all making for a sweet playlist. Thanks once more, KM!

Dicks was my No. 4.

Very weak showing for such a classic!

I got nothin' so far. I probably should have voted for "Walking to New Orleans," another one I missed on the big list. I still need someone to explain the appeal of "You Suffer." It's not...it's not really...there's no song.

never heard of the dicks b4 I'm sorry whiney. cool song tho ive been missing out

That Britten "Cuckoo" song from the Non-Noms is cool. Thumbs up to whoever was responsible.

I'm with clem on "You Suffer." Are you all listening to the 200% slower version? (Which would clock in at 3 seconds, I guess.)

So of the first 40 entries, I've had two place and another three that made my longlist.

i voted for the idea of You Suffer

five of mine placed, noname the highest so far (my #5)

you can hear all the lyrics in this live version of You Suffer - I think they're stacked in the studio recording?

I voted for that Dicks track but I like "Fake Bands" even more, they have a bunch of other killer tracks

The Dicks is the first of mine to place (I voted for You Suffer in the 30 second poll, but wish I'd kept it in the main one now given the whining over it)

Glad I didn't vote, I would have tried to find out a way to submit all the tracks from Whack World

‘Our Prayer’ @ 97 feels very wrong to me, although oddly I think it would have been a fitting #100.

Is there a Spotty link for the sub-30 seconds top ten?

I so want to hear the Thames ident followed by "You Suffer"

MG

is it a coincidence that the number one song on the Hot 100 this week is 112 seconds long?

113 seconds, even

89 Hüsker Dü - Never Talking To You Again (1:41) 0.3675 7
88 Scott Walker - 30 Century Man (1:28) 0.3681 5
87 Raymond Scott - Lightworks (1:40) 0.369 5
86 Bikini Kill - In Accordance to Natural Law (0:28) 0.372 4 (1)

fuck yeah @ this stretch

who among you is ready

Is there a Spotty link for the sub-30 seconds top ten?

There's this, but it doesn't seem to have 'You Suffer' on it?

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1samwlpiURoEH79UlJXzo0

the concept of this poll sounded boring to me, another exercise in listmaking according to arbitrary parameters, but arbitrary parameters are key to so much that is good in life and this list is awesome and i love it so thanks KM

https://i.imgur.com/X1uB6G9.jpg
80. Eddie Cochran - C'Mon Everybody (1:58)
0.3894 points
6 votes

Going back to the Raymond Scott discussion, I was voting for the vocal version from Manhattan Research, Inc, yes.

https://i.imgur.com/u6Cyfb4.jpg
79. J Dilla - Stop (1:39)
0.3912 points
4 votes

really kicking myself for not voting in this one, it sounded like it'd be too esoteric and strange for me to form a ballot, but the results are full of killer classics i love. and karl, you're doing an amazing job as usual.

i can't believe you don't know "dang me!" go check out a roger miller comp stat - his first string of Smash LPs are all from the same sessions and they're bustling with great songs like this.

"stay" is criminally low. i def should have voted, sigh.

https://i.imgur.com/wwhulQQ.jpg
78. The Byrds - Time Between (1:54)
0.3939 points
6 votes

voted for a different Donuts track, but Stop is a deserving placement for sure. still makes me emotional after all these years

thanks for the enthusiasm and encouraging words, everyone! i still have another 60 images to prepare for the rest of the week (20 per night), so that definitely helps. :)

i can't believe you don't know "dang me!" go check out a roger miller comp stat - his first string of Smash LPs are all from the same sessions and they're bustling with great songs like this.

i can! the nice thing about not listening to music at all in your youth is that there are all these broad swaths of music history that are ripe for exploration (for me, at least)

Stop is a beautiful track

every Hillman track on Younger Than Yesterday is soooo good, another one that i'm kinda pissed i didn't vote for.

Time Between was in the upper half of my ballot and this does feel oddly low for it

i didn't get to know roger miller until the middle to late part of my protracted youth, probably age 20 or 21 when i picked up "my uncle used to love me but she died" as a yard-sale 7". my mom glanced at it and said "oh, you'll like that one." she was right.

I'm going to actually listen to the results later tonight while doing some work, so might have a bit more to contribute about songs I didn't previously know. I know they're all super-short but I've just not got round to following along properly so far.

never listened to the byrds really. kinda lumped them in w the beatles who i never really got into. this is a little more country, i like it and am wanting to hear the whole album now. is that their thing, the more country beatles?

https://i.imgur.com/WnPdKay.jpg
77. Solange - Rise (1:42)
0.3999 points
8 votes

is that their thing, the more country beatles?

At the start they're more like the "more folk" beatles, but that quickly becomes a very reductive description, and they get both way more psych than the beatles and more country after that.

tbc, the Byrds are american. They were the last of the classic '60s groups I got into and now they're more or less my favorite. Listen to the next track on YTY

birds were never partic beatlesy? they were their own thing. west coast jangly guitars and harmonies. folky. lots of bob dylan covers.

their album with gram parsons "sweetheart of the rodeo" is their country album, it's my fave.

sorry for the very elementary explanation of the byrds

no its cool just not an area of music i visited much so i need it. everybody's been burned is great. ill check out sweetheart of the rodeo as well.

my fave Byrds are the early Gene Clark tunes