The long and short of it?

1)Shortest song I can THINK of that I LOVE is

"Little Wing" - Hendrix - I think it's 2:24 long - best I could do. Fair amount of shorter songs but none, I could think of, that I like that much.

2)Longest - "Time Is" - It's A Beautiful Day - Can't find the album but think it comes in around 15 mins. The songs on "I.A.B.D." generally blend into each other (kind of like "Abbey Road" but more so) so that makes it more difficult. There're lots of longer songs (maybe not LOTS) but none that keep me as interested.

3)Long songs such as "Echoes" I like playing in the background - you can be doing something else without being distracted by the music. "Time Is" is a little more distracting to me so need to have quality time with it.

Short songs such as "Her Majesty" don't generally grab my interest except as the bit of music they are. I kind of wish "Little Wing" was longer but songs that are worthy write themselves. You can't ask for more out of a song than there is, or less. If the songwriter is writing a song for shortness or length they are not writing it for me. You can't force or limit inspiration, when it runs out you're done. Now, during the performance of a song you have another dynamic so the length may change (one way or the other) if you are playing artistically/creatively, and again, I'm not interested in listening to someone live or recorded who is not being creative.

Excellent question! Really got me thinking!

I love long songs that I can get into, feel and believe I'm there with the performer, song's that bring out intense emotions; such as joy, sorrow, pride, love, euphoria, etc. You did not specify what genre, it should be; Rock, Vocal, Instrumentational, etc. so here goes:

My longest song/composition that I LOVE is the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra's 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, 15:20 long and can be listened to here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU96Yvk310s&feature... I know it's long, but it's worth the wait to the end! Or if you want to listen to a shorter version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-vQKZFF-9s&feature... This is the same song played during the movie "V" where Parliament was blown up.

You didn't specifiy how short or long my favorite short song was to be, so here is my favorite medium-short song: "Be" by Neil Diamond, 5:44 (6:33) on this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgkk0Hdwmo8&feature... This song speaks VOLUMES to me, to the depths of my soul. I cannot explain why, it just does.

BE

Lost

On a painted sky

Where the clouds are hung

For the poet's eye

You may find him

If you may find him

There

On a distant shore

By the wings of dreams

Through an open door

You may know him

If you may

Be

As a page that aches for a word

Which speaks on a theme that is timeless

While the Sun God will make for your day

Sing

As a song in search of a voice that is silent

And the sun God will make for your way

And we dance

To a whispered voice

Overheard by the soul

Undertook by the heart

You may know it

If you may know it

While the sand

Would become the stone

Which begat the spark

Turned to living bone

Holy, holy

Sanctus, sanctus

Be

As a page that aches for a word

Which speaks on a theme that is timeless

And the One God will make for your day

Sing

As a song in search of a voice that is silent

And the one God will make for your way

I've never read the book Jonathon Livingston Seagul nor seen the movie, I'm just a fan of Neil Diamond and his beautiful voice, lyrics, & music.

Longest: 25 minute live version of Dazed and Confused.

Shortest: The Beatles: Her Majesty -

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she

Doesn't have a lot to say.

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl but she

Changes from day to day.

I wanna tell her that I love her a lot,

But I gotta get a belly full of wine.

Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl,

Someday I'm gonna make her mine “ Oh yeah,

Someday I'm gonna make her mine

Not even a minute long at the end of Abbey Road

The length of a song doesn't affect me much unless I'm in the car and want to hear all of a long one, then I might drive around the block a few more times.

1) 'Tubular Bells' (part 1) ~ Mike Oldfield {25:36}

{It's longer than 'Echoes'!}

2) 'Slipstream' ~ Jethro Tull {1:13}

3) I really don't know how to answer this!

I love long songs ~ they don't bore me at all {at least, the ones I like don't!}. Some short songs make me wish they were longer, but often they have been done in such a way that everything that needs to be in there is.

Hmmm, there are actually quite a lot for both!

Longest - Shine On You Crazy Diamond, by Pink Floyd...It's so damn mesmerizing!

Shortest - Tame by the Pixies, Horse Latitudes - the Doors, or Tourettes! I love that song!

A long song will bore unless it's interesting, like in Shine On YOu Crazy Diamond there are lots of build ups and different (very Pink Floyd-y) changes in the song..Well I wish songs like Tame were longer, but some songs I think if they were any longer it could ruin them! They wouldn't make as much of an impact if they draaaagged on..

If that makes any sense?!

Haha

Longest- Suppers Ready-Genesis about 20 minutes long

Shortest-Held Up Without A Gun-Bruce Springsteen about 1 minute 30 seconds

Ussually, I like songs short and to the point. 3-4 minutes is enough. The Genesis song was from my early prog rock days

taking into consideration the word LOVE:

1. free bird by lynyrd skynyrd

2. bad moon rising by ccr

the song's length doesn't really change the way i listen to it at all, i just follow the song for however long it goes...a lot of longer songs, especially like some of those 20+ minute epics, do end up boring me because oftentimes songs like that contain unnecessary pieces which could be eliminated without affecting the quality of the song, but a song that is long enough to capture whatever it is that the writer wants can never be boring to me because every second of that song is needed to gain the desired effect...same goes for short songs, if what needs to be said can be said in 2 minutes instead of 9, then that's great as long as song quality is not negatively affected

short shorts

1. Echoes (Live at Pompeii) Pink Floyd

2. Eclipse, Pink Floyd

3. I listen to the shorter songs a little more closely but I like the longer songs like Echoes because its great music for about 20 minutes. Usually when i listen to short songs they come in order like Eclipse is pretty much the second part of Brain Damage.

For shortest, I'll go with Taunta that leads into Nantucket Sleighride by Mountain album ~ one minute long.

Another one that always ends too soon is The Wind by Cat Stevens... just shy of two minutes long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4-IZTZkTY8

Longest favorite song ~ gotta go with Echoes.

It's nice to have some serious kick-back time scheduled when listening to the long ones...