There’s a song by Foo Fighters called “Big Me.” It’s only 2 minutes and 13 seconds long, and that’s extremely short for a song these days. I’m guessing Dave Grohl, being the incredibly sharp person he is, wanted to get it played on the radio!   I used to love it when that song came up on my morning playlist at WCHL, because it meant that if I worked really hard, I might be able to squeeze in an extra song during that particular hour of my show. I was always in favor of playing more music!  It also was a big help timing up to CBS News at the top of the hour, and still getting in all the commercials for our sponsors and everything else I needed to do.

I got to thinking the other day about why some songs are short and others last a lot longer. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, in the early days of rock music, they were generally  brief. I can hear artists in my head right now, such as Fats Domino, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and even The Beatles, singing tunes that landed fairly close to 2 minutes. They started getting longer in the late 60’s and going on through the 70’s, but there were still a few holdovers. Remember this one from Bill Withers?

How about “The Letter” by Alex Chilton and The Box Tops?

Actually, I believe the shortest song ever to hit #1 on the U.S. charts was a tune from way back in 1960, written and recorded by Maurice Williams & The Zodiacs.

That great song, now considered a Beach Music classic, has been covered dozens of times by other artists — one of whom was Jackson Browne, who put it on the end of his tribute to roadies, “The Load Out” — but I digress.

You can bet that every one of those short, tight, bright songs got a lot of radio airplay. People like me could slip them in a little more often, given the constraints of time, while still taking care of their other duties, like messages from sponsors, the news, traffic, weather, etc.  Not only were they great music, but they were “radio-friendly.” I loved ‘em and so did a lot of other people in the business… and, more importantly, the listeners loved them!  I could mention countless other favorite short songs, but you get the idea.

What about the long songs? During the latter part of the 60’s decade, artists began to test the boundaries.  I remember the first time I ever heard Bob Dylan’s song, “Like A Rolling Stone.” After it played, I thought, “Gee, that thing must have been at least five minutes long.” Turns out it was six!

In the summertime of ’68, Richard Harris released “McArthur Park,” which seemed to go on forever (in more ways than one.)

Of course, the ultimate long rock song was by Iron Butterfly.  I remember hearing it for the first time in a friend’s college dorm room.

That song never would have gotten played on the radio in those days had the record company not come out with an edited version under three minutes long…but you sort of lose the feel of the song when you break it down that far.

Not long after that Iron Butterfly recorded marathon, this one came out from Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was…and is…beautiful.

FM stations were becoming prominent, and there were some “free form” stations around, too, with looser restrictions on the music they played… it was a perfect time for rock bands to create lengthy offerings, because they provided the opportunity for guitar jams:

“Whipping Post” actually goes on for about 11 and ½ minutes!  And the Allman Brothers had a much longer, absolutely beautiful song, “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” Other Southern rock bands got into the act, too. Lynyrd Skynyrd had the ubiquitous “Free Bird.” And I always loved this song by The Outlaws:

Soul groups followed the trend, too. Here’s one of my favorites from The Temptations. All 11:45 of it!

And I love this one from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes:

I think I’d better stop. There are so many other examples I could use, but I’ll call it a day here. To paraphrase one of my favorite rock songs by Steppenwolf, I don’t want to “fire all of my guns at once and explode into space.” I suppose there are many ways to express yourself musically, and sometimes you can make it short and to the point. Other times, it may take a little longer. These days it’s not as necessary to cater to radio stations.  There are so many ways fans get their music, and we all know what they are. How long a song is doesn’t matter as much these days.

That’s “The Music In My Head” today. Hope you enjoyed it! Until next time…

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