Songs are too long... But these songs should go on forever...

From Hey Jude to All Around the World to Vienna, some songs go on for criminal lengths of time, staying well past their welcome.
Wire got it right on their first couple of albums: verse, chorus, verse, end. No unsightly bridges or gaudy extended outros. Get it over with.
But some songs deserve to go on forever. What are they?

The long version of 'Dream Baby Dream' by Suicide is 6.20 long, which is simply not long enough. Has anyone done an hour-long edit of this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FFIFsK1duw

There are lots of songs that are too short, I don't think "Drean Baby Dream" is one of them though.

... is there a short version of "Drean Baby Dream" btw?

"Vienna" is not too long, it's perfect the length it is.

I always thought the krauty second half of Portishead's The Rip should you on and keep building and become more psychedelic and complex. It's a good song with the potential to have been a truly great one.

... is there a short version of "Drean Baby Dream" btw?

― Eats like Elvis, shits like De Niro (Tom D.), Wednesday, January 18, 2017 10:18 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's about half as long.

I'm always sad when Ravel's Bolero ends :-/ That's one that I could happily listen to for a whole morning, just gently building until by lunchtime it's intensely chipping away at my eardrums. A bit like how this tune ends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlhK1D-8o2g

"Vienna" is not too long, it's perfect the length it is.

― heaven parker (anagram), Wednesday, January 18, 2017 10:37 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The old joke is that is goes 'oooooooon foreveeeeerrr...'

(I do like Vienna a lot actually)

I always thought the krauty second half of Portishead's The Rip should you on and keep building and become more psychedelic and complex. It's a good song with the potential to have been a truly great one.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), woensdag 18 januari 2017 11:46 (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Good call! This one is defo too short by a minute or two.

Plenty of Neil Young songs fit the bill, 'Down By the River', 'Cortez the Killer', 'Love and Only Love'... not 'Driftin' Back' though

He does extend them a fair bit live

for ages i've wanted to track down the stems to either Buffalo Stance or Material Girl, break them right down and build them up again as epic hour-long disco edits that play on all the recombinant riffs and parts, dubby sections, ambient sections, full-on dance sections. if anyone knows where i could source these, let me know.

that's a cool idea!

yeah it's about half as long.

Where? It was a 12" single, afaik.

I always thought the krauty second half of Portishead's The Rip should you on and keep building and become more psychedelic and complex. It's a good song with the potential to have been a truly great one.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), woensdag 18 januari 2017 11:46 (thirty minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Good call! This one is defo too short by a minute or two.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, January 18, 2017 12:17 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7WAHnZPIX0

"Vienna" is not too long, it's perfect the length it is.

― heaven parker (anagram), Wednesday, January 18, 2017 10:37 AM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha, that's the first thing that made me go "huh?" when reading the OP. Granted, there are songs out there that go on for ages and/or stay well past their welcome, but 'Vienna' does neither!

Also...

Wire got it right on their first couple of albums: verse, chorus, verse, end. No unsightly bridges or gaudy extended outros. Get it over with.

Sure, if one views listening to music as some kind of chore that needs to over with as quickly as possible.

yeah seriously that wire opinion is trash (and not even true of chairs missing) and wire themselves realised it

salt. a pinch. add it.

"Got to Give it Up" by Marvin Gaye which is 12 minutes and never changes
ditto for "Supperappin" by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

not that they don't rule, love both those tracks

guess I have to mention "Mei" by Echolyn here, a nearly 50-minute prog suite that has at least three fake endings. again, totally rules

Old variant of this thread: Tracks you wish were twice as long as they actually are

it is a fact that ought to be universally acknowledged that most art products can only be improved by having less content spread over much more time/space

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... is there a short version of "Drean Baby Dream" btw?

yeah it's about half as long.

Where? It was a 12" single, afaik.

Kassie Jones by Furry Lewis is one of those tracks that feels like it doesn't so much start as appear out of the distance, roll past, and then disappear off again. Having it in two parts only adds to that sense of it having a life of its own.

A lot of genuine, passed-on folk music has that feeling; songs that began before the singer was born don't simply stop when they put down the guitar, but you can sense them bubbling underneath.

yeah seriously that wire opinion is trash (and not even true of chairs missing) and wire themselves realised it

It's not even true of "Pink Flag" either but pinch of salt noted.

Minnie Riperton's "Les Fleur". It has one of the greatest choruses in all of Western popular music, but the song fades out after they've played it, like, twice. I'm pretty sure 4 Hero did their cover version mostly just to extend the tune to a length it deserves.

Tracks you wish were twice as long as they actually are

Here are two songs I once edited to make them into endless loops:
Stina Nordenstam - 'I Dream of Jeannie'
Owen Pallett - 'The Riverbed' (though I could never get the edit exactly right)

Slowdive - "Rutti"

"Hey Jude"