14 minutes that don't outstay their welcome

[Chris P]

Has this been posted here before? - I can't find it on a search.

Surely 14 minutes that become part of the surrounding world - extraordinary. Are there any other long songs that never outstay?

http://youtu.be/jvREUDH2BZ0

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - I Dream A Highway

[gary booth]

'Idiot Wind' was mentioned the other day -it's very long for Dylan -and most people really in this genre - but only half the length of 'I Dream A Highway' It certainly has never seemed too long for me ever. Funny enough, Norman & I do think about the length of songs when selecting them for the podcast -I probably have a default setting at around 5 minutes and then I start to think about it - but we have then said 5, 10, 14 mins to listen to something that you think is great isn't much of a hardship is it? We've all wasted hours on bad films and television.

[Willy]

OOh ChrisP,Thanks for that link. I am entranced by Dave and Gillian and I don't even like Country & Western (*waves arms* -not that there's anything wrong with it)
Does the ol'lady have toothache?(tenuous link to hilarious videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... hfLK66WlZY
and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHaPxQ6M ... ure=relmfu
I've watched these 5 times so far -still good :P

Gary & Norman, Really enjoying your No Reason podcasts Thank you. I'm up to No4 Did you ever go to the Lord Napier? I used to watch Bill Brunskill on Sunday afternoons...nice

ChrisP, That was never 14 minutes!

[Ted]

Somebody, surely, has to say "Sister Ray", so it might as well be me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJUpY5geWcU


Lou Reed said of the lyrics: "'it has eight characters in it and this guy gets killed and nobody does anything. It was built around this story that I wrote about this scene of total debauchery and decay. I like to think of ‘Sister Ray' as a transvestite smack dealer. The situation is a bunch of drag queens taking some sailors home with them, shooting up on smack and having this orgy when the police appear."

[AndyM]

On the vinyl double album of Richard Thompson's "(guitar, vocal)" there was a version of 'Calvary Cross' that took up a whole side. Nineteen minutes or so (by shaky memory, I haven't checked). And it was fantastic.

[Chris P]

On the vinyl double album of Richard Thompson's "(guitar, vocal)" there was a version of 'Calvary Cross' that took up a whole side. Nineteen minutes or so (by shaky memory, I haven't checked). And it was fantastic.

Too true, spot on, good one Andy.

PS maybe no Krautrock allowed? - length is often the default even for the tuneful stuff

[Chris P]

Does the ol'lady have toothache?(tenuous link to hilarious videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... hfLK66WlZY
and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHaPxQ6M ... ure=relmfu

no, but I've got a bruised back and neck (don't ask..) - does that count?

A quick peek at your clips - am I right in thinking the woman in them posted them herself and has commented on them? Brave!

[Willy]

ChrisP, As far as I know, she did post them herself. How did you do your back in?

[Chris P]

How did you do your back in?

had my car 'totalled' by a left hand drive Romanian HGV that pulled into my lane & vehicle, 4 days ago.

[Willy]

Yikes! Sorry to hear that. I remember hearing that the problem was sorted out by the UK ports handing out Fresnel lenses to left handed trucks but having done a little research, I see it only reduced the number of accidents.

[john poole]

Somebody, surely, has to say "Sister Ray", so it might as well be me

and somebody, surely, has to say 'Voodoo Chile', so it may as well be me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ZsKdmCIVY

[gary booth]

I said 'Idiot Wind' was very long for Dylan - what an idiot! Back in 1966 'Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' took up the whole of side 4 of Blonde on Blonde (11mins 22 secs) - no youtube version available. And 'Desolation Row' is only a second shorter. No youtube either.

But here's one which for me stands the test of time..

http://youtu.be/jlbunmCbTBA

[Adam Blake]

Thank you, Chris, spellbinding stuff. It gives the impression of slowing down throughout its entire length which is a difficult trick to turn. It wears its length quite effortlessly.

I have always liked long songs. And conversely, short songs (it impresses me that The Beatles didn't break the 3 minute barrier until their fifth album, and even then by only a few seconds.) If a bunch of musicians decide that they are not going to be constrained by time considerations then something unusual often happens. Often it's boring - when I was a kid I used to play Cream's 16:44 version of "Spoonful" a lot, thinking that if I listened hard enough, I would be able to understand something that was obviously far too grown up for me - but sometimes it's wonderful, like all the examples posted so far.

Nobody's going to mention "Svalbard", so it will have to be me. (I am not responsible for the poncey title, to me it is titled "5/4 Moonwalk")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TravLC7_cbw

[Chris P]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... hfLK66WlZY
and: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHaPxQ6M ... ure=relmfu
I've watched these 5 times so far -still good :P
!

as I've given up on Russell Howard (acc to my niece he popularised this?), I'd like to say a big thankyou for these. I'm twice round them, and they're not only funny, but fascinating. What is the drug do we reckon?