Say what you need to say, play what you need to play…..then stop. Perfection in two minutes….
Anyone else have any favourite short songs to share?
Perfection in two minutes
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Great thread. The Mighty Tull did a few short ones, beloved of @steerpike …. here”s “Nursie”
https://youtu.be/N5Z_o9NBOs8
These are great songs, Twang….
https://youtube.com/watch?v=zEYJrBoxvOE
Too right
https://youtu.be/Nnoz76RMSko
…and again…
Teenage Fanclub manage it in 1:57
What You Do To Me
Superb….here’s another, at just over two minutes….
Buzzcocks – Love You More
The Ramones get all self-referential in 1:25
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DqXzL226Ok
Just over 2 minutes but this is marvellous.
Marvelous indeed.
More Derry based marvelous-ness in under 2 minutes
Here Comes The Summer
I knew being 24 hours late to this thread there would already be some Undertones, good work Uncle and Rigid. What a fine, fine band they are. I’m 50 years old and still remember the excitement the day I got the first album. And what a fine non album track You’ve Got My Number was.
The Jam – All Mod Cons
it it the law to expect the opening drum roll of To Be Someone once the feedback fade-out has finished.
But as To Be Someone exceeds 2 minutes, I’m just going to have to be a criminal
The Smiths – Please Please Let Me Get What I want
The Fall – Mr Pharmacist!
Huzzah!
An obvious answer (do I win a prize?)
JJ Cale has form with this sort of thing. He was exceptional at short stabs of lyrical and rhythmic brilliance.
The below is possibly my favourite slice of 2 minutes and 6 seconds. God, everything from the immediate drop into the beat, the spare lazy guitar lick and the stoned Chuck Berryesque lyrics.
As you say, @Beezer – the whole thread was prompted by the great man himself – many examples…
Sparklehorse, Heart of Darkness. Just perfect.
Agreed: perfect. And another….
My fave Judee Sill song:
if its a short sharp mosh to get you in gig mode…….TWO CHORDS-TWO FINGERS by hard skin should be all you need.
I could have picked any number of Wire toons…..
…viz, ip33 below….
On Pink Flag the MO Wire were using was that when the ‘text’ ran out, the song stopped – so there are a few ‘minatures’ on that record. I like this one:
Ain’t No Sunshine is an obvious choice, but this is great too.
Seems kinda dour.
Whaddaya want, Mr freakin’ Blobby?
Mr Blobby is many things, Moose, but a master of exquisite minimalism is not one of them. Is there anything short and sweet about the Blobbtastic One?
Not bloody short enough.
From Sail Away, where Rand’ is essentially the Kurt Vonnegut of pop.
https://youtu.be/5FIOxM3CN6Y
That is quite lovely
And with that level of critical review I’m not surprised I still don’t write for The New Yorker.
I want this played at my funeral.
And every other day.
Ever.
2 minutes 50. It doesn’t get much better
https://youtu.be/iguLpoV0SXc
¿Hay una discoteca por aqui?
https://youtu.be/pRk82JGIHXs
(Yazoo – Situation)
We Are 138 by The Misfits. It’s 1 minute 38 seconds long…
Here’s a wee cracker….
Two and a half minutes – Free, Little Bit Of Love
A couple from Roy Harper, “Davey” and “Feeling All The Saturday”, both from Flat, Baroque And Berserk.
A lyric quote I particularly like:
“Mum’s just bought herself a leaning post
It’s made of words and pages
It says God gives us all our daily toast
But dad still earns the wages.”
I like this little ditty. Piano, drums, bass, horns, vocals, backing vocals – there’s a lot packed into 88 seconds:
Short and exceptionally sweet:
I s’pose you could take a listen to The Residents “Commercial Album”. There are forty one-minute tracks on that one. Another long-lost vinyl album from my collection.
Here’s “Picnic Boy” featuring Lene Lovich as guest vocalist.
The song that launched bossa nova – one second over two minutes.
(Clears throat)
Tracey Thorn sings Nick Drake’s mum. One minute and 57 seconds which eloquently make their point.
This gem by John Cale is 45 seconds too long but I’m posting it anyway.
Antartica starts here
Vashti is more succint.
Just another diamond day.
John Cale….genius at work…..at just over two minutes….
Sometimes I think this might even be my favorite Magnetic Fields song (and there are a LOT of candidates for that title). From the huge, incomparably brilliant “69 Love Songs”, “Abigail, Belle of Kilronan”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S80VLvczNK4
Tom Petty did good economy
Bang on the two.
It’s got more hooks than a box full of, er, hooks.
I’ve listened to most of these and concluded that. by and large, you need more than 2 minutes to create something great.
yes, I think the optimum is about 2:30, viz Free and this:
This is a very good song. In case anyone was wondering.
When blues gets a bit punk
Dog ‘ouse!
Chancing my arm with this, but I love it…
That was GREAT.
I enjoyed it too. A real pick-me-up. Marvelous slide show too of Floyd’s album covers. A busy man.
Add that one to the list of “stuff I’m convinced I’ve heard before (maybe as a TV Theme or a sporting montage (possibly snooker)), but never have”.
Great little track
Glad you liked it. Bet it’s rock hard to play as well (I’m not a piano player, it just sounds difficult).
Early 60s instrumentals are a sort of favourite thing of mine. This is probably a bit of an obvious choice for the OT too, but it’s just as good.
Another possibly obvious early 60s instrumental (just breaking the 2 minute threshold)
B Bumble & The Stingers – Nut Rocker
Some great album covers on show there. ‘Martini Time’ looks particularly fun.
Available any time, any place, anywhere
Very slightly over…but close enough if you take out the noise at the start and the applause at the end:
Before they became the MO we all know and love, Johnny Mac’s virtuoso pals were called The Masters of Brevity. Here’s one of their more danceable numbers, packing more into 2:54 than most bands manage in a whole career
Interesting observation, Junior. I’m impressed by how much you can achieve in two minutes.
However, I’m still waiting for a 2 minute track from Fela Kuti, John Coltrane and the Dead. Two minutes in and Mr Garcia and co probably haven’t past the first chord.
Some genres do not lend themselves to this kind of economy, jazz being a prime example. And Wagner! Can you imagine the Tannhauser Hitmaker with a 120 second piece?
A 90-second Grateful Dead song? Comin’ up!
Two minutes? This isn’t bloody Tales from Topographic Oceans.
Clocking in at 1 minute and 29 seconds, Swell Maps…
1.25 of shouty bolshy wonderfulness.
Wire – Mr Suit
Beards! Buddhism! Brevity!
https://youtu.be/ed_wB7lCRKk
Tv themes are a whole sub-genre here. Of necessity they must be short. Sometimes there is some ingenious recycling:
Like Nat king Cole for Twenty Twelve
Then there’s the newly written material
The Monkees
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzexePjWlI
Fireman Sam- what a gem!
The Addams Family!
JCC could cramn a lot into 2 minutes.
“Cramn”? Damn!
Incidentally, since seeing him for the first time on a couple of TV panel shows (e.g. Would I Lie To You?) my mum has become a huge JCC fan thanks to YouTube, and Evidently Chickentown is one of her faves, despite its repeated use of a word I’d have been in terrible trouble for using when I lived under her roof. The hypocrisy!
Parents, eh?
Delighted to hear that JCC is continuing to gather new fans from different generations. By now he must be a National Treasure.
One more from him!
Napalm Death – ‘You Suffer’ – 1.3 seconds long. Do I win a prize?
The similarly hardcore Peel Session version of ‘Mega Armagedden Death’ by The Electro Hippies is just 0.1 second long. Barely time to draw breath before it was over.
I have the whole session on a 4-track 12″ single with a total running time of about a minute.
Yikes! That makes Todd Rungren’s 1.56 seem positively long-winded.
I don’t want to tie you down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZz1fjM_I1I
Back to those succint Smiths.
Girlfriend in a coma is a jewel of precision.
If we’re doing shorts, we must not forget Freddie and the Dreamers.
Short shorts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gM9SaKjCsZo
Ray Barretto getting enough percussive slaps in to fill a 5 minute record.
Wipeout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2ksrlpNNh8
Most of the Coasters’ hits are hovering around two minutes in length. Yet they manage to tell wonderful stories about being a teenager.
Yackety Yak
Cahrlie Brown
Another gem of the same vintage from The Clovers: Love Potion No 9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfallLiaIaQ
We’ve not had much reggae or ska, despite the fact that most of those classic Trojan singles. were hovering round the 2 minutes mark.
Like Desmond Dekker’s Israelltes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83Y2hv-3UCM
Feist’s exquisite Gatekeeper slips effortlessly through the gate.
Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends has many short songs. Old Friends is a small gem.
Unless one is a DJ putting together a playlist, one rarely things of how long a song is. I was very surprised, for example, how short Eleanor Rigby was.
https://youtu.be/zv4CNoq8nC4
Deacon Blue got the job down with 25 seconds to spare. Here is another succinct band from Scotland.
Belle and Sebastian – A summer wasting
https://youtu.be/U-Y0SMitMpk
https://open.spotify.com/track/11fNLqDB47gMKj7BHhR2Qrhttps://open.spotify.com/track/660j84jp8ljIwLFiAFprlbhttps://open.spotify.com/track/4dOJOZp4d0mj0g8DHT2Vqr
The Eno track was used as the theme tune for BBC Arena documentaries BTW…
And some Genesis if you don’t mind……..
It wouldn’t be right not to include a song by that master of economy, Burt Bacharach.
With Ms Warwick now joining J.J. Cale, Mr Bragg. the Undertones, Brian Eno, Desmond Dekker, Feist and many more, we have an enjoyably varied playlist.
Keep them coming though!
Some succint instrumentals…
Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate – Fantasy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-OJHF1rFcI
Link Wray -Rumble
John Fahey – In Christ there is no east or west
Booker T and the MGs – Green Onions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRAYhzgPNso
You are on a roll this evening, Mark. More gems of a similar vintage.
The Adverts – Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
Subway Sect – Nobody’s scared: clocking in at 2.06!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRdidsKQAhE
Yeh now that Line of Duty is over….forgotten how good those two U2 tracks were,they are not fillers IMHO!
Vive La France!
In celebration of the marvelous news that the odious Le Pen will not be the new president, the least I can do is post this fine song by Serge Gainsbourg.
Jacques keeps the French party going for 100 seconds!
2.15 of nostalgic loveliness, with White Horses. Seriously, this really is lovely.
Weighing in a 1.58, not only the best TV theme ever but also largely responsible for my entire philosophy – The Flashing Blade:
Googled. Jackie Lee was the Queen of the 60s TV theme. Some great vintage newspaper clips on this site.
http://www.jackielee.org/
Thanks! Another piece of life’s jigsaw clicks into place…
She did the Rupert the Bear theme, too, which is rather funky (it’s in my DJ box) and some nothern soul stompers under an assumed name.
@markg. Slow down buddy.
I hope it’s OK to carry on posting….love this type of thing…!A favourite Van Morrisons album will be represented next…got to be a cult classic by any definition…Veedon Fleece.
You are a man on a Two Minute Mission, Mark. I am certainly enjoying your discoveries. There are now 108 songs on the playlist and I haven’t added all your recent additions.
A great historical breadth too.
Let’s broaden it our even further.
Louis Jordan rockng the henhouse
And Al Bowlly sings Cole Porter
Blimey, Mark! You are really keeping this thread alive and kicking.
I’m staying on the other side of La Manche for a while.
Le Grand Corps Malade takes the train. Destination: amour!
The lovely Francoise Hardy tries to say goodbye
Renaud has a problem with wind
Half Man Half Biscuit – Running Order Squabble Fest.
Phew, thanks for comments above….will look forward to the Spotify collection in due course,some more later if thats ok? Forgot how great Carole King was….is!
2’44”? Pushin’ it, bud…
2′ 48″? What’s this, Fergie time??
Hmmmm…
2 minutes is proving to be a very elastic concept. I’ve a feeling that if I leave this thread, when I come back in two days time someone will be posting Eno’s Thursday Afternoon.
What is a few seconds between friends, Moose? Inside many 22 minute long tracks, there is a 2 minute single trying to get out. Just imagine if Tales from the Tobographic Oceans had been 8 minutes long!
With reference to Daniel Bedingfield track I must admit I had a senior moment there and thought it was only 2 min 28 sec,oops..sorry!
Tried to keep closer to the 2 minute marker….thanks for idea of thread it made me listen to older stuff again…i put up the Memo from Turner track as it was one i hadnt heard of and thought others may have missed it too as its not on many Stones compilations….cheers!
What has been with this thread, other than re listening to many an old favorite, is realizing how little idea I have as to how long tracks are.
i can recall taping on C90 tapes and trying to predict what tracks would fit at the end of the tape once the album was on ….hours were probably spent on this looking back!
It’s probably where us old figures got our appetite for “deluxe editions” – Most of the albums I taped for mates came with whatever contemporaneous b sides or non-album singles I could squeeze into the space…
Randy Newman and the brilliant Sail Away album has already been cited, but here’s the best of the lot. Rand gets more into two minutes than most manage in a whole album. And never has this song felt more on the button…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0jTzgR-ClB4#
Very true Blue Boy. Randy has always written short songs and working on film soundtracks has probably honed his skills even further.
I like this band’s name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcQUv8tv1nQ
I notice that there are quite a few tracks clocking in at under three minutes on Fox Confessor. Ms Fox can join our Sovereigns of Succint Club.
Just stumbled across this song by the Fiery Furnaces that I had not heard before. They really should work for the Swedish Tourist Board!
Bright Blue Tie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qwT6U68qH0
That was nice,sort of band I have seen the name of but no idea of what they sounded like!Recall thinking that 10,000Maniacs must be a heavy punk band with a name like that…loved them and Natalie Merchant in due course!
Posting a Steely Dan track ,thanks to this site I will be trying to get tickets for Dublin gig…good luck everyone else!
Nick Lowe – Heart Of The City.
2m02s