Here She Comes Now by The Velvet Underground. Great song, but too short.
A mere 54 seconds (after Woody finishes), from “White Men Can’t Jump.” (Possibly NSFW—they’re in bed).
The voice is Louis Price, formerly of the Temptations. He actually played one of the basketball players in the movie. What a voice!I wish they’d made a serious song out of this
Nice hook, great sax part, brooding. Ah well.Rockpile’s “Now and Always” is 1:57…not even two minutes.
And even though it’s not super short, I could listen to twenty minutes of “Burning Down the House.”
Live on Letterman, 1983: Talking Heads - Burning Down the House live and Interview - Letterman 1983 (Higher Quality) - YouTube
“Colour My World” is 3 minutes long but seems shorter since it’s only one verse. Frank Sinatra wanted an extra verse written but James Pankow wouldn’t do it. It sounds like a UL but it’s not.
Helen Reddy’s Delta Dawn.
Scant two verses (with a refrain in between) totaling approx. 1:50 that seem to fall far short of telling whatever story seems to be there to be told, then padded out for another full 1:50 or more with five repetitions of the refrain.
Here’s a really brief one:
The Miracle Cure from Tommy by The Who. 12 seconds total. Brief and to the point.
“Closer To The Heart” was definitely too short, when played live.
As a 6th grader on a bus trip, we once took it to zero.
The chaperones probably wanted to rip their hair out, and ours too. 
Don’t Stand So Close to Me might not be too short time-wise, but it definitely needs another verse. Finish the story! They run off together; he’s in jail; he’s reminiscing from middle age; she’s reminiscing from middle age–the song cries out for one more verse.
You know the song never actually says they did anything, right? It’s only insinuated.
Fleetwood Mac, “Never Going Back Again”
I’ve heard it longer, in a live version. But the length added was him singing not him picking so that didn’t really improve it a lot. And it was still too short.
I have to say, the vast, vast, vast, vast majority of songs would benefit from greater brevity rather than any increased length.
Say what you want to say then get the hell out of there. 3 minutes if you must.
I do think however that “American Girl” could do with a definite ending rather than the fade out and if that tacked another 15 seconds on I’d be happy enough. Does anyone know if such a version exists?
I admire “Ghost In The Shell” OST. Theme song (I guess I can name this track a theme) UTAI IV: Reawakening is too short for me. Have to listen it on repeat.
There’s a Bad Moon Rising cover done by Battlefield Band (bagpipes, fiddle, etc) that goes on for as long as the band chooses to play.
When you get to zero, the lyric changes to “go to the store, buy one more, one bottle of beer on the wall…”
“Mississippi Queen” feels like it should be seven or eight minutes longer than the 2:30 it clocks in at.
Neil Young’s “The Needle and the Damage Done” is just over 2 minutes (2:03 or so).
The 39 second rendition of the skiffle song Maggie Mae by The Beatles is barely a tenth of the full lyrics and could really use a lead guitar bridge:
- Now gather round you sailor boys, and listen to my plea
And when you’ve heard my tale you’ll pity me
For I was a real damned fool in the port of Liverpool
The first time that I came home from the sea
We paid off at the home from the port of Sierra Leone
And four pounds ten a month that was my pay
With a pocket full of tin I was very soon taken in
By a girl with the name of Maggie May
Oh Maggie, Maggie May they have taken her away
And she’ll never walk down Lime street anymore
For she robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
That dirty, robbin’ no good Maggie May
Oh well I do remember when I first met Maggie May
She was cruising up and down old Canning Place
She’d a figure so divine, like a frigate of the line
So me being a sailor , I gave chase
Oh Maggie, Maggie May they have taken her away
And she’ll never walk down Lime street anymore
For she robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
That dirty, robbin’ no good Maggie May
Next morning when I awoke I was flat and stoney broke
No jacket, trousers, waistcoat I could find
When I asked her where they were she said “My very dear sir,
They’re down in Kelly’s knocker number nine”
To the pawnshop I did go but no clothes there I did find and
The policeman came and took that girl away
The judge he guilty found her, of robbing the homeward–bounder
And paid her passage back to Botany Bay
Oh Maggie, Maggie May they have taken her away
And she’ll never walk down Lime street anymore
For she robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
That dirty, robbin’ no good Maggie May
Oh Maggie, Maggie May they have taken her away
And she’ll never walk down Lime street anymore
For she robbed so many sailors and captains of the whalers
That dirty, robbin’ no good Maggie May*
“Song 2” from Blur, at 2:02,with two verses and choruses, was the first song I thought of when reading the OP. A longer version wouldn’t fit the joke though, I guess.
Mississippi Queen, with that intro, really does sound like a song that should be a lot longer. I can just imagine the Allman Brothers Band jamming away on it for 20 minutes or so.
Apple Blossom by White Stripes is 2:14.
I always thought that 1-877-Kars-4-Kids could use a couple of extra verses.