Great songs that are just too damned short

Here’smy favorite version. Note the lyric, “she robbed so many sailors, and dosed so many whalers,” which is a bit saucier than the version quoted above.

Alice in Chains “Would”. Not super short at 3:30 or so, but I’m always disappointed it’s over.

Black Flag’s “Wasted”. Clocks in around 50 seconds depending on the version/recording and singer. Here is the version I like the most:

Circle Jerks also recorded the tune after Keith Morris moved on.

Three Dog Night’s “It’s For You” ends just as the song’s intro ends. It sounds like it’s about to really crank and then just…dissipates.

I always thought that “A Whiter Shade of Pale” by Procul Harum sounded like it needed at least one more verse. It just kind of… ends.

“Toads Of The Short Forest” (Zappa) A pleasant little trifle in 3/4 time, 60 seconds of Frank showing how lovely his music could be, abruptly interrupted by nearly 4 minutes of Frank at his obnoxiously self-indulgent worst.

Squeeze Box by the Who. they never thought it would be a hit. A rare Who song with a banjo.

There are some days I wish 4’33" was 12 hours long.

Last year at a festival, String Cheese Incident played a 75-minute-long version of Rosie. Way too short.

Same here, as one of a dozen backpacking Boy Scouts in 1963. Fortunately our Scoutmaster was a wonderfully patient man with a good sense of humor.

Then there’s “Ratface” by Michael Hurley :wink:

“Girlfriend in a Coma” is one of the Smiths catchiest and wittiest songs. At 2:03, it’s over way too quickly.

Excellent example. Great song that just sort of…ends, abruptly, in its prime.

Like Danny Whitten*.
mmm

*the song is about Neil’s friend and band mate Whitten who died suddenly of an overdose.

Theme to Sealab 2021. 30 seconds of pure pop perfection.

“Broon’s Bane” by Rush (specifically Alex Lifeson) on Exit … Stage Left runs about 1:30. It’s a very nice classical guitar piece.

Fell in Love with a Girl by The White Stripes. Under two minutes. I don’t have cause to complain about the length, but I’ve been known to play it again.

Not all eight, but as “Golden Slumbers” is one of my all-time favorite Beatles songs, I would love for it to have been longer. After all these years, still a lush, heartfelt, stunningly beautiful song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcQjM7gV6mI

The coda to Sloan’s “44 Teenagers” should be longer. Just as I start trying to sing the harmony, if fades out during the second verse!

Neil Young likes both his interminably long songs and his overly short songs( almost more song fragments, really ):

Cripple Creek Ferry, 1:33

Till the Morning Comes, 1:16

U2’s Rattle and Hum album: “Freedom for My People” and “The Star Spangled Banner”. 38 & 43 seconds, respectively.