The only one I can think of right now is “The Trees”, by Rush. It takes the forms of a classic epic of the progressive and/or psychedelic variety, where there are a couple verses and a long, drawn-our musical interlude, then a final verse or two. Only the song doesn’t even clock in at 5 minutes.
I’m sure others can think of other songs that seem like they are a lot longer than they really are (for instance the collected works of the Black Eyed Peas )
I agree with Teach Your Children and Happiness is a Warm Gun: I also thought of Eleanor Rigby. The strings and background singing at the end make it seem like it goes on literally forever (i.e. the strings and singing symbolize all the other verses that could be written on that subject,) nearly turn it into an epic when it can’t be more than 2 1/2 minutes long.
Sweet Child O Mine by Guns N Roses had the chance to be one of the greatest rock songs ever. However, it goes through a couple of great verses and then fades into instrument solos and these lyrics repeated:
"Sweet child o’ mine
Sweet love of mine
Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o’ mine"
I want them to make it again with some additional content and drop the back filler.
Fleetwood Mac’s TUSK is a freaking great song, with all sorts of cool tribal muttering, a giant marching band, guitar licks, and of course the chant/shout “TUSK!” on every chorus… but it’s only about two minutes long, and it could probably have been at least as long as Paul Simon’s “The Obvious Child” and not worn out its welcome.
Pearl Jam - Wishlist. My favorite lyrics are in the last verse, which fades out a quarter of the way through. They usually play it live with the full ending, but always different lyrics.