# Songs that should end before they do **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 15, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814 "2019-01-15T19:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/41 "2019-01-17T13:40:37Z")
_The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald._ The constant repetition is tiresome after 1 minute. Six minutes later, it’s…still tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/42 "2019-01-18T00:48:44Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald._ > The constant repetition is tiresome after 1 minute. > Six minutes later, it’s…still tiresome. Yeah, I don’t get it. Gordon Lightfoot was a great songwriter. Except this once; this doesn’t have a chorus, or a bridge, or a sense of when to stop. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/43 "2019-01-18T00:51:42Z")
Funny, I say the same thing about, “Taxi.” ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/44 "2019-01-18T01:27:31Z")
\*Hotel California \*\*\*by the Eagles. Enough with the guitar already. Please, STFU. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/45 "2019-01-18T01:32:01Z")
> [@Capn\_Carl](#): > > \*Hotel California \*\*\*by the Eagles. Enough with the guitar already. Please, STFU. That song is too long from the first note. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/46 "2019-01-18T02:28:50Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > Light My Fire is about four minutes too long. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > Switch your radio to AM, and you’ll be happier. 🙂 You like AM radio edits? Try _Inna Gadda Da Vida_. And while I love Gordon Lightfoot, he really could have told us about _The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald_ using only verses 1, 3, and 7. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/47 "2019-01-18T21:21:21Z")
I just listened to Bob Seger’s _Against the Wind_. The song is pretty much over at the 4-minute mark, but Bob is “still runnin’ against the wind” for another minute and a half. We get it already. (And what do cowboys have to do with anything all of a sudden??) ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/48 "2019-01-18T22:01:46Z")
“Layla” defender here. The “coda” works just fine in the context of the song, nicely representing two stages in the poor guy’s agony. Besides, it’s easy to chop it off and just leave a perfectly good song. You can’t say that for some of the other suggestions. And why no mention of “American Pie” yet? Or did I miss it? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/49 "2019-01-18T22:13:52Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > And why no mention of “American Pie” yet? Or did I miss it? It’s not that kind of song. Every verse is telling about an era of the 60s. Every verse is important. You can’t really cut anything and not harm the narrative. You don’t have to like it, but it doesn’t go on endlessly like Hey Jude or I’m Your Captain, or the whoo hoos in Sympathy for the Devil. AM Radio edit of my post - just because it’s long doesn’t mean it’s bad. 🙂 Have we not learned the lesson of Bohemian Rhapsody? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/50 "2019-01-18T22:20:49Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > AM Radio edit of my post - just because it’s long doesn’t mean it’s bad. 🙂 Agreed. As the OP, I wasn’t really thinking simply of songs you think are too long. Rather, songs that - whatever their length - had a good place to stop but kept going instead. Of course, folks are free to post whatever they like. I’m no dictator. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/51 "2019-01-18T22:23:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It’s not that kind of song. Every verse is telling about an era of the 60s. Every verse is important. You can’t really cut anything and not harm the narrative. > > You don’t have to like it, but it doesn’t go on endlessly like Hey Jude or I’m Your Captain, or the whoo hoos in Sympathy for the Devil. > > AM Radio edit of my post - just because it’s long doesn’t mean it’s bad. 🙂 > > Have we not learned the lesson of Bohemian Rhapsody? Oh, no. I LIKE “American Pie.” I just couldn’t imagine that nobody mentioned it. And while I’m posting again, I’ll say the same thing about a few live songs. I like Humble Pie’s live version of “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” but it does go on. And Peter Frampton’s (what a coincidence!) “Show Me the Way” has always seemed a bit lengthy. Again, I like them both. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814/52 "2019-01-18T22:27:43Z")
Oh, one of my only criticisms of my all-time favorite band, Rush, is that in the mid-1980s they went through a stretch where they seemed to forget how to end a song. Track after track on those '80s albums continues on for far too long after the final verse. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-should-end-before-they-do/827814.md?page=2)