Here’s some choices, but feel free to come up with your own.
Has to be a minimum of SEVEN minutes.
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed *Allman Brothers * 7:32
Jessica *Allman Brothers * 7:00
Dreams * Allman Brothers * 7:15
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) *Beatles * 7:47
Stuck Inside of Mobile… *Dylan * 7:04
Desolation Row Dylan 11:43
Heard It Through The Grapevine CCR 11:04
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes CSNY 7:25
Southern Man (Live) CSNY 11:45
Light My Fire Doors 7:08
Funeral For A Friend *Elton John * 11:13
Life’s Been Good Joe Walsh 8:04
Stairway to Heaven Led Zeppelin 8:03
How Many More Times Led Zeppelin 8:28
Kashmir Led Zeppelin 8:33
Down By The River Neil Young 9:20
Cowgirl By The Sand *Neil Young * 10:08
Time *Pink Floyd * 7:06
Us And Them *Pink Floyd * 7:41
Breath Pink Floyd 8:18
The Wall *Pink Floyd * 9:04
You Can’t Always Get What… [*Stones * 7:30
Midnight Rambler *Stones * 9:17
Low Spark Of High Heel Boys Traffic 11:44
Won’t Get Fooled Again Who 8:33
Let me be the first to add Echoes to the list.
I referred to my itunes list and sorted by top rated. Then when I looked at the time, the only tracks that were over 7 minutes were all Rush tunes:
Working Man - 7:10
Jacob’s Ladder - 7:31
Natural Science - 9:17
La Villa Strangiato - 9:36
Cygnus X-1 - 10:26
The Camera Eye - 11:01
They also have two over 20 minutes, but didn’t qualify as favorites of mine:
The Fountain of Lamneth - 20:00
And, of course…
2112 - 20:38
How about a few by Meat Loaf?
Paradise by the Dashboard Light 8:28
Bat Out Of Hell 9:48
“I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That)” 12:00
There are others, but I think those were the biggest of the longer songs. I’d vote for Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
Jethro Tull: “A Passion Play” - 45:06
Since the song takes up the entire album, and the album was a chart-topper, I say it qualifies as a “hit song.”
Blasphemers, all of you. First song on the list shoulda been Free Bird, aka Oak’s Anthem :D.
Omitting American Pie is also shameful. Consider yourselves chastised severely.
Ina Gadda Da Vida is worthy of mention.
Hey Jude 7:11
Like a Rolling Stone is too short. I wouldn’t exactly call Desolation Row a folk song, though.
To answer the OP: Wont Get Fooled Again. Also, the greatest “YEAH!” in rock history.
Couple more by The Who, from Live At Leeds,
My Generation – 14:27
Magic Bus – 7:30
and two from ELP,
Karn Evil 9 – 29:37
Tarkus – 20:35
Starship Trooper - Yes (9:26)
Roundabout - Yes (8:36)
Foreplay / Long Time - Boston (7:48)
Was The Friends of Mr. Cairo a hit? I like other, longer songs more, but The Camera Eye wasn’t a hit. Rush has one hit, and that ain’t it.
I’ll add a few.
Echoes - Pink Floyd (23:28)
2112 - Rush (20:34)
Space Truckin’ (19:41)
Xanadu - Rush (12:32)
By-Tor The Snow Dog - Rush (11:57)
And from a different genre:
Mariner’s Revenge Song - The Decemberists (8:45)
“Dogs” by Pink Floyd. Wikipedia says it’s 17:04. I’ve always loved it, and used to play it a lot when I was a d.j. in college. Sometimes when I didn’t even need to run to the bathroom.
I just keyed on the word “favorite” in the OP. What is the definition of “hit” that we’re all supposed to be using? I don’t recognize half of the songs mentioned in the OP (at least not by name).
Winner:
Prince “Purple Rain” 8:41
Honorable Mentions:
Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” (live) - 8:56
Led Zepellin “Stairway to Heaven” (live) - 9:37
Eagles “Last Resort” - 7:12
Justin Timberlake “What Goes Around” - 7:29
If you recognize the groups in the list, I would think most people who are fans of said groups would agree that the songs listed are hits by these groups. They may not have reached the Billboard 100, but I believe that, for example, the songs In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Jessica and Dreams are all Allman Brothers “hits” as far as their fans are concerned.
Is it the songs or the groups?
Any particular song (or songs) that you don’t consider a hit?
This is music so there certainly is no wrong or right as far as one’s like and dislikes are concerned.
Take “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” for example: I didn’t think it had ever been released as a single, which precludes it from being a “hit” by some definitions.
By other definitions (e.g. “a song that lots of people own and regularly listen to”) it’s a hit, but so is just about everything by the Beatles.
If we’re gonna get technical, we might have to define “song,” too—I’m tempted to give “Side 2 of Abbey Road” as my answer to the OP’s question, but I don’t think that really counts.
Anyway, my answers (at least those that spring to mind at the moment) are “American Pie,” “Hey Jude,” and the two tracks that close out side 4 of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (“As” and “Another Star”). I had to check and see if the Kinks’ “Shangri-La” qualified—it feels long, but it turns out it’s well under 7 minutes.
Moon in June by Soft Machine (19:18) or for that matter, the other four songs on that album, all over 18 minutes.
Atom Heart Mother, Careful With that Ax, Eugene, and Shine on You Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd, who were at their best at lengths greater than eight minutes.