Just because a song is short doesn't mean it can't be really impressive. Case in point, these 7 songs get their points across quite solidly in less than 2 minutes. A lot of short songs can often be filler in my opinion, and I often judge those shorter songs as crappy attempts at throwaway songwriting. But you can't entirely judge a book by its cover. When you see a song is less than 2 minutes, give it a chance. After all, what's the worse that can happen, you waste 1 minute and 45 seconds of your life? With these 7 songs, you'll only be wishing that the song was longer.
1.) How Do You Do It?
Gerry and the Pacemakers were the #2 group in Liverpool in the early 1960s... you can probably guess who #1 was. But, there is one thing they certainly did better than the Beatles. And that was their performance of this particular song. The Beatles recorded a not-so-spirited version of this song, as they were unenthusiastic about recording this song that management wanted them to. They were not yet world famous, and felt their original songs like "Love Me Do" were better for them. But in 1 minute, 55 seconds lead singer Gerry Marsden put forth a much better performance than Lennon-McCartney. It's just as great as a lot of Beatles songs from 1963. Listen to the two versions, compare them, and tell me I'm wrong.
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| Gerry and the Pacemakers were huge in Britain, but never quite conquered the world like The Beatles. |
2.) The Letter
In 1967, the music world was mostly moving past the 2-minute song. That was more of a late 50s/early 60s thing. But not for the Box Tops in their famous song. Lead singer Alex Chilton sounded like a gruff and grizzly man despite being just 16 when he recorded this song. It's a 1 minute, 53 second ditty that has blue-eyed soul elements. It's one of the shortest songs to ever hit #1 on the Billboard pop charts. By the way, do you want to know what the shortest one was? It's the doo wop song "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, released in 1960. Just 1 minute, 36 seconds! But "The Letter" is certainly another short but sweet song.
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| Give me a ticket for an aeroplane! |
3.) Love You Most Of All
The Persuasions have fantastic a capella songs of many lengths from "Women and Drinkin" (6:52) to "Three Angels" (1:43). But my choice for this list is a fantastic cut from the album "We Still Ain't Got No Band", with this Sam Cooke cover. The Persuasions put a super enthusiastic spin on this song... "With the way you're walking down the street, all the fellas go OOOH-weee!". At 1 minute, 53 seconds it should seem like a filler song on an album with so many other great tracks. "Steal Away" comes next. "Dance With Me", and the aforementioned on this blog "Send Me Some Lovin" are after that. And yet, with sheer balls, this song still manages to stand out!
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| I should beg Spotify to put this 1973 album on their platform! |
4.) I'll Follow The Sun
Hmm, what Beatles song shall I pick for the list? Maybe something from the Abbey Road medley that really stands out? Perhaps the beautiful McCartney track "I Will"? Nope, I've decided to go with one of the very first Beatles songs that ever stood out to me. I loved it many years before I became a diehard Beatles fan... I was just a little kid, and yet I still found the emotional beauty in this 1 minute, 49 second song. It's an acoustic song that features some fabulous Lennon-McCartney harmony, as well as Paul singing solo for a bit. It's honestly one of the true highlights of their early career, and is probably in my Top 30 Beatles songs despite being so short and simple.
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| It's one of the best tracks on this underrated 1964 album, "Beatles For Sale". |
5.) Mercedes Benz
Janis Joplin didn't need any instruments besides a tapped beat for this song (and really, she didn't need that). And she didn't need any more time than 1 minute, 48 seconds to get her point across. Released in 1971, after Janis's death, this song has been interpreted as a rejection of consumerism. I listened to Janis's 1971 album "Pearl" as a consideration for my Awesome Albums show, and I can tell you "Me and Bobby McGee" is the true gem of that album. However, despite its short length, Mercedes Benz might very well be the second best. Janis's vocals are strong and piercing, powerful enough to carry a song all by itself. And that's a very special talent in a singer.
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| Janis took a piece of our hearts with this powerful song. |
6.) Little Honda
The Beach Boys had a whole lot of short songs during their early career. At 1:51, "Shut Down" comes to mind as a short but fantastic burst of energy. But, my choice for the list is the 1:54 song "Little Honda". It's a pretty typical Mike Love era early Beach Boys song, with him singing the lead on a fun Summer song about driving around in his epic ride. But perhaps the most notable aspect of this song (at least for me) is drummer Dennis Wilson shouting "Go!" in the beginning of the song. When I was younger, my Dad used to troll my brother and I by replaying the beginning of the song constantly when it was on a CD. So all we heard was "Go!" "Go!" "Go!".
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| The critics will tell you their peak was "Pet Sounds", I'll still say it's 1964. |
7.) "C" is for Cookie
Why not end the list with my most ridiculous choice? Why not end it with my shortest choice? (1:29) Yes, we're going to go with this 1971 song from Sesame Street, sung by the legendary puppeteer Frank Oz. Well, you might know him better as Cookie Monster! This song is what we call pure id. It's pure impulse... it's all about cookies, because that's good enough for me! And really, as a sweets lover, cookies are good enough for me. Cookie Monster offers such legendary insight as "You know, a round cookie with one bite out of it looks like a C. A round donut with one bite out of it also looks like a C, but it is not as good as a cookie. Oh, and the moon sometimes looks like a C. But you can't eat that!". Enough said.
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| Oh boy! |
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