Longest song you've ever heard?

Stuff I actually own:
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Providence (21:15)
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Storm (22:32)
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Static (22:35)
Godspeed You Black Emperor - Sleep (23:17)
Four Tet - As Serious As Your Life (Live Version) (23:18)

I still want to get these songs on CD:
Fly Pan Am - Dans Ses Cheveux Soixante Circuits (17:45) (I know, not longer than 20 minutes, but I really want it)
Merzbow - Bondage Performance At Homo Fixas (26:17)
Merzbow - Live Magnetism (56:14)

Surprised no one has mentioned Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick. I don't know how long it is, but it took up both sides of an LP.

Also Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. It's presented as one song. Part One is 25:00. Part Two is 23:50.

But I'd have to say the longest song in the history of music is 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Especially when sung enthusiastically by kids in a bus driving from Ypsilanti Michigan to New York City. All the way. Without stopping. Because they thought it was funny to do so.

Jethro Tull- A passion play (Edit 1 or Act 1, can't find the CD right now) is a solid 20 minutes (it's a two track CD).

I'm surprised nobody brought this classic up:
Iron Butterfly: In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida - 19:00

Also, just list any classical composer that wrote symphonies. Beethoven's 9th symphony (I'll shoot you if you call it the "Drink Milk Love Life" song) was a solid 40 minutes.

a few moody blues songs run about 15 or so minutes.
Not sure about the exact length but Knights in white satin was long.

They were great in concert too!
Saw them in Duluth with the Duluth Symphony Orch.
It was AWESOME

Pink Floyd when they did the Dark Side of The Moon tour played it almost like an opera where all the songs on the album lead into the next.

These are the ones I have

Liquid Tension Experiment - Three Minute Warning (28:34)
Rush - 2112 (20:34)
Rush - The Fountain Of Lamneth (19:57)
Rush - Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres (18:08) added with Book I (10:26) 10:26 + 18:08 = 28:34

Amatuers.

The Ring Cycle by Wagner - 12 hours long. Beat that!!!

On How The West Was Won there are 20+ Minute Versions of Dazed and Confused (25:24) and Whole Lotta Love (23:08), and I remember listening to some other long songs. Neil Youngs Down by the River clocking in at almost ten and neil youngs natural beauty 11+ and Guns and Roses had several long songs like November Rain and Civil War.

Two of the longest songs i can think of are:

Shine on you Crazy Diamond by Pink Floyd and Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin. Both are songs i like though

Rynaldo

Free Bird- Lynard Skynard

American Pie- Don McClean

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hapsicord Band- The Beatles

Nights in White Satin- Moody Blues.

Alot of Meat Loaf songs are long but

Achilles, Agony, and Ecstasy in Eight Parts: Prelude/I. Hector Storms by Manowar is the longest I've heard nealr 30 mins.

Originally posted by Fortinbras
also Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. It's presented as one song. Part One is 25:00. Part Two is 23:50.

you beat me to it... I have tubular bells... it's awesome..

I like to turn off all the lights and start playing it very loudly, it scares the hell outta my girlfriend....

For three years in the nineties the live version of "Texas Flood" was the only song that I listened to. Nobody wanted to ride anywhere with me.

Originally posted by Fortinbras
But I'd have to say the longest song in the history of music is 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. Especially when sung enthusiastically by kids in a bus driving from Ypsilanti Michigan to New York City. All the way. Without stopping. Because they thought it was funny to do so.

definately man! hehe. No one has mentioned sugar hills rappers delight at 14:32. not the longest but very famous. Drum and bass tunes are long, and ive got a bunch of freestyles by big groups of rappers, they go on for large ammounts of minutes. But actually listens to these all the way through?! You shoudl change the name of this forum to "Most boring song you've ever heard" theres a good reason that 99.9999% of all tunes on this planet are under 9/10 mins.

edit:

PS especially that 12 hour one man! please tell me you haven't heard it all the way through! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Edited on 19-8-2004 by superduperman]

free bird-lynyrd skynard

The end by The Doors

Which btw I hate both songs... I used to like the doors until I stopped being a burn out... that was about 6 years ago. Mind you I was attending a burn out school first year, see what public school does to ya...

Anyway, Hendrix does some pretty long # too, although I enjoy his guitar.

Today's music: Well from 1998-------Essex dogs by blur this is probably the longest song from today's music it's only 11:21 but it means something since today's music doesn't even cut 3 mins...
Sad very sad... This song is kinda trippy if you like weird # like that... he's kind of talking through the song and his voice echoes and the guitars sound kind of like someone cutting down a tree...

[Edited on 19-8-2004 by TrueLies]

My band used to have a song which was 30 minutes long (no kidding).
It was a bitch when somebody broke a string near the end and we had to start over from the beginning...

"Love Rollercoaster" by the OhioPlayers seems really long. Maybe it's because I've never liked it. for all you youngins out there, that's a 70s funkadelic song.

Originally posted by Fortinbras
Also Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells. It's presented as one song. Part One is 25:00. Part Two is 23:50.

I liked that too. It would a shame if they didn't use tubular bells in the new exorcist movie. That song really did a great job of setting the mood in the classic exorcist movies.

"The Decline" by NOFX, 18:21 long

theres a thread about the lyrics if you guys are interested

Green Carnation's "Light of Day, Day of Darkness" is an hour long. It's the entire album. That's the longest song i've heard.

Check this out though: news.bbc.co.uk...
I personally think it's pointless and ridiculous, but there you have it.