My Favorite Over-10 Minute Songs (Ever)

By Gene Sculatti

"East-West" by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Psychedelic rock starts here, since PB's March '66 Fillmore debut is where Frisco's new breed learned heir stretching exercises. Nothing has ever been the same after this exotic instro journey through blues and vaguely Middle Eastern turf. Why anyone would prattle on about Clapton when Michael Bloomfield is in the house will forever vex me.

"Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" by Bob Dylan
More than just the godfather of long-rock and the richest  image dump in pop history, this could be the old goat's greatest piece. Even the playing is poetry.

"Dark Star" by the Grateful Dead
The apex of acid-rock, no matter how you cut the cube.  I've been as dubious as the next guy about Rock-as-art since at least the early 70s, but this--- ‘composition'? ‘improvisation'? ‘heavy trip'--proves that, in the right hands at the right time, rock could match jazz's go-where-I-wanna-go exploratory ethic  lick for lick. As Ben E. King said in "Supernatural Thing": "Interplanetary...extraordinary."

"Cowgirl in the Sand" by Neil Young with Crazy Horse
Young's soloing is the epitome of good rock & roll improvisation. He just keeps coming up with fresh, melodic ideas while conscientiously maintaining structure (diving back to verse-chorus at intervals) to make sure the stew doesn't overcook. Listening to it you hear him think in real time, deciding where to go next, from bass-string rumble to animal shriek and all points between.

"Up in Her Room" by the Seeds
The L.A. teen-psyche combo beat the Bangles to the theme by more than two decades, and poured on more heat, convinced they could long-form as well as those other keyboard-centric locals with the Lizard King fronting. They were right: Daryl Hooper's ‘underwater' electric piano, Jan Savage's fuzz/slide guitar and Sky Saxon's snotty vocals rock well past the 14-minute mark. Inspirational verse: "Up in her room, smell the perfume burn/ Up in her room, you sure do learn."

"Two Trains Running" by the Blues Project
Surely the most adventurous first-gen honky bluesmen, the Project always burned instrumentally. Here, Kooper, Kalb & kompany hop Muddy Waters' twin freights for an 11-minute run that remains one of the most riveting slow cuts I know. At the organ Kooper uncovers harmonic overtones like Scrooge McDuck finding gold doubloons in the sand: They're everywhere, shining brightly. Kalb's New York Delta talk-singing is priceless ("I been crazy. People, I even been a fool too!").

"Who Do You Love" and "The Fool" by Quicksilver Messenger Service
The former's rightly their piece de résistance, recorded live (and the SF quartet was always better onstage than on your Garrard), an object lesson in how much drama and dynamics can be extracted from Bo's beat. The latter, from their debut LP, is an all-terrain trip, traversing dizzying highs (David Freiberg's cantor-levered vocal) and ominous come-downs (John Cipollina's snarling-tiger lead). Television learned much from this track.

"Loan Me a Dime" by Boz Scaggs
Duane Allman and the Muscle Shoals staff (most notably organist Barry Beckett) are as much the stars here as the Texas singer-guitarist just out of the Steve Miller Band when this was cut (1968). It's the rougher-voiced, pre-silk Scaggs here, who essays his own distinct version of the blues and conveys more feeling than he ever would later as a Top-40 resident.

"Only Born" by Butch Hancock
Blinded by the light of mid-period Dylan, the Lubbock songwriter delivered a mini masterpiece in 1979's sprawling The Wind's Dominion, of which this cut is the centerpiece. Storm winds, lonesome roads, lovin' cups and perception's doors all figure in--as do Hancock's exceptional vocals, versifying and unflagging energy.


Did your favorite not make the list? Weigh in with more noteworthy "over 10-minute songs" below.