Is two minutes forty-seconds the perfect length for a pop single?
I looked at my collection and while I have a few that come in at that length, a range of 2:40-2:45 yields 162 items or 7.3 hours of music. At exactly 2:42*, this is what I get:
Route 67 | 2:42 | Let’s Active | Big Plans for Everybody
Wildwood In The Pines | 2:42 | Johnny Cash | Personal File (Disc 2)
Get Up | 2:42 | R.E.M. | Green
Thinking About You | 2:42 | Radiohead | Pablo Honey
Providence | 2:42 | Sonic Youth | Daydream Nation
Oceans | 2:42 | Pearl Jam | Ten
Coda: Marine 475 | 2:42 | King Crimson | Thrak
Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | Louder Than Bombs
Blitzen Trapper | – Wild Mountain Nation | 2:42 | 550 Blitzen Trapper | KEXP Song of the Day
Get Outa Ma Pagoda | 2:42 | Chris Spedding | The Very Best Of
Rusty Chevrolet | 2:42 | Da Yoopers | Culture Shock
The Operative | 2:42 | Magazine | Scree Rarities 1978 – 1981
I Wanted So | 2:42 | Johnny Cash | Personal File [Disc 1]
Baby Plays Around (Demo) | 2:42 | Elvis Costello | Spike Bonus Disc
Holy Love | 2:42 | The Blue Nile | Peace At Last
Sheila Take A Bow | 2:42 | The Smiths | The Best Of The Smiths, Vol. 1
Lovely Rita | 2:42 | The Beatles | Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
I Will Always | 2:42 | The Cranberries | Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?
Larks’ Tongues In Aspic,Part Three (Live) | 2:42 | King Crimson | Frame By Frame [4 – 1969 (Live)]
Take Me For A Little While | 2:42 | Dave Edmunds | Repeat When Necessary
This Charming Man | 2:42 | The Smiths | The Best Of The Smiths, Vol. 1
Bones | 2:42 | Foot Village | SXSW 2008 Showcasing Artists
I See You | 2:42 | Adrian Belew | Here
Michelle | 2:42 | The Beatles | Rubber Soul
How Great Our Lord | 2:42 | Randy Newman & others | Randy Newman’s Faust
Walk Like an Egyptian | 2:42 | The Puppini Sisters | The Rise and Fall of Ruby Woo
- by exactly, I mean make a playlist with a range of 2:41 – 2:43 and pull the 2:42 tracks from that: seems to give a better result.
Anyone else remember the scene from The Kids Are Alright described here?
The Who had 10 minutes left to fill on the LP. Kit Lambert, The Who’s manager, suggested to Pete Townshend that he write “something linear… perhaps a 10 minute song.” Townshend responded by saying that rock songs are “2:50 by tradition!” Lambert then told Townshend that he should write a 10 minute story comprised of 2:50 songs.