3 Long Songs From 1969 That Are So Good, They Could Have Been Longer

The 1960s weren’t going to end without a rock and roll bang. How could it? Within the decade, rock music evolved from its earliest form, then reinvented itself with groundbreaking releases by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Beach Boys, and many others. The songs were getting longer, the grooves even deeper, which is why I’m grateful the streaming services have a repeat function. Because I’d like to savor these long songs from 1969.

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“Hey Jude” by Wilson Pickett

I’m cheating a bit with this first one. Four minutes isn’t too long by most standards, but Wilson Pickett’s cover of “Hey Jude” needs to be longer. This isn’t a cover; it’s an out-of-body and intensely purifying revival. Duane Allman burns a solo so deep you can literally hear the birth of Southern rock with each weeping note. This is some of the deepest soul music you’ll experience. And one can’t play like Allman or howl as Pickett does unless you’re overcome by some kind of god-in-the-room vibe. The Beatles’ original was indeed long, clocking in at past seven minutes. Imagine what Pickett’s jam at FAME Studios must have been like in late 1968 when they worked out the arrangement. Thankfully, Rick Hall and Tom Dowd were rolling tape.

“21^st Century Schizoid Man” by King Crimson

King Crimson’s defining song arrived on the group’s debut and progressive rock touchstone, In The Court  Of The Crimson King. “21^st Century Schizoid Man” opens the album with a statement. Aiming for the high arts of jazz and classical music, yet merging those forms with the street for a seven-plus-minute epic. If you’re a guitarist and you want a lesson in progressive rock, start here, with Robert Fripp’s weaving, angular, and searching performance. But this chaotic track grooves, too. When Fripp and bassist Greg Lake connect on a heavy blues, it gives prog-rock wary listeners a way in. This is like if Radiohead had debuted with Kid A.

“Oh Well (Pts. 1 and 2)” by Fleetwood Mac

In 1969, near the end of Peter Green’s time in Fleetwood Mac, the band recorded a two-part single. Taking up both the A-side and the B-side, “Oh Well” remains one of the most definitive blues-rock riffs in history. Both parts were later included on alternate editions of Green’s final album with Fleetwood Mac, Then Play On.

Returning to “Oh Well”, the second part begins with Green playing a Spanish-inspired classical guitar piece, which eventually gives way to an old-world folk orchestration. On subsequent releases of Then Play On, “Oh Well” is followed by a deliriously perfect tune, “The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)”. This would be Green’s final recording with Fleetwood Mac. Ending with tracks like these makes you wonder what else he might have recorded with the band he started.

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