The Long Way Home: 3 Classic Rock Songs Longer than 10 Minutes

While early rock songs were known to be around two or three minutes long in the 1950s and early 1960s, since then bands have broken the mold. Today, jam bands like Phish can extend a track for upwards of 20 minutes. But even before them, classic rock groups were writing songs that went into double-digits.

Here below, we wanted to highlight three such tunes. A trio of tracks that extend well past two and three minutes and even go beyond 10 whole minutes. So, get your attention focused! Indeed, these are three classic rock songs that are longer than 10 minutes.

[RELATED: No Skips: 4 Classic Rock Albums You’ll Never Have to Fast-Forward]

“Maggot Brain” by Funkadelic from Maggot Brain (1971)

This instrumental song that kicks off the 1971 album of the same name is considered by some to include the greatest guitar solo ever. Famously, as the story goes, the band’s leader George Clinton told guitarist Eddie Hazel to play the instrument as if he just found out his mother had died. Said Clinton of the direction, “I told him to play like his mother had died, to picture that day, what he would feel, how he would make sense of his life, how he would take a measure of everything that was inside him.” The result was a true rock 10-minute masterpiece.

“Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” by Bob Dylan from Blonde on Blonde (1966)

From Bob Dylan’s classic 1966 LP Blonde on Blonde, this song of devotion concludes the work, clocking in at over 11 minutes. Likely written for his wife at the time, Sara Lownds, the song describes many facets of her appearance and lifestyle. The length of the song even threw off the musicians who recorded it with Dylan in the studio. They thought the second chorus would be the conclusion, but Dylan took up his harmonica again and the song continued. It’s a great example of poetry put to music and how deep Dylan’s heart was. On the tune, he sings,

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times
And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes
And your silver cross and your voice like chimes
Oh, who do they think could bury you?

With your pockets well-protected at last
And your streetcar visions which you place on the grass
And your flesh like silk and your face like glass
Who could they get to carry you?

“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” by Pink Floyd form Wish You Were Here (1975)

This song was inspired by Pink Floyd’s founding member Syd Barrett, who left the band shortly after its formation to deal with mental health issues. The song is passionate and gigantic, with big sweeping guitar solos and elegant touch. And on the tune, which lasts over a whopping 13 minutes, lead vocalist Roger Waters sings,

Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun
Shine on you crazy diamond
Now there’s a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky
Shine on you crazy diamond
You were caught in the crossfire of childhood and stardom, blown on the steel breeze
Come on you target for faraway laughter, come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon
Shine on you crazy diamond
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light
Shine on you crazy diamond
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision, rode on the steel breeze
Come on you raver, you seer of visions, come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine!

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