Ten Songs That Leave You Wanting More

Tom Petty once said that two minutes is all the time a good writer needs for a song. Punk rock embodied this spirit. The two-minute surge of stripped-down energy became the punk rock credo and an in-your face rebuttal to classic rock. A lasting musical expression can be made in short order, but don’t you wish sometimes that a brief song you’re enjoying lasted just a little bit longer? Or that a sweet guitar outro didn’t fade out so soon? Here are 10 songs I wish would keep playing:

– “Fell in Love with a Girl” by The White Stripes (2001): The opening track from their breakthrough album (White Blood Cells) thrashes and slashes its way through 1:50 of raucous bliss.

– “White Riot” by The Clash (1977): The Clash’s first single off their self-titled classic debut album torched the 1977 rock scene with its raw power and controversial lyrics. All in under two minutes.

– “Welcome to the Working Week” by Elvis Costello (1977): With the first song off his debut album, My Aim is True, Elvis Costello makes another grand announcement in 1:22 that 1977 better look out. It’s an unpolished rocker (back-up band Clover was still learning the songs) with a somewhat scathing look at the working class: “All you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why?/Oh, I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you.”

– “Outdoor Miner” by Wire (1978): Wire’s Pink Flag was the first punk album I ever listened to. It’s really fragments of songs; five are under one minute, 14 under two minutes. Their second release, Chairs Missing, expanded the dark, minimalism and even contains gorgeous melodies, such as the 1:45 “Outdoor Miner.”

– “I Am a Scientist” by Guided by Voices (1994): Saying that Robert Pollard is prolific is like saying Robert Smith is a perfectionist (still waiting for that Cure album). Pollard has released 22 solo albums, 37 with his band Guided by Voices, umpteen EPs, and about 3,000 songs! Many of his songs run short, 1994’s Bee Thousand fits in 20 songs in just over 36 minutes. “I Am a Scientist” is a cleaner moment of self-reflection for Pollard clocking in at a whopping 2:22.

– “Love You More” by Buzzcocks (1978): How great are those early Buzzcocks’ albums? “You Say You Don’t Love Me,” “Ever Fallen in Love?”, “What Do I Get?”, What Ever Happened To?”, and the 1:40 “Love You More.” Punk. Pop. Perfection.

– “I Can’t Explain” by the Who (1964): The Who’s first single is a two-minute blast of pure rock n’ roll. The band would open their concerts with it for decades.

– “Evil Blooms” by Dum Dum Girls (2013): The Dum Dum Girls’ third album Too True is just one long earworm. The songs average about three minutes, and you don’t want their soothing edginess to end.

– “And She Was” by Talking Heads (1985): 1985’s Little Creatures moved away from the Afro-Caribbean sound of Remain in Light. With its pumping rhythm and catchy chorus, “And She Was” was a big hit for Talking Heads. The stirring burst of guitar at the end has always ended too abruptly for me.

– “Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before” by the Smiths (1987): My favorite song from one of my favorite bands. Morrissey’s tremulous voice is in top form, and Johnny Marr’s soaring guitar at the end of the song (in one of his few solos for the Smiths), always leaves me wanting more.

Trivia: What is the shortest #1 single of all time?

Answer: “Stay” by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (1:36, 1960). (Yes, this is the “Stay” song, that timeless doo-wop with its “Stay…ahhh just a little bit longer/Please, please, please, please, please.” The song has been covered by Cyndi Lauper, the Hollies, the Four Seasons, Jackson Browne, and more.)