Lisnaholic

Thank you, Vegangelica and Mrd00d, for your kind responses. I guess I made a lucky choice with Vegetables, as there`s plenty in the song to comment on. I think Frownland would have a lot more trouble if he tried to talk us through his extraordinary Yellow Trash Bazooka songs !

Yes, Vegangelica, the Hélène Grimaud piece is so soothing -it made me think of my sister practising piano in another room when I was a kid, but then it also has that beautiful, gentle surge up to the end.

Of your clips, Mrd00d, I really liked the guitar workouts; the Mattias Eklundh, but even more the Guthrie Govan which is so intense that you feel drained although it`s only two and a half mins.



^ For a short song, this draws together a surprising number of historical strands:
Firstly, the native African instruments and rhythms, which may reflect prehistoric origins for all I know.
Secondly, the Latin lyrics, presumably written in Rome about one and a half thousand years ago, which celebrate the victim of a crucifixion in Palestine some four hundred years earlier.
Finally, the heartbreaking, eager voices of the Congolese children, who were caught a mere sixty years ago responding to some brief, benign, optimistic moment in Afro-European relations, just before their country descended into the chaos of today`s Congo.
I wonder what has become of those neat little children by the airplane, who made such beautiful music ?

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

sopsych

Ah, yes, "Them Bones." I don't love it, but I like it, and I'd been frustrated by my inability to think of a 2nd short song I enjoy.

Stephen

Must admit that's the first time I've seen a ten string guitar.

Mrd00d

That's why he calls it the Bullet Blues :P

So I'm gonna carry on with super short songs a la Speedfreaks by Naked City. Songs under one minute that I love:

__________________
Mrd00d's Last.fm

Zaqarbal

Invented by Yepes himself.

__________________

YorkeDaddy

no seriously, frankly mr shankly

Trollheart

Just to prove that not all prog rock songs have to be seventeen minutes long, this is Marillion, flagbearers for the revival of prog rock in the eighties, from one of their classic albums, "Misplaced childhood", with "Lavender". The track is so short on the album that they actually had to extend it to make it long enough to be released as a single, and that went just over the three minute mark, but this is the original album version, well under.


"Going under", from the next album up, "Clutching at straws"


And finally, from their last proper album to date, "Happiness is the road", this is a lovely little instrumental called "Liquidity".

__________________
Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Surell

Norwegian Wood is surprisingly short and good. For an album comprised of great short songs, there's Double Nickels on the Dime.

__________________

VEGANGELICA

Thank you for the suggestion. I will.

I'd heard that famous melody before, but I'd never realized that its author is uncertain or that it is so short, Zaqarbal. I'm enjoying seeing how many short songs exist in a variety of genres!

Interestingly, Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C Major reminds me of hearing *my* brother practicing the piece when we were younger. When I hear the song, I see in my mind's eye my brother sitting peacefully on the aqua upholstered piano seat of my parents' grand piano that took up half the space of their living room for many years. The piano resided in the shady northern half; the other half of the room with its old honey-colored hardwood floor was bathed in southern light. Yes, the song *does* have a beautiful, gentle surge up to the end.

Thanks for sharing the history and significance of the Missa Luba song, Lisnaholic. I was surprised to learn that the lyrics may be 1500 years old! Music does freeze in time a moment of life...including the voices of our dead when there are recordings such as this.

* * * * *

I've been searching for more short songs that I loved without ever realizing they are less than 3 minutes long. I couldn't think of any in addition to the four I already posted, and I was thinking I'd have to give up. Today I was pleased because I recalled and identified two more:

The Beatles -- "I Will"
Such a pretty little love song of devotion.


The Beatles--I Will - YouTube


The Kinks -- "You Really Got Me"
Ever since I first heard this song, I thought it was cool and gritty, although I never knew it only lasts 2:13 until tonight when I checked.


The Kinks - You Really Got Me - YouTube

__________________

ribbons

Erica, your description of your brother playing Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C Major is beautiful. Don't think I'll ever listen to that piece without remembering your words from now on.

These songs come first to mind in thinking of short songs I love: