John Mellencamp "Small Town"

On Tuesday I wrote about Josh Ritter's "The Curse" and on the mvyradio Facebook page, I was asking for feedback. One of my concerns is that the song was too long.

mvy listeners Michele commented:

I say run it. I think MVY listeners are appreciative of good song writing. It's sad to think it wouldn't air b/c it's too long. What does that say about us as music lovers.

I thought about the phrase "too long" and I realized that I wasn't asking if the song WAS too long. I was asking if it FELT too long.

While DJ's live and die by the length of a song---I can make it to the bathroom and back during John Mayer's "Why Georgia" but not his "Who Says"---actual song length doesn't probably register to most radio listeners.

But time is elastic. Songs can FEEL long.

Sometimes it has to do with tempo. Sometimes it has to do with a repeated vocal or musical phrase.

When we played Lucinda Williams' song "Are You Alright?", while the song was popular with some listeners, it seemed to get under the skin of others. It's no longer than, say, "The Weight" by The Band. But it felt longer to those listeners who complained, because of the repeated refrain.

And going way back, people used to make fun of John Mellencamp's "Small Town" because it seemed to endlessly say those two words. The song is only 3 minutes and 41 seconds long---which is pretty much dead average for a song on the radio---but it drove listeners nuts.

So nuts, that irritated folks would call up, just to let me know just how many times he says the phrase "Small Town." Care to count for yourself?