All of these are songs with lyrics, not instrumentals.
"Miracle Cure", THE WHO 0:11
"Her Majesty", THE BEATLES 0:23
"Alvin", THE MONKEES 0:25
"Stop", PINK FLOYD 0:30
"Bookends Theme (Part One)", SIMON AND GARFUNKEL 0:32
"I Never Thought I'd Live To Be a Million", THE MOODY BLUES 0:33
"Maggie Mae", THE BEATLES 0:38
"Dig It", THE BEATLES 0:49
"Over The Green Hills (Part One)", FREE 0:50
"Naked If I Want To", MOBY GRAPE 0:56 (Wow version 0:47)
Total time for these ten songs 5:47
Um, isn't "Bookends Theme" instrumental?
Good call, Blitz. The one that's 0:32 is just instrumental. The version with lyrics is 1:23.
I'd like to nominate a song that I don't believe has any official title. It's just a "hippie song" of Conan O'Brien's making. It runs 0:47, and can be found as the first of the MP3 files at the bottom of this page (which at least claims to be using them with permission of NBC):
The Church of Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Is this really a 'best of' list or are there really any you left off the list?
'Dig it' is, of course, edited from a much longer running time--eight minutes I think but neither boot I have it on lists the time.
Thanks Blitz for correcting my error on "Bookends" - I had noted it myself earlier but guess I forgot to post the correction.
Kevin, I'm sure there's lots more I left off the list, these are all the ones I could come up with off hand.
Nuts! I can't find my copy of They Might Be Giants' Flood to verify this... is "Minimum Wage" under a minute long? It does have lyrics (barely).
Yup- "Minimm Wage" does clock in at under a minute. So does the "Theme From Flood" while we're at it.
We could also add "Go To Hell" by King's X to the list.
IMO, "Minimum Wage" is a better song than "Theme from Flood." It has a more universal reach, at least in the US. For those who've heard it, and have ever worked for minimum wage, I think you'll understand what I'm getting at.
For those who haven't... Hmm, can I post the extensive lyrics & attendant sound fx here?
"Minimum wage... HYAH!" (followed by the sound of a whip cracking)
There you go.
The San Fran-based novelty band The Residents released a 1980 albim called 'The Residents Commercial Album" which contained FORTY songs no more than a minute long. I've never heard it tho . . .
How about this one: The opening theme to the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory" by those cool Canadian dudes the Barenaked Ladies!
It's only 20 seconds long, and it's cool!
Re: Todd's original post.
Maggie May by The Beatles is only a snippet of a longer song, not a complete tune. Here's a link to the hit version they were referencing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpGCmn_UfxA
I must add that the BL song is actually full-length (around 3 and a half minutes) and that CBS uses the 20 second version for BB's theme.
I found that out recently.