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Think it oh-oh-ver, think it oh-oh-ver

Posted on by brucehhackett

One of the least discussed but (for me) most satisfying moments of the recent Grammy Awards show was the performance by the new “super-duo” calling themselves Silk Sonic. Bruno Mars and rapper/singer/producer Anderson.Paak have pooled their talents to come up with a marvelous ’70s soul sound exemplified by their single “Leave the Door Open.” (I’m including it as a bonus track at the end of the Spotify playlist below.)

It reminded me how much I enjoyed soul music in that sweet decade of 1964-1974. The talented vocal groups of Detroit Motown, Memphis Stax/Atlantic and “Philly Soul” were a crucial part of that musically fertile period. Funny thing, though — the great songs of that era seemed to be far better known for the music than the lyrics, which often focused rather narrowly on the flip sides of romantic relationships (betrayal and devotion).

As a guy who loves quoting memorable rock music lyrics, I thought that for this latest edition of Hack’s Back Pages Lyrics Quiz, it might be a fun challenge for readers to test their ability to recall lyrics of classic hits by soul artists. I’ve come up with 25 lines from some of the better known soul tunes of the ’60s and ’70s for you to identify. Write down your answers on a piece of paper, then scroll down to see how you did, and read a little bit about each of these memorable songs.

Enjoy!

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1. “So take a good look at my face, you’ll see my smile looks out of place…”

2. “There’s no exception to the rule, listen baby, /It may be factual, may be cruel…”

3. “Comin’ to you on a dusty road, /Good lovin’, I got a truckload…”

4. “Folks say papa never was much on thinking, spent most of his time chasing women and drinking, /Mama, I’m depending on you to tell me the truth…”

5. “Ooh, your kisses, sweeter than honey, /And guess what? So is my money…”

6. “Don’t let the handshake and the smile fool ya, /Take my advice, I’m only tryin’ to school ya…”

7. “Like a fool I went and stayed too long, /Now I’m wondering if your love’s still strong, ooh baby, here I am…”

8. “Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow, /But if we are wise, we know that there’s always tomorrow…”

9. “But all you do is treat me bad, break my heart and leave me sad, /Tell me, what did I do wrong to make you stay away so long…”

10. “Every minute, every hour, I’m gonna shower you with love and affection, /Look out, it’s coming in your direction…”

11. “Who is the man who would risk his neck for his brother man?…”

12. “I can build a castle from a single grain of sand, I can make a ship sail, huh, on dry land…”

13. “Now if you feel that you can’t go on, because all of your hope is gone, /And your life is filled with much confusion, until happiness is just an illusion…”

14. “Father, father, we don’t need to escalate, /You see, war is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate…”

15. “When I call your name, girl, it starts to flame, burning in my heart, tearing it all apart, /No matter how I try, my love I cannot hide…”

16. “Today I saw somebody who looked just like you, /She walked like you do, I thought it was you…”

17. “Now if there’s a smile on my face, it’s only there trying to fool the public, /But when it comes down to fooling you, now honey, that’s quite a different subject…”

18. “Remember the day I set you free, I told you you could always count on me, darling…”

19. “For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of, long before I knew someone warm like you would make my dreams come true…”

20. “I don’t need no money, fortune or fame, /I’ve got all the riches, baby, one man can claim…”

21. “Why don’t you be a man about it and set me free? /Now, you don’t care a thing about me, you’re just using me…”

22. “I know a man ain’t supposed to cry, but these tears I can’t hold inside, /Losin’ you would end my life, you see, ’cause you mean that much to me…”

23. “When my soul was in the lost and found, you came along to claim it…”

24. “You been running all over the town now, /Oh, I guess I’ll have to put your flat feet on the ground…”

25. “Somebody’s out to get your lady, /A few of your buddies, they sure look shady…”

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ANSWERS:

1. “The Tracks of My Tears,” The Miracles, 1965

Robinson has said he was looking in his bathroom mirror one morning and thought, “What if someone cried so much that you could see the tracks left from the tears on their face?” That became the lyrical concept, partnered with Miracles guitarist Marv Tarplin’s melody, for this classic slice of Motown gold, which peaked at #16 for them in 1965. Ten years later, Linda Ronstadt recorded her own take on the iconic tune, reaching #25.

2. “Everybody Plays the Fool,” The Main Ingredient, 1972

This Harlem-based vocal group lost its lead singer to leukemia in 1970 and was replaced by Cuba Gooding, whose son would later become an Oscar-winning actor. The Main Ingredient had their biggest success with this song by seasoned songwriter Rudy Clark (who also wrote The Rascals’ “Good Lovin’,” among others), who had written it with Charley Pride in mind. But Pride thought it was more pop than country, so these guys took a stab at it and found themselves with a #3 hit in the autumn of 1972. Aaron Neville’s 1990 rendition was a #8 hit as well.

3. “Soul Man,” Sam and Dave, 1967

Singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes came up with this song after watching a news broadcast about riots in Detroit where buildings owned by Blacks were marked with the spray-painted word “soul” to spare them from vandalism. “The song became kind of like boasting, ‘I’m a soul man,'” said Hayes. “It was a pride thing.” Sam Moore and Dave Prater turned it into a #2 hit on pop charts, and The Blues Brothers revived it as their signature song in 1978 on “Saturday Night Live” and subsequent LP, “A Briefcase Full of Blues.”

4. “Papa Was a Rolling Stone,” The Temptations, 1972

Many people don’t know that this hugely popular #1 single, which pushed pop radio boundaries at more than seven minutes in length, actually clocked in at 11:44 in the original album version (included in the Spotify playlist below). Producer Norman Whitfield gave it textures and instrumental passages that set a somewhat forbidding atmosphere for the downcast story of a young man’s memories of life in a broken home. Dennis Edwards sang lead but the others took turns singing bass and falsetto to give voice to the narrators’ siblings. A truly remarkable recording top to bottom.

5. “Respect,” Aretha Franklin, 1967

This may be the most famous song on this list, as iconic as they come. After wallowing for years at Columbia Records, she switched to Atlantic and knocked us all off our feet with her fabulous takes on riveting R&B material. Otis Redding had already put this song on the map, but when Franklin sang it, it transformed into an anthem for the burgeoning women’s movement and became her signature song for decades to come.

6. “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” The Undisputed Truth, 1971

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote this one and gave it to The Temptations, who were undergoing a lineup change as Eddie Kendricks was going solo. They dragged their feet on releasing it, so the up-and-coming group The Undisputed Truth made their own recording and stole the spotlight on the charts, reaching #3 in the summer of 1971, but they never reached the pop charts again. You might check out The Tempts’ version, which (again) goes on for 12 minutes.

7. “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” Stevie Wonder, 1970

Wonder wrote this one with a little help from his mother Lula Hardaway, who, upon hearing him toying with the melody, exclaimed, “I love that! Ooh, signed, sealed and delivered, I’m yours!” This single marked Stevie’s first time as producer, a role he would retain for the rest of his exemplary career. The song reached #3 in 1970, and since then, many dozens of covers have been recorded, including ones Peter Frampton, Jermaine Jackson, Chaka Khan and Michael McDonald.

8. “Lean On Me,” Bill Withers, 1972

After first hitting the charts with the angst-ridden “Ain’t No Sunshine” in 1971, Withers could afford to move to Los Angeles to continue his career, but he missed the tight-knit community of his hometown of Slab Fork, West Virginia. “I started thinking about how we all leaned on each other for love and support, and the song came out as I played some basic scales on piano,” Withers recalled. The result was a #1 song for three weeks in July 1972.

9. “Baby Love,” The Supremes, 1964

Unbelievably catchy, this classic by Holland/Dozier/Holland was the one that truly established The Supremes as a singles powerhouse on pop radio, particularly as their songs faced off against The Beatles’ initial run of chart-toppers in 1964. “Where Did Our Love Go” came before it, but “Baby Love” proved they weren’t a flash in the pan, and indeed, they went on to have five consecutive #1s, which had never been achieved before.

10. “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” The Supremes & The Temptations, 1969

Written by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Jerry Ross, this song was first recorded by Dee Dee Warwick in 1966 and then by Madeline Bell in 1968, both with only minimal impact. But when The Temptations and The Supremes chose to team up for an album and TV special in late 1968, this was the song from the album that radio stations chose to play, even though it hadn’t been performed on the show and wasn’t the intended single. Once officially released as a single, it vaulted all the way to #2 on pop charts in early 1969, featuring Diana Ross and Eddie Kendricks trading off on lead vocals.

11. “Theme From Shaft,” Isaac Hayes, 1971

Hayes had been a pivotal producer/songwriter/arranger at Stax Records since its inception. In his first attempt at film scoring, he scored a hit with the quasi-funk/soul soundtrack for the Richard Rountree detective flick “Shaft” in 1971. The theme song was more instrumental than vocal, but it was nonetheless a huge hit, reaching #1 and scoring an Oscar for Best Song.

12. “I Can’t Get Next to You,” The Temptations, 1969

Immediately identified by opening applause cut short by Dennis Edwards saying,”Hold it, hold it, listen,” followed by the piano intro and horn section, “I Can’t Get Next to You” was a gigantic hit for The Temptations in the fall of ’69. Another Norman Whitfield/Barrett Strong composition, it featured each of the group’s different voices taking turns on lead. I’m also fond of the excellent cover version Annie Lennox recorded in 1995.

13. “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” The Four Tops, 1966

There’s an undeniable feeling of dread to the way this track begins — minor chords, echo and innovative percussion — followed by a shift to major chords to release the tension. The anguished pleading of lead singer Levi Stubbs, achieved by making him sing in a key that was right at the top of his vocal range, really makes the record. For me, this is The Four Tops at their very best.

14. “What’s Going On,” Marvin Gaye, 1971

Widely considered his masterpiece, “What’s Going On” is a sonic breakthrough and a lyrical cry for our future on the planet. “With the world exploding all around me, how am I supposed to keep singing love songs?” he said. “I wanted to write songs that would reach the souls of people.” Gaye’s singing and songwriting were at their best for the title track (which ranked #4 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time), while “Mercy Mercy Me” and “Inner City Blues” weren’t far behind.

15. “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” The Four Tops, 1965

Another marquis song in the Motown canon is this spirited tune by the Holland/Dozier/Holland songwriting and producing team. Using a similar chord progression to “Where Did Our Love Go,” which they’d written for The Supremes the previous year, the H/D/H trio struck gold again for The Four Tops, who put this song at #1 on the pop charts for two weeks, and #1 on the R&B charts for nine weeks, in the summer of ’65.

16. “You Are Everything,” The Stylistics, 1971

Thom Bell, co-creator of the Philly sound, came up with this passionate ballad for The Stylistics, one of the bands on his Philly Int’l label. The falsetto voice of Russell Thompkins Jr. was the defining characteristic of the group’s sound on this and other hits they charted in the early ’70s. “You Are Everything” reached #4 on pop charts, and a cover of the song by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross on 1973’s “Diana & Marvin” LP reached #5 in England.

17. “The Tears of a Clown,” Smokey and The Miracles, 1970

Stevie Wonder and producer Henry Cosby had written and recorded the instrumental track for this tune in 1967, but Wonder couldn’t come up with a lyric for it. He asked for help from Smokey Robinson, who heard the calliope-like section and thought of a clown in the circus, hiding his sadness behind a smile. The Miracles recorded it as an album track, and then three years later, after Motown’s British subsidiary released it to great success, it was released as a single in the US, where it became their final #1 hit.

18. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, 1967

This unforgettable song served as the entree into Motown for the songwriting team of Nikolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, and was also the initial pairing of Gaye with singer Tammi Terrell. Gaye was a seasoned recording artist by then, which intimidated Terrell so much that her part and Gaye’s were actually recorded separately and grafted together by producer Harvey Fuqua. It peaked at #19 in 1967 but has since reached iconic status, used in film soundtracks like “Remember the Titans” and “Guardians of the Galaxy.” A slower, melodramatic, partly spoken version by Diana Ross made it to #1 in 1970.

19. “For Once in My Life,” Stevie Wonder, 1968

Originally written as a slow ballad and recorded that way by the Four Tops and The Temptations, it was recorded in 1967 in an uptempo arrangement by Stevie Wonder, but Motown head Berry Gordy didn’t like it and withheld it from release for more than a year. It reached #2 on the pop and R&B charts in late 1968 and became a standard, covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and other crooners. The record is mentioned by bass players everywhere as the perfect example of James Jamerson’s unparalleled bass-playing style.

20. “My Girl,” The Temptations, 1964

Written by Smokey Robinson and fellow Miracle Ronald White, “My Girl” was written about Robinson’s wife Claudette and was set to be the next Miracles single, but instead, he produced it with The Temptations. Although Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams typically sang lead vocals, Robinson insisted he wanted David Ruffin to sing it, “featuring his gruff voice on a sweet melody.” It became not only the group’s first #1 hit but their signature song ever since.

21. “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” The Supremes, 1966

Lamont Dozier, in collaboration with Brian and Eddie Holland, incorporated a Morse code-like guitar riff into the arrangement for this magnificent R&B #1 hit they wrote for The Supremes. It became one of the most often covered songs in the Motown catalog — Vanilla Fudge did a slow-tempo, hard rock version in 1967 that made the Top Ten; British singer Kim Wilde returned the song to #1 with a supercharged electronic dance music rendition; and country artist Reba McEntire offered up a Supremes replication in 1995.

22. “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Marvin Gaye, 1968

This awesome tune by Motown songwriting duo Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong was recorded first by The Miracles, but only as an album track. Gladys Knight & The Pips had a big #2 hit with their funky arrangement in 1967, but Gaye’s haunting version eclipsed them both, holding down the #1 spot for seven weeks in 1968-69, making it the most successful song in Motown history. It was later turned into a 10-minute rock interpretation by Creedence in 1970.

23. “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” Aretha Franklin, 1967

Atlantic Records chief Jerry Wexler had been reading about the philosophical concept of “the natural man” when he ran into Carole King in New York one day. On the spot, he asked her to write a song about “the natural woman” for Franklin’s next album, so she and husband/songwriter partner Gerry Goffin went home and wrote this iconic tune that night. It became a #8 pop hit (#2 on R&B charts) for Aretha. King later recorded her own version for her 1971 epic LP “Tapestry.”

24. “Mustang Sally,” Wilson Pickett, 1966

R&B singer-songwriter Mack Rice wrote and recorded this song in 1965 not long after a friend told him he wanted to get a sporty Ford Mustang, which had just been introduced the previous year. Originally titled “Mustang Mama” about a woman who wanted only to ride around in her new car, he chose to change Mama to Sally because of the use of the line “Ride, Sally, ride” in the middle verses. Pickett reached #23 on the pop charts with his version.

25. “Back Stabbers,” The O’Jays, 1972

Inspired by the theme of betrayal used effectively in “Smiling Faces Sometimes,” Leon Huff came up with “Back Stabbers” for The O’Jays’ first single on Huff’s and Kenny Gamble’s new label, Philadelphia International. It was the beginning of a long and successful relationship between the vocal group and the label, followed by “Love Train, “For the Love of Money” and many more.

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Well, that one went by in a flash

Posted on by brucehhackett

When rock and roll arrived in the 1950s, the music may have pushed a lot of boundaries — the beat, the arrangement, the singing –but not the song length. Virtually every track on every album lasted somewhere between two and three minutes because that’s what radio stations demanded, and record companies eager for airplay were happy to comply.

In the ’60s, though, that began to change. In 1965, Dylan’s iconic hit single “Like a Rolling Stone” broke the six-minute barrier, and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” in 1968 was more than seven minutes (although some stations cut off the “na na na na-na-na-na” coda well before the end). By the early 1970s, psychedelic groups such as The Grateful Dead and Iron Butterfly and progressive rock bands like Genesis and Jethro Tull were releasing songs that lasted the length of an entire album side — 15 or 20 minutes or more.

But what about the other extreme? I was listening to some vintage albums recently and came across quite a few tracks that pushed boundaries in the opposite direction — songs that last well under two minutes. Some were less than a minute long. It begs the question: Are these really songs, or just song fragments tacked on to albums in a moment of what-the-hell whimsy?

Some short tracks were designed to be brief. James Taylor’s 1972 LP “One Man Dog” has eight tracks clocking in under two minutes. Several were strung together in a six-song medley that concludes the album, but songs like “New Tune,” “Fool for You” and “Chili Dog” are stand-alone tunes that make their case in about 1:40 apiece.

On epic productions like The Who’s “Tommy” or Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” there are several very short “songs” that are really nothing more than bridges to further the story and connect the longer songs.

Still others sound like they’re unfinished, maybe because the artist lost interest in developing the idea any further, but went ahead and included it on the album anyway. Paul McCartney’s 1970 album opener “The Lovely Linda” (44 seconds) and Taylor’s 1971 album closer “Isn’t It Nice to Be Home Again” (55 seconds) end barely before they’ve begun.

I’ve gathered 21 short-but-sweet examples of brutally concise songs by artists of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. It certainly won’t take much time to listen to the Spotify playlist found at the end!

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“Mercedes Benz,” Janis Joplin, 1971

Joplin had heard a poem by San Francisco beat poet Michael McClure that began, “Come on, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz.” She began singing that line one night while sitting in a bar with singer-songwriter Bob Neuwirth, and the two of them exchanged verses about other things she might want God to buy for her. This anti-consumerism tune, sung in an a cappella arrangement lasting a mere 1:47, was the last song Joplin ever recorded, and ended up on her posthumous #1 album “Pearl” in 1971.

“Welcome to the Working Week,” Elvis Costello, 1977

The first song on Costello’s astonishing debut LP “My Aim is True” is this 1:23 quickie that immediately establishes him as the fiery non-conformist that would be a defining feature of his career. While classics like “Alison” and “Watching the Detectives” deservedly got more airplay, “Welcome to the Working Week” deftly and succinctly commiserates with working stiffs who head off to a job they hate: “Oh I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you… You gotta do it ’til you’re through it, so you better get to it…”

“Little Deuce Coupe,” The Beach Boys, 1963

While the first three Beach Boys LPs were heavy on surfing tunes, their fourth focused on cars and hot rods, the other key element of the Southern California lifestyle. All the Beach Boys’ early songs were relatively short and to the point (under 2:30 in length), but “Little Deuce Coupe,” which reached #15 as the B-side of the “Surfer Girl” single, faded out at only 1:41. Brian Wilson wrote this and several other car songs with local DJ Roger Christian, who came up with the lyrics. Wilson noted the tune had “a good shuffle rhythm that had a bouncy feel to it.”

“Father of Night,” Bob Dylan, 1970

Out of the 360 songs Dylan has written and recorded on nearly 40 studio albums, this is the shortest. He wrote it and two others for a play by poet Archibald MacLeish entitled “Scratch,” but a disagreement with the play’s producer resulted in Dylan pulling the songs from the project and re-directing them to his next studio album, 1970’s “New Morning.” He wrote “Father of Night” as a modern re-interpretation of Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish liturgy that encompasses a number of daily blessings.

“Breaking Glass,” David Bowie, 1977

Bowie was fighting cocaine addiction when he fled L.A. in the mid-’70s for Berlin, where he teamed up with ambient music guru Brian Eno. The experimental tracks recorded for Bowie’s “Low” album emphasize tone and atmosphere rather than guitar-based rock, and the music is influenced by German bands such as Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk. “Breaking Glass” is defined by Bowie producer Tony Visconti as a song fragment (1:52) that was intended to be incorporated into something larger, but was ultimately left as is.  

“Oh Baby, Don’t You Loose Your Lip on Me,” James Taylor, 1970

After an unsuccessful debut LP on Apple Records in 1969, Taylor and manager-producer Peter Asher jumped ship from London to L.A. and came up with the simple, direct, unassuming “Sweet Baby James” album, combining acoustic folk, country blues and a smidgen of rock. Nestled next to hits like “Fire and Rain,” “Country Road” and “Steamroller” is this short (1:49) track which features Taylor and longtime collaborator Danny Kortchmar exchanging impressive acoustic guitar riffs while JT puts on a clinic in ad-libbed blues vocals. It’s short and to the point, and a tad messy, but that’s part of its charm.

“Through With Buzz,” Steely Dan, 1974

On “Pretzel Logic,” the group’s third album, songwriters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker came up with some of their catchiest pop tunes (“Night By Night,” “Barrytown,” “Charlie Freak,” “With a Gun”), seemingly determined to bring them in at under three minutes. The shortest of the bunch (1:32) is a curiously appealing number called “Through With Buzz,” a diatribe against a guy who stole the narrator’s money and girlfriend. Fagen has said he got stuck on the song’s structure, unsure where to go next, and chose to abruptly bring it to an end.

“Tea For the Tillerman,” Cat Stevens, 1970

Stevens (now Yusef) made his initial splash in the US with this remarkable 1970 album full of engaging melodies and serious lyrics about searching for spiritual meaning in a soulless society. “Wild World” was the hit single, but “Father and Son,” “Longer Boats” and “On the Road to Find Out” eventually made as much or more impact. Serving as the album’s coda is the brief (1:06) title track, featuring Stevens bringing the album full circle to its opener, “Where Do the Children Play,” singing about how “the children play (rather than pray), Oh Lord, how they play and play for that happy day…”

“Rave On,” Buddy Holly, 1958

Co-written and first recorded by Texas singer Sonny West, “Rave On” became a modest hit for Holly in the US when he laid down his own rendition in early 1958. While it didn’t chart as high as “That’ll Be the Day,” “Peggy Sue” and “Oh Boy” here, it was a Top Five hit in the UK. “Rave On” was highly influential, covered by many other artists over the ensuing decades and ranked at #154 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Nearly all of Holly’s songs in his brief career were compact, but “Rave On” leads the bunch at 1:47.

“April Come She Will,” Simon and Garfunkel, 1966

On the duo’s five studio albums, you’ll find four tracks under two minutes long, including the whimsical “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” and the poignant “Song For the Asking,” but I’ve selected the perfectly concise (1:51) story-poem “April Come She Will.” Quite a few of Simon’s early lyrics focus on isolation, angst and death, and “April,” in which a woman arrives in spring and is gone by autumn, is one of them. It later made an appearance alongside “Mrs. Robinson” and others in the 1967 film soundtrack of “The Graduate.”

“Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” The Beatles, 1968

John Lennon went on record saying he was disappointed Paul McCartney hadn’t asked him to participate in the studio recording of this bawdy blues tune from The Beatles’ “White Album.” There was tension in the band at the time, as Lennon was distracted by new lover Yoko Ono, so McCartney grabbed Ringo to record the drums while he added keyboards and bass, and gave the song an aptly ragged vocal. Paul wrote “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road?” in India one morning after watching two monkeys copulating on an ashram pathway. It lasts only 1:41.

“Till the Morning Comes,” Neil Young, 1970

From Young’s classic “After the Gold Rush” album, this track certainly sounds as if he gave up on it. It’s got a nice piano-based melody and an arrangement that begins to build in instrumentation (bass, drums, French horn) and voices, but then just when you’re looking for another verse, maybe a bridge, a solo, something, it simply fades out at 1:16. I always wondered whether he regards this tune as unfinished business; knowing him, probably not.

“Rachel,” Seals and Crofts, 1974

The multi-tracked vocal harmonies this soft-rock duo committed to vinyl are some of the prettiest of that era, from “Summer Breeze” and “Diamond Girl” to “We May Never Pass This Way Again” and “Hummingbird.” Jimmy Seals sings lead, with Dash Crofts handling the upper register. On their lesser-known LP “Unborn Child,” you’ll find “Rachel,” less than a minute long and sorely in need of further development. But it somehow works as the Side Two opener, with guitar and mandolin and those impeccable harmonies.

“Cheap Day Return,” Jethro Tull, 1971

Critics have labeled Tull’s “Aqualung” a concept album criticizing organized religion, but in fact, only three songs deal with that subject (“My God,” “Hymn 43” and “Wind Up”). The title track and “Locomotive Breath” are classic rock war horses still in heavy rotation, but scattered throughout the album are reflective acoustic pieces that keep listeners on their toes. One is “Cheap Day Return,” a 1:21-long bauble featuring Ian Anderson musing about an incident when the nurse tending to his dying father asked Anderson for an autograph.

“Call on Me,” The Bangles, 1981

Susanna Hoffs joined forces with sisters Debbi and Vikki Peterson to form The Bangs in 1980, recording their first single “Getting Out of Hand,” backed with the quick-and-dirty “Call on Me” (1:34). Turns out another group owned the name The Bangs, so they modified their name to Bangles and went on to great success in the latter ’80s with power pop hits like “Manic Monday,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame.” There’s a New Wave-y feel to the early “Call on Me,” and an almost countryish guitar solo in the middle.

“(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear,” Elvis Presley, 1957

Thanks to aggressive promotion by manager “Colonel” Tom Parker, Presley’s singing and acting careers developed simultaneously, and he found himself in a starring role in the frothy film “Loving You” in 1957, only a year after his first #1 hit (“Heartbreak Hotel”). Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller wrote the movie’s title song, but it was only the B-side for Presley’s next #1 hit, “Teddy Bear,” penned by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe. Clocking in at only 1:45, it was one of the shortest #1 singles in Billboard history, and hugely popular, holding the #1 spot for seven weeks.

“Eruption,” Van Halen, 1978

When America’s premier rock band of the 1980s first showed up in 1978 with their self-titled debut LP, one of the tracks that had jaws dropping across the country was “Eruption,” a mind-blowing electric guitar workout featuring (who else?) the late great Eddie Van Halen. It was an instrumental and lasted only 1:44, but it remains high on the list of fan favorites and was often part of their concert set list. (Another short VH track, “Spanish Fly,” only 1:02 in length, features virtuoso Eddie on classical guitar.)

“Smash the Mirror,” The Who, 1969

As mentioned earlier, The Who’s iconic rock opera “Tommy” has a few short tracks that serve to move the story along and link longer, more pivotal songs. At only 1:30, “Smash the Mirror” has the beginnings of a proper tune, but it’s soon clear that its purpose is to be the climactic moment when Tommy has a monumental breakthrough to cure his deaf-dumb-and-blindness, and segues next into “Sensation,” when he realizes the impact he has made as a world-class pinball player.

“Please, Please, Please, Can I Get What I Want,” The Smiths, 1985

Although The Smiths were more of a cult favorite in the US, they were enormously popular and influential in their native England. Their jangly indie rock/pop sound and the smartly accessible songs of lyricist/singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr made their four albums “must haves” throughout the UK and Europe. Early in 1984, “William, It Was Really Nothing” was a #17 single in the UK, and its B-side was the lush “Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want,” which leaves the listener wanting more when it ends way too soon at 1:52.

“Stay,” Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs, 1960

This irresistible singalong song was written in 1953 by Williams at only 15, immediately after failing to convince his young date not to go home at 10:00 as her father had insisted. It was finally recorded in 1960 by Williams’s band The Zodiacs, and it reached #1 for a week in December of that year. At 1:36, it still holds the record for shortest #1 song ever on the US charts. The song found new life when Jackson Browne included it on his “Running on Empty” LP in 1977, and again in 1987 when The Zodiacs’ version was used in the film “Dirty Dancing.”

“Seasons,” Elton John, 1971

Before stardom found them, Elton John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin signed a deal to provide several songs for a French film called “Friends,” directed by Lewis Gilbert. It was a box office dud, but the soundtrack did well thanks to Elton’s involvement. The song “Friends” made the Top 40 in the US, and four others are well worth your attention. There’s a beautiful ballad called “Seasons” that appears twice, tied into some Paul Buckmaster orchestral score music. The full reprise of it at the end of the album lasts 1:39.

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Honorable mention as the shortest tune of them all:

“Her Majesty,” The Beatles, 1969

McCartney wrote this irreverent little ditty about the Queen and placed it between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” on the 15-minute medley from Side 2 of “Abbey Road.” Upon hearing an early run-through of the medley, McCartney decided he didn’t like “Her Majesty” after all and told the engineer to cut it. Having been instructed to never throw any Beatles tape away, he spliced the 36-second tune onto the end of the leader tape for the time being. Later, when the whole band listened to the medley, “Her Majesty” came through the speakers as a surprise after 15 seconds of silence. They loved that and left it there.