10 Perfect Hit Songs That Are Insanely Long

Towards the mid ‘70s, Elton John was slowly entering into his classic phase. Though he and Bernie Taupin had a knack for penning classic hits as far back as Your Song, his next string of albums were the stuff of pop music history, culminating in the massive double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Every album has to put the right foot forward though, and Elton made the kind of pop journey that was worthy of royalty.

In between all of the classic songs like Candle in the Wind and Saturday Night’s Alright, Elton was very particular about starting things off with an almost dirge like atmosphere. The title really makes sense, as Elton was trying to envision the kind of music that he would want played at his own funeral and making a pure melancholy piano showcase before going into Love Lies Bleeding.

That’s right, kids, this is another 2-for-1 song, since the actual pop song part doesn’t come in for well over 3 minutes in as Elton opens his mouth. For being an 11 minute song, there’s never a moment during the production where it feels like it’s dragging, going from one dramatic high to another, whether that’s Elton’s virtuoso piano skills or a nice meaty guitar riff to tie everything together. The man was always known for being over the top, and this is one of the few Elton songs that feels like it belongs on Broadway much more than a rock album.