Colm O'Regan: In praise of The Long Song - and Nick Cave's Jubilee Street

"Nick Cave prowls, the band tootle, but they’re all one organism so something is building. This song is long and it’s going somewhere..."

"I’m talking about the song that meanders, changes its mind halfway through about what kind of song it is. It’s a small opera. A long bit in the middle with just guitars. It requires patience. It’s going to kick in soon."

Today I’m singing the praises of The Long Song. You’ve got one don’t you? Where did you hear it first? Years ago on a BASF 90 Chrome Extra II? Just now when on a Spotify playlist? Longer than six minutes. A song that goes on and on but doesn’t drag. It hooked you. Maybe you played it for someone else and spent a rather tense nine minutes watching their reaction. And they didn’t get it. The fool.

I’m not talking about 30-verse rebel songs. A young man just needs food, meets a cruel redcoat, a perfidious woman betraying him, transported to Austral-i-ay. It’s too detailed. Too hyperactive.