10 Best Songs With The Word ‘Long’ In The Title

Feature Photo: Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

The word “long” can describe distance, time, memory, waiting, or the feeling that something has stayed with you far beyond the moment when it began. These ten songs take that one word through spiritual reflection, political frustration, heartbreak, hard rock, blues, soul, and some of the biggest records of the 1960s and 1970s. From George Harrison and David Crosby to Linda Ronstadt, The Hollies, Ace, Boston, and two very different Beatles songs, every entry finds its own meaning inside the idea of something lasting a long time.

# 10 – Long, Long, Long – The Beatles

George Harrison’s “Long, Long, Long” is one of the quietest and most spiritual songs on 1968’s The Beatles, better known as the White Album. Harrison later explained that the “you” in the song was God, which turns what sounds at first like a love song into something much more personal. The arrangement is restrained and almost fragile, with Harrison’s voice floating over acoustic guitar, organ, piano, bass, and drums before the strange vibrating ending suddenly disturbs the calm. Coming immediately after the chaos of “Helter Skelter,” “Long, Long, Long” feels like the entire album briefly stopping to catch its breath.

Read More: Top 10 Beatles Love Songs

# 9 – Long Time Gone – Crosby, Stills & Nash

David Crosby wrote “Long Time Gone” in response to the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, and the song became one of the most direct political statements on Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1969 debut album. Crosby carries the lead vocal while Stephen Stills gives the track much of its musical force with bass, organ, and electric guitar, backed by Dallas Taylor on drums and the group’s unmistakable harmonies. Instead of sounding like a polished protest anthem, “Long Time Gone” feels angry, weary, and unsettled, which is exactly why it still works. Crosby was writing about one specific moment in American history, but the demand to speak out against what is happening around you gave the song a life far beyond 1969.

Read More: Top 10 Crosby, Stills & Nash Songs

# 8 – Long Misty Days – Robin Trower

Robin Trower’s “Long Misty Days” is the title track from his 1976 album and one of the finest examples of the chemistry between Trower, vocalist and bassist James Dewar, and drummer Bill Lordan. Trower and Dewar wrote the song together, while Trower and Geoff Emerick produced the album at AIR Studios in London. The track moves at a patient pace, giving Trower room to stretch his guitar tone across Dewar’s soulful vocal rather than crowding the song with unnecessary flash. Long Misty Days reached the Billboard 200 Top 25, and the title track remains a great example of why this period of Trower’s career has held up so well.

Read More: An Encore Interview With Robin Trower

# 7 – Long Live Rock – The Who

“Long Live Rock” is Pete Townshend’s loud, affectionate salute to the madness surrounding rock and roll itself. The Who recorded the song at Olympic Studios in London on June 5, 1972 for the abandoned Rock Is Dead—Long Live Rock! project, but it remained unreleased until John Entwistle included it on the 1974 rarities collection Odds & Sods. The song finally became a single in 1979 in connection with The Kids Are Alright, reaching No. 48 in the UK and No. 54 in the United States. Roger Daltrey, Townshend, John Entwistle, and Keith Moon sound exactly like a band that understands both the glory and the absurdity of the life they are celebrating.

Read More: The Who’s Best Song On Each Of Their Studio Albums

# 6 – Long Train Runnin’ – The Doobie Brothers

The Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin’” began as a loose instrumental jam before producer Ted Templeman pushed Tom Johnston to turn it into a finished song. Johnston added the lyric, harmonica, and that instantly recognizable guitar rhythm, and the track became the first single from 1973’s The Captain and Me. “Long Train Runnin’” reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the band’s defining records, built less around a conventional chorus than around an unstoppable groove. It still sounds as if the band could keep playing that rhythm forever, which makes the title feel almost inevitable.

Read More: The Doobie Brothers Best Song On Each Studio Album

# 5 – Long Long Time – Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt’s “Long Long Time” is one of those performances where the singer seems to find more pain in the song than the words alone should be able to hold. Written by Gary White and released on Ronstadt’s 1970 album Silk Purse, the ballad reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned Ronstadt her first Grammy nomination. The lyric is built around unrequited love and the realization that some feelings do not disappear simply because the relationship never becomes what you hoped it would. Ronstadt’s voice turns that idea into something enormous, moving from restraint to heartbreak without ever losing control.

Read More: Linda Ronstadt’s Best Song On Each Of Her 1970s Studio Albums

# 4 – Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress) – The Hollies

“Long Cool Woman (In a Black Dress)” sounds almost nothing like the harmony-heavy Hollies records that came before it, and that difference is part of what made it such a huge American hit. Allan Clarke wrote the song with Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway and delivers the rough lead vocal over a stripped-down guitar-driven arrangement that owes more to Creedence Clearwater Revival than to the group’s usual British pop sound. Released from 1971’s Distant Light, the single climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972 even though it only reached No. 32 in the UK. It remains one of the strangest and most successful stylistic detours in the Hollies’ catalog.

Read More: 10 Best Songs Of The Hollies

# 3 – How Long – Ace

Ace’s “How Long” sounds like one of the smoothest songs ever written about romantic betrayal, except Paul Carrack was not writing about a cheating lover at all. Carrack wrote the song after discovering that Ace bassist Terry “Tex” Comer had been secretly playing with the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver while that group was trying to persuade him to leave Ace. Comer ultimately stayed, but Carrack turned the tension into a perfect pop-soul single, singing lead over Phil Harris’ memorable guitar work. Released from the band’s 1974 debut Five-A-Side, “How Long” reached No. 3 in both the United States and Canada and No. 20 in the UK, giving Carrack the first major hit of a career that would stretch through Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics, and his solo work.

Read More: 10 Essential Paul Carrack Songs

# 2 – The Long And Winding Road – The Beatles

Paul McCartney’s “The Long and Winding Road” became the Beatles’ twentieth and final No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, released in the United States in May 1970 after the group’s breakup had become public. The song began as a much simpler piano ballad, but Phil Spector added orchestra and choir to the Let It Be master without McCartney’s approval, creating one of the most famous production disputes in Beatles history. Whatever version you prefer, the song itself is built on longing, distance, and the feeling of repeatedly being drawn back to the same person or place. Coming at the end of the Beatles’ story, the title inevitably took on a meaning far beyond the original lyric.

Read More: Best Solos Performed On Beatles Solo Records

# 1 – Foreplay / Long Time – Boston

Boston’s “Foreplay / Long Time” takes the top spot because it combines progressive-rock ambition with the kind of huge hooks that helped turn the band’s 1976 debut into one of the most successful first albums in rock history. Tom Scholz wrote both sections, and he later recalled that “Foreplay” was the first piece of music he ever wrote and the first thing he recorded on a two-track machine in his basement, dating it back to 1969. On the finished Boston recording, Brad Delp’s soaring lead vocal carries “Long Time” while Scholz’s layered production and guitars give the entire seven-plus-minute suite its enormous scale. The single version of “Long Time” reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 10 in Canada, but the full album pairing is the version that made the song a classic-rock landmark.

Read More: Tommy DeCarlo of Boston: The ClassicRockHistory.Com Interview

Updated September 14, 2026.

10 Best Songs With The Word ‘Long’ In The Title article published on ClassicRockHistory.com © 2026