Just an observation about Eric Bogle's claim that NML would have been too long for a single. He's obviously forgotten the Animals' version of House of The Rising Sun, which went on for around 6 minutes, and proved an enormous hit. Not being a pop fan I couldn't put a name to any other epic blockbusters, but I'd have thought there were plenty 55which broke the three minute sounds barrier by a similar margin.

Also, without listening to it again and suffering another coniption fit, does the JS version not use the chorus after every verse?

Surely, if time were such an important factor, it would have been better to drop a couple of choruses?