What put the supposedly arbitrary limit of three minutes on songs was a relatively recent thing:   the available length on recordable media many decades back. Three minutes was about all you could get on one side of a 78 rpm record. Radio stations got used to playing songs of this length and liked them, because they gave breaks between songs into which commercial messages could be bunged. Also, it was an article of faith among radio station program directors that the attention span of most listeners was about three minutes.

This, despite the fact that classical music stations in the era of 78 rpm records, would play entire symphonies, concerti, and full-length operas—spread over both sides of several 12" records, and packaged in an album. The DJ would simply play them in sequence, using two turntables, and try to make the seque from one record to the next as imperceptible as possible (how do I know? Been there, done that).

As far as the idea that peoples' attention spans are limited to three minutes, how do you account for the full concert halls during symphony concerts? Or equally full opera houses during presentations of, say, some Wagnerian operas that run as long as five hours (with maybe a couple of fifteen minute intermissions, i.e., potty breaks)?

The first record to break the three-minute barrier at pop and country stations was not Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," it was Marty Robbins' recording of "El Paso" from his "Gunfighter Ballads" album (12" LP, 33 1/3 rpm). Not long afterwards, Richard Harris with "MacArthur Park" (over seven minutes).

Just a little history to keep the record straight.

More history:    people spending an evening passing a harp or lute around and singing "vain and idle songs," as someone several centuries ago complained (Caedmon, as told by the Venerable Bede, I believe), was the equivalent in former times of sitting around of an evening and watching television. Only it was a more active and participatory form of entertainment. A lo-o-o-ong ballad that told a good story was no problem, any more than "Law and Order" (an hour-long program—with commercials) is now.

Perhaps the problem is three-fold:   first, you have many people who expect songs to be no longer than three minutes;   then you have singers who may not really understand the story of a ballad all that well and miss many of the nuances within it simply not putting the story across well;    then, akin to the first, audiences composed of people who have never learned to listen actively, really paying attention to a song.

"The Lass of Roch Royal" (Child #76) runs around 35 verses. "The Gest of Robyn Hood" (Child #117 – Robin Hood ballads comprise the largest single group in the Child collection and were very popular at one time) runs over 450 verses.

Most of the songs I sing run only a few minutes. But I do sing some quite long ballads. Never had anyone sit there and roll their eyes or walk out on me, because when I'm singing it, I stay aware that it is a story, and I make sure to sing (tell) it in a manner that makes the plot twists clear and maintains the suspense.

Ya gotta learn how to sing these songs!

And ya gotta learn how to listen.

Don Firth