As was said above there are too many variables. Take a song like Matty Groves. You have at three least and normally four characters (Matty, the lady, the Lord and the page. Often there is a friend of Matty as well) you have at least four scenes: picking Matty up, the affair, the betrayal and the denouement. Usually you have the friend trying to give the alarm as well. That is a heck of a lot to try to squeeze into 3, 4 or 5 verses. So if you are not prepared to have a longer song, you are also abandoning stories of such complexity. Very short songs on the hand can be just as effective: Alex Glasgow's "But the doctor doesn't come" is over in around 45 seconds and is really hard hitting.   Then again, "The Prickly Bush" usually has around 5 or 6 verses and bores me rigid.

In short: the song should be the length it needs to be. Forget arbitrary rules like 5 verses or 3 minutes or whatever. Things may be different if you are in search of time on the radio, but otherwise let the song decide.