GerryM wrote: The American Pie "Program Notes" in the DT were taken, without credit, from The Annotated American Pie,

Thank you for your contribution, even if small, and three hisses for whoever lifted the notes.

But my example was offered to try to get people thinking about an actual case. An eight minute song can get you, depending on pace, between about sixteen and sixty (yes, sixty!) ballad stanzas. I submit that even the shorter end of that range would be considered a long song. :-)

I doubt "American Pie" would survive well in oral tradition, just because no one would understand it. But it was assuredly popular, and enduringly so, as witness the fact that a few years ago, I was hearing it played in the local grocery store!

So there must be some sort of market for long songs, even if they are hard to understand.

Me, I'd rather have a long song I understand. :-) But perhaps there is more to this than most of us think.