> Songs are shorter (<3 minutes) and lyrics simpler as a result. People don’t want to think anymore. Beatles songs are around 164 seconds long on average. htt

> Songs are shorter (<3 minutes) and lyrics simpler as a result. People don’t want to think anymore. Beatles songs are around 164 seconds long on average. https://www.aaronkrerowicz.com/uploads/6/5/4/3/6543054/duration_in_beatles_songs.pdf https://www.aaronkrerowicz.com/uploads/6/5/4/3/6543054/durat... An 2005 compilation of Johnny Cash’s greatest songs averages just a little over three minutes per song. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Johnny_Cash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Johnny_Cash Gerry and The Pacemakers did not have long songs either. https://www.discogs.com/master/369149-Gerry-And-The-Pacemakers-Greatest-Hits https://www.discogs.com/master/369149-Gerry-And-The-Pacemake... Neither did the Kingston Trio. https://www.discogs.com/release/666498-Kingston-Trio-The-Kingston-Trio https://www.discogs.com/release/666498-Kingston-Trio-The-Kin... Before recording, popular forms of folk music typically has just one fairly short melody. You can repeat it over and over with different lyrics but the “core” is simple and short . Sing “Oh Susana” or “Kalinka” or “Scarborough fair” to yourself and count the seconds before you the melody repeats. Frankly, “popular songs being over three minutes long” is likely an anomaly in the history of humanity. What we are seeing with shorter songs is probably just a regression to the mean.