2:42

Joshua Allen has done the world a service, he's calculated (I'm not exactly positive how) the length of the perfect pop song: Two Minutes and Forty-Two Seconds (note the '42' there. A sure sign he's on to something).

It's a clever, impassioned, vulgar piece that seems exactly right. Perhaps with some thought I could find the flaw in his argument ("Layla", "Freebird" or "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" come to mind as counter-examples), however when I read it, I don't really want to try. Particularly when I get to the clincher:

...this song by a group that pretty much defines one-hit wonder: the La’s. The song is "There She Goes," and is so flawless that it instantly made everything else the band did pointless. This ditty is two minutes and 42 seconds, and is all about songwriting economy.

I listened to it and said, in my rich and sonorous timbre, in my typically concise and absolutely-nailing-it fashion: "Here is a song that has everything I need and nothing I don’t."

The main riff acts as the intro. The verses are the chorus. The solo is 100 percent fat-free and leads right into a tidy bridge. And then we’re back where we started. It’s like some ingenious IKEA futon or Japanese love hotel where every component is doing double-duty. When "There She Goes" is over, I guarantee absolutely no one in the room goes: "[expletive deleted] finally."

I’d hit upon the perfect song length. I fist-bumped somebody.

He goes on from there with some stunning supporting evidence--and better yet, a playlist of perfect 2:42 songs.