Efficient communicaiton - The three minute song

I'm taking a performance class. One of the first requirements is that we prepare three songs, each no longer than three minutes in length. I immediately groaned, because most of my songs are much longer and I hate to cut any of the lyrics that I painstaking wrote. Each line is vital to deliver my message. However, in listening to radio, I realized that most songs are right around 3-minutes. These artists (the ones who make money) have figured it out.

In thinking about this, the most effective communicators are those that get to the point quickly. They've learned, that to have success you need to keep it short and to the point.