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"Ca plane pour moi" by Plastic Bertrand repeats the same note about twenty times (I lost count). Anyone to top this? (I think it is fair to split into a "classic" and "modern" record; Germans would call it E and U).

Hauke Reddmann
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I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch more songs in the same vein/genre, but the first that came to mind was "Trans-Europe Express" by Kraftwerk. It's intentionally robotic and "futuristic" from a 1977's perspective. So the vocal parts, some heavily treated, some more normal sounding are almost all the same note.

cnamejj
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In C by Terry Reilly surely counts; you can repeat "C" as many times as you like.

Although it's not a single note, shoutout to the overture to Das Rheingold by Wagner. It's an E♭ major chord. Just the one chord. Four and a half minutes.

Pseudonym
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Steve Reich's 'Music for 18 Musicians' (1978) has to be a contender.

It does change over time, but so slowly you almost forget. It's an hour long…
Complete piece, with score.

It makes Tubular Bells feel a bit rushed ;)
If you like this type of minimalist, also check out John Adams, Philip Glass & Terry Riley, perhaps with a side order of Wim Mertens or Michael Nyman [a bit more mainstream by comparison.]

Tetsujin
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György Ligeti's Musica Ricercata no. 1 contains only one pitch (class), A, repeated for about 2.5 min.

On the other hand, if by "monotone" you mean "repetitious", there's Erik Satie's "Vexations" which contains the same motif repeated 840 times. The first performance took 18 hours (Source: Wikipedia). The only (seemingly) complete recording on YouTube runs to 12 hours.

Aaron
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How about Yves Klein's monotone silence symphony?

The sound, a D major chord produced by an orchestra and a chorus, begins abruptly, full force, and fills the air for 20 minutes, like a sonorous foghorn with a stuck switch. It ends as suddenly as it begins, but there is no applause because the orchestra is only half finished — its members sit without playing or even moving, “performing” silence for just as long.

Source: Yves Klein: The Monotone Symphony

DavidPostill
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