November Rain
Axl Rose began working on November Rain in 1983 — a full 8 years before it was released by Guns N’ Roses. Axl came up with a piano-only version of the song early, but by the time 1991 rolled around November Rain was a full-blown hair metal power ballad.
Axl realized that what might have worked in 1983 would need to be refined for the state of music in 1991. And he was successful doing so.
Occassionally, I’ll hear from an entrepreneur that he has been working on a startup idea for 5+ years on his own and is now almost ready to launch. The longer you keep your startup in stealth mode before your public launch, the tougher it is to keep your startup relevant.
November Rain is an anomaly.