I heard the long version of "Suzie Q" by Creedence Clearwater Revival today. It had been so long since I had heard this version that I forgot that it even existed. Of all the long/short version songs that I grew up with, this is the only one that comes to mind that I like better in its shortened form.
Short versions were created for Top-40 or AM radio stations, trying to keep the song's length under what I'd presume was 3 minutes. Sometimes late at night, they would play the long version, preceded by a lot of hype.
Here are the long/short version songs that I can think of off the top of my head:
"Light My Fire" -- The Doors. It's the first one of this ilk as I remember it. The cutover to the short version is so abrupt. Our local oldies station, which plays almost all 70s music these days, still plays the short version. Grrr, I always feel cheated. Our Classic Rock station plays the long version.
"25 or 6 to 4" -- Chicago. Also played in truncated style on the oldies station and long version on the Classic Rock. By this time the engineers had figured out a much smoother transition in the short version.
"We Won't Get Fooled Again" -- The Who. Hard to believe? This version didn't last long on AM when it came out. It's been a really long time since I heard the short version. IIRC, it was a very abrupt cutover.
I may be misremembering, but I thought "Layla" came out in a short version. Even if it did, who would want to hear it? It was bad enough that Clapton did it "Unplugged". (Indulge me a little hyperbole, please.)
If anyone happens by and can comment on other songs, I'd appreciate it. I'm sure there are others -- candidates would have been "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Vanilla Fudge and "In-a-gadda-da-vida" (sp?) by Iron Butterfly but I can't recall a short version of those.
Update 11-Nov-2008:
I recently heard 2 songs that had long and short versions but I only remember one of them. In this case, the long version is worse than the short version. It's Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On?".
Showing posts with label Long version. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Long version. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
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