km93 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

 I'm glad they don't do it anymore.

Actually they do! There are still "Radio Edits" and "Single Versions." 

I don't listen to a lot of music radio these days, but it surprises me that it's still going on. I thought listeners don't like the idea of not hearing the whole thing. 

Some songs weren't so much edited for time, but rather to provide a cold ending instead of a fade. Some examples include Mr. Mister's "Kyrie" and the Cutting Crew's "I Just Died In Your Arms", which fade out in the album versions but end cold in the radio/single versions.

As Billy Joel once sang...

"It was a beautiful song, but it ran too long
 If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit
 So they cut it down to 3:05."
- The Entertainer, 1974

A couple of songs right off the bat that would be considered hatchet jobs would be the 45 versions of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who and "Roundabout" by Yes. Both songs lop off about 5 minutes from the original LP version to make way for the 45. Although I do find the edited version of The Who classic painful to listen to, I actually don't mind the 45 version of Yes' "Roundabout", as it retains mostly the rocking parts of the song, almost giving it a different personality in the process.

Speaking of Yes, one of the more unusual edits was the 45 version of "I've Seen All Good People." The original LP version is divided up into two parts, subtitled "Your Move" and "All Good People." The 45 version essentially takes the first part of the song (with the opening line sang once instead of twice) and ends at the pause just before the second part. The 45 was actually released as "Your Move."

And speaking of Jon Anderson, his 1981 duet with Greek keyboardist Vangelis, "The Friends of Mr. Cairo", got a major hatchet job. The original LP version clocks in at 12:04, but the 45 was reduced to about a third of that at 4:20. (I remember 1050 CHUM used to play the LP version of the track faded at the halfway point, thereby clocking in around 6 minutes).

Perhaps one of the most deceptive tactics of trying to fool radio programmers came from Simon & Garfunkel, with their 1967 hit single "Fakin' It." The duo were quite aware that most Top 40 stations didn't like playing songs over three minutes, so they listed the running time on the label as "2:74" (3 minutes and 14 seconds).


PJ

Last edited by Paul Jeffries (June 12, 2026 12:08 pm)

Paul Jeffries wrote:

And speaking of Jon Anderson, his 1981 duet with Greek keyboardist Vangelis, "The Friends of Mr. Cairo", got a major hatchet job. The original LP version clocks in at 12:04, but the 45 was reduced to about a third of that at 4:20. (I remember 1050 CHUM used to play the LP version of the track faded at the halfway point, thereby clocking in around 6 minutes).
PJ

That version was also used for the video.  Now the single version is also a different mix, and I find that, for the parts that are the same, the single sounds a bit more punchier and brighter.  I actually prefer the sound of the single.  A lot is missing from it, but when I need a ... Cairo "quick snack", it'll do.
 

Also Wham's "Everything She Wants" is longer than the LP track from "Make it Big".  The 7" single was edited from the 12" single mix, but is still longer than the LP version.

Alice's Restaurant by Arloe Guthrie. 18 minutes and 20 seconds long.

Green Eyed Lady-Sugarloaf, Crimson & Clover-Tommy James, Fire-Ohio Players, Get Down Tonight-KC/Sunshine Band, Fooled Around And Fell In Love-Elvin Bishop, Frankenstein-Edgar Winter all had radio edits. Personally, I think the "long version" as we called it, was superior on all of these tunes. I also have the full 5:33 version of Whole Lotta Love on a 45.

While it is important for a radio station to stick with the format, when Pluto's the Goodbye girl was new in the late 90's, top 40 stations had to decide whether to go with the dance version or the more rocky version.
Dance driven stations naturally would stick with the Dance version while
various top 40 stations would deliberately only play the original (more rocky version) because it was a lot shorter.  
Kiss 92 was one of the stations that COULD have played the dance version (even though they had to tackle Energy 108) but instead chose to stick with the original version. 
Was this to separate them from the Energy 108 sound? Or simply because it's a shorter version at at time when both versions would have easily fit the format? 

Pluto's The Good bye Girl Original version:




Pluto's Dance version (also known as the pop goes the girl mix, found on the same album)




 

Last edited by Radiowiz (June 13, 2026 3:39 pm)

Back when it was released, I bought the single version of Don McLean’s “American Pie”, which you may recall, is a pretty long song. It basically started right into the first chorus, without the preamble you get with the album version, and the song was split over two sides of the record, kind of like what 8 tracks used to do. Should have saved up for the album!

Don McLean's "American Pie" was also released as Part 1 and Part 2 on the single, obviously to appeal to program directors that might've been gun-shy about playing the full-length 8:42 LP version.

Another song that benefitted from a Part 1 and Part 2 was Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll", although it was actually two separate tracks from its parent LP, Glitter, as opposed to one long track split in half.

The mostly-instrumental Part 2 became the more popular version in many parts of the world and was often used at sporting events. The song's popularity took a sharp nosedive after Mr. Glitter was charged with multiple sex offences involving children.

Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips" was another song where Part 2 became more popular than Part 1, although that was actually one long track split in half for the single release.


PJ