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Jody Thornton
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Posted: 06 March 2022 at 8:31am | IP Logged Quote Jody Thornton

It's by time this song has a dedicated thread :D

Although never a single, I've come to understand that there was a custom edit in 1972 by WFIL radio in Philadelphia. Does anyone have the details of the edit points? I'd be really interested in hearing it.


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Posted: 06 March 2022 at 1:27pm | IP Logged Quote PopArchivist

This is one of those songs where taking ANY part of it and removing it kills the song for me.

I'll stick with my 8 minutes of blissful joy, thank you :)

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Posted: 06 March 2022 at 5:03pm | IP Logged Quote kaqueno

As PopArchivist says, it's one of those songs that any edit kills.
According to discogs in the 70s in the USA the full version of 8:00 was released, but in 1990 in Brazil a promo version of 5:22 was released, here
is the information with the discogs link and I also leave the youtube link to listen to it.

https://www.discogs.com/release/2710662-Led-Zeppelin-
Stairway-To-Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kky6FZjNazo

Edited by kaqueno on 06 March 2022 at 5:05pm


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Posted: 06 March 2022 at 8:41pm | IP Logged Quote AdvprosD

PopArchivist wrote:
This is one of those songs where taking ANY part of it and removing it kills the song for me.

I'll stick with my 8 minutes of blissful joy, thank you :)


I agree! A few others I didn't like to see edited:

Steppenwolf - Monster
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Meatloaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Was there a shortened version?)
Rare Earth - Get Ready (Now that I know about the album version, I like that much better.)
Chicago - Dialogue Parts 1 and 2 in succession (The single of that is an abomination IMHO)

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Posted: 06 March 2022 at 9:51pm | IP Logged Quote Steve Carras

AdvprosD wrote:
PopArchivist wrote:
This is one of
those songs where taking ANY part of it and removing it
kills the song for me.

I'll stick with my 8 minutes of blissful joy, thank you
:)


I agree! A few others I didn't like to see edited:

Steppenwolf - Monster
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Meatloaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Was there a
shortened version?)
Rare Earth - Get Ready (Now that I know about the album
version, I like that much better.)
Chicago - Dialogue Parts 1 and 2 in succession (The
single of that is an abomination IMHO)


Agreed..except not familiar with the Steppenwolf and
Meatloaf ones. Also
Love's "REVELATION"(1967) and a lot of the 70s Tangerine
Dream sides,. Mike Oldfield's "TUBULAR BELLS"(1973) and
Kraftwerk's "AUTOBAHN "(1974)too.

Edited by Steve Carras on 06 March 2022 at 9:52pm


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Hykker
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Posted: 07 March 2022 at 7:47am | IP Logged Quote Hykker

AdvprosD wrote:
A few others I didn't like to see edited:

Steppenwolf - Monster
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Meatloaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Was there a shortened version?)
Rare Earth - Get Ready (Now that I know about the album version, I like that much better.)
Chicago - Dialogue Parts 1 and 2 in succession (The single of that is an abomination IMHO)


The long version of "In-A-Gadda" was cool to hear...once. Tedious after that with 10 minutes of drum noodling. I was in college when it came
out...hated it when a band would play it at a dance. You didn't want to sit down because the song wasn't over, but you couldn't dance to the
drum solo, and it was too loud to talk.
While the single of "Get Ready" was faded a bit too soon, the rest of the LP version was boring.
Didn't really care for "Dialogue", so the 5 minute single was more than enough for me.
Yes there was a short version of "Paradise..". The commercial single was an early fade of the LP, there also was a 5:25-ish promo edit (that
also was the B side of "You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth"). Don't think I ever heard it played on the air, like "Stariway To Heaven"
it's not a song that you can edit without ruining the flow.
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AdvprosD
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Posted: 07 March 2022 at 12:19pm | IP Logged Quote AdvprosD

Hykker wrote:
The long version of "In-A-Gadda" was cool to hear...once. Tedious after that with 10 minutes of drum noodling. I was in college when it came
out...hated it when a band would play it at a dance.


I know there will be backlash from this comment so, I'm acknowledging it right away...

How on earth would someone consider Iron Butterfly, "Dance" music in the first place? I will likely have a "Driveway moment" whenever this one appears in the playlist,
but I wouldn't consider getting out and dancing to it.

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Jody Thornton
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Posted: 07 March 2022 at 4:51pm | IP Logged Quote Jody Thornton

Hykker wrote:
"Stariway To Heaven"
it's not a song that you can edit without ruining the flow.


Well in response to whether or nor not the song should have been edited or not, I wasn't digging into the principle of the matter. I just wondered if anyone ever heard the WFIL edit when the song aired in Philly in 1972. Moreover, I just wondered what they came up with.

As for an edit ruining the flow, I'm not so sure. Like most edits, you'd have to assume you heard the edit first, and then hearing the LP version later seemed like some sort of new revelation. Most of us that preferred edits feel that's how we remembered the song from the radio. In this case, it's reversed. We all know the LP version inside out, so it's hard to imagine this Zeppelin track any way else. Mind you, in a post on this forum regarding promotional discs of non-hits, the person who heard the WFIL edit was none the wiser until he later heard the LP version.

For giggles, I've tried my hand at it and come up with some workable edits. I don't think it's so much affecting flow, but rather that the song seems somehow sacred to those of you who've responded.

Oh well, this was more of a curiosity than anything else.


Edited by Jody Thornton on 07 March 2022 at 7:09pm


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Jody Thornton
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Posted: 07 March 2022 at 4:52pm | IP Logged Quote Jody Thornton

AdvprosD wrote:
PopArchivist wrote:
This is one of those
songs where taking ANY part of it and removing it kills the song for me.

I'll stick with my 8 minutes of blissful joy, thank you :)


I agree! A few others I didn't like to see edited:

Steppenwolf - Monster
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Meatloaf - Paradise By The Dashboard Light (Was there a shortened
version?)
Rare Earth - Get Ready (Now that I know about the album version, I
like that much better.)
Chicago - Dialogue Parts 1 and 2 in succession (The single of that is an
abomination IMHO)


Yes "Paradise..." did have an edit on 45-rpm disc, and it was dreadful.
It really was.


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Jody Thornton
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Posted: 07 March 2022 at 4:54pm | IP Logged Quote Jody Thornton

kaqueno wrote:
As PopArchivist says, it's one of those songs that
any edit kills.
According to discogs in the 70s in the USA the full version of 8:00 was
released, but in 1990 in Brazil a promo version of 5:22 was released,
here
is the information with the discogs link and I also leave the youtube link
to listen to it.

https://www.discogs.com/release/2710662-Led-Zeppelin-
Stairway-To-Heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kky6FZjNazo


I did listen to that one before posting. I take it that was released long after the
airplay run though, correct? Thanks for the link


Edited by Jody Thornton on 07 March 2022 at 7:06pm


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Posted: 08 March 2022 at 6:37am | IP Logged Quote Hykker

AdvprosD wrote:
How on earth would someone consider Iron Butterfly, "Dance" music in the first place?


No, I don't consider it a dance song either, but it seemed that every cover band played that one at their gigs back
in the late 60s, even college mixers (which, having attended an all-male school went to quite a few of, despite not
really enjoying dancing all that much). Every band member except the drummer got to take a 10 minute break in the
middle of it.

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garye
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Posted: 08 March 2022 at 11:04pm | IP Logged Quote garye

"Stairway To Heaven" is one of those songs that is so
ingrained in our 70's brain would be hard to hear any
edited version.
"Kashmir" is a song that you can do an edit and not loose
the flow, while popular, is not ingrained like Stairway is.
Have edited that song, "Fool In The Rain" and "All My Love"
with no issues to anyone who hears them.
Only a handful of songs might get the masses rising up
besides Stairway.
"Hey Jude", "MacArthur's Park" from Richard Harris, and
maybe a few others from the 60's and 70's that might have a
"hands off" approach!
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Posted: 09 March 2022 at 9:29am | IP Logged Quote eriejwg

Years ago, I played the 5:25 version of Paradise By The
Dashboard Light at a wedding and got deer in the headlights
look as they were thrown off by the edits. From that point on
I only played the 7:57 version.

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Posted: 09 March 2022 at 1:53pm | IP Logged Quote davidlg1971

garye wrote:
Have edited that song, "Fool In The Rain" and "All My Love"
with no issues to anyone who hears them.
Only a handful of songs might get the masses rising up
besides Stairway.
"Hey Jude", "MacArthur's Park" from Richard Harris, and
maybe a few others from the 60's and 70's that might have a
"hands off" approach!

I too have an edit of Fool In The Rain, my favorite Zep track - shortening the guitar solo a bit, and eliminating a couple of the repeated "light of the love" phrases at the end.

As for Hey Jude, I've always loved the song. But - I'm just not down to hear the neverending nah nahs anymore. So about 15 years ago I created a 5-minute or so edit of the track that includes the best drum fills and scats from McCartney. I haven't heard the full version since.

Sacrilege, I know!

But - then I finally heard the 'Love' mix, and that became my go-to; I absolutely love the breakdown and interpolations at the end, particularly the bass. If that mix contained all the verses, I'd never listen to the original mix again.
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Posted: 10 March 2022 at 5:57am | IP Logged Quote Hykker

davidlg1971 wrote:
As for Hey Jude, I've always loved the song. But - I'm just not down to hear the neverending nah
nahs anymore. So about 15 years ago I created a 5-minute or so edit of the track that includes the best drum fills and
scats from McCartney. I haven't heard the full version since.

Sacrilege, I know!


I dunno about that, many stations faded it early back in '68, while there was no directive from the PD one way or the
other, the jocks at the station I worked weekends at back then usually did. Great for backtiming!

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Posted: 16 March 2022 at 8:59pm | IP Logged Quote NightAire

I figured this board was the LAST place I would hear judgement on edits. :-D

I've thought for years that the intro on Stairway could easily be chopped down without doing any real musical damage. If you've ever done a morning show and put this on at 7 AM you know how painfully long that intro is.

While the full length version is my preference too, I do think an edit could be pretty easily done without completely destroying the flow of the song. I understand the song did perfectly fine without an edit but it could have REALLY been burnt on the radio if they would have (tastefully) edited it down to a more manageable length.

Having said all that... I've never seen or heard any edits before the YouTube video linked above. :-)

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Jody Thornton
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Posted: 17 March 2022 at 5:13am | IP Logged Quote Jody Thornton

NightAire wrote:
I figured this board was the LAST place I would hear judgement on edits. :-D

I've thought for years that the intro on Stairway could easily be chopped down without doing any real musical damage. If you've ever done a morning show and put this on at 7 AM you know how painfully long that intro is.

While the full length version is my preference too, I do think an edit could be pretty easily done without completely destroying the flow of the song. I understand the song did perfectly fine without an edit but it could have REALLY been burnt on the radio if they would have (tastefully) edited it down to a more manageable length.

Having said all that... I've never seen or heard any edits before the YouTube video linked above. :-)


I was going to say, regarding judgement of edits, that surprised me a bit here. All I wanted to hear was if anyone knew the details of the WFIL edit from the song's original charting days. Then I got what appeared to be moral outrage about how sacred the song was and should never be edited - ahem, again not the question.

I posted in another thread I found regarding this, and showed a way I felt that you could edit the song without much damage to the flow. Here's what I came up with awhile ago. I was saying in that thread that you'd have to imagine never hearing the song before this. Imagine if this was the first way you've heard it.

My Attempt at a Stairway Edit


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Posted: 17 March 2022 at 7:16pm | IP Logged Quote PopArchivist

NightAire wrote:
I figured this board was the LAST place I would hear judgement on edits.


When the label and the artist/band authorize them no judgement. Anyone can slice and dice a .wav file and come up with an edit or fade out early Hey Jude if they want.

I think the issue here is more what would you cut? The long intro, the middle section or the end? It's no different then taking the Mona Lisa and dividing into 3 parts and removing the middle part and still calling it Mona Lisa.

Not saying this edit you refer to isn't legit. Just saying that I have to accept Layla's edit because it was released as a 45. I have to accept Light My Fire's edit because it was released as a 45. The label edited each one and butchered them to under 3 minutes.

Guess what is still intact over 50 years later? Stairway to Heaven. Nuff said.

Edited by PopArchivist on 17 March 2022 at 7:18pm


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Posted: 18 March 2022 at 4:56am | IP Logged Quote kaqueno

"Stairway to Heaven" It's one of those songs that a person
can listen to over and over again despite its long duration
of 8:00 minutes, although I must confess that it would have
been nice if the record label released a shorter version at
the time!!!

Jody Thornton: your version of STH is very good,
congratulations


cheers

Edited by kaqueno on 18 March 2022 at 4:58am


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Posted: 18 March 2022 at 6:12am | IP Logged Quote Hykker

PopArchivist wrote:
I think the issue here is more what would you cut? The long intro, the middle section or the end? It's no different
then taking the Mona Lisa and dividing into 3 parts and removing the middle part and still calling it Mona Lisa.


As one who's tried, STH is not a song that easily lends itself to editing. It's not your standard verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus
structure where you can remove a verse, shorten the bridge or fade it early. About the only part of the song that lends itself to editing is
the intro, and shortening that still leaves you with a very long song. I don't think I've ever heard a house edit of this anywhere,
including the WFIL one mentioned upthread.

As to whether the song is somehow "sacred" is an individual decision, but to my ears the song is fine as it is. Any station I worked at
generally dayparted really long songs out of AM drive (and sometimes PM drive as well).
Kind of moot today since it's 50 years old and even classic rock stations are downplaying that era.
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