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jimct
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| Posted: 22 January 2008 at 12:02am | IP Logged
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My commercial 45 has a listed time of (2:40) and an actual time of (2:41). I only post this info because, aside from a very obscure "Nick At Nite" series CD (which also runs (2:41)), the other 11 current database CDs for this song all have a runtime of either (2:33) or (2:34).
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Brian W.
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| Posted: 22 January 2008 at 3:11am | IP Logged
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Thanks, Jim! That's great info.
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 22 January 2008 at 8:46am | IP Logged
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Yes, Jim, great info!
Does anyone have the CD which has the lone 2:41 appearance to compare it with other CD's in the database and report back to us any differences?
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 22 January 2008 at 10:42am | IP Logged
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Yes, I bought that "Nick At Nite" CD when I first bought a Pat book and learned of the full-length version existing on that sole CD. The other versions simply fade sooner, as far as I can tell. I think Rhino was one of the first ones to use that early fade, and I think that that source just spread around to the others.
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 22 January 2008 at 8:16pm | IP Logged
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I've got an interesting observation, and thought I'd share.
I've come across a version of this song, running 2:41, that runs slower than my Super Hits Of The Seventies - Vol. 18 version AND has more echo than the Super Hits CD.
Can anyone confirm if there might be a mix/speed difference between the 2:34 and 2:41 versions?
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eriejwg
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| Posted: 23 January 2008 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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If anyone is interested, Happy Days Online is the website where I found the 2:43 more echo stereo MP3 of the Pratt & McClain song, but you have to click around to find it. On the left blue menu, scroll down and look for a link to Theme Songs/MP3s/Wavs. This opens a new page called Sound Library. Scroll down the page to the section called Theme Songs/MP3 Files. The 2:43 stereo MP3 is the 5th on the list. They also post an instrumental version of the song.
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 20 March 2014 at 12:33pm | IP Logged
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I thought some of the knowledgeable folks here would know - Was there ever a time when the "Happy Days" TV show featured the theme song as sung by Pratt & McLain?
I knew there was a theme song with some different words, certainly at the earlier part of the series, but never realized Pratt & McLain never sang it. My memory's foggy on the details here but after the Pratt & McLain version became a hit, did it ever actually get used as theme song at the start of the show? Or, is Pratt & McLain's version simply considered a cover version, and its recording has nothing to do with the show (unlike Cyndi Grecco's "Making Our Dreams Come True") - she sang both the Laverne & Shirley theme song and recorded the longer version which became the hit.)
I was told yesterday that the singers of the original Happy Days theme song (the Ron Hicklin Singers) also sang the original theme song for "Love, American Style" (before the Cowsills did) and some early Partridge Family stuff, including songs on their first album. I do recall that one guy in the group is Tom Bahler (who later wrote "She's Out of My Life" by Michael Jackson.)
Edited by EdisonLite on 20 March 2014 at 12:39pm
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jimct
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| Posted: 20 March 2014 at 1:33pm | IP Logged
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Gordon, when Happy Days started its run on ABC in Jan. 1974, I clearly
remember the opening theme song being an alternate take of Bill Haley &
The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock". Most distinctly, I remember its
ending drum sequence was just a quick "sting", rather than the longer
drum flourish found on the hit version. In fact, its appearance on the show
caused the song's original version it to re-enter the Hot 100 just two
months later, in 3/74, where it peaked inside the BB Top 40.
When the producers decided to replace the Bill Haley song with a custom-
written opening theme in early 1976, and after I'd heard the Pratt &
McClain version on radio, I immediately thought different singers did the
"TV Version." Personally, I preferred the TV version's singers.
I remember hearing "Happy Days" on local radio only a week or two after I
started hearing John Sebastian's "Welcome Back Kotter". (I just checked my
RR books, and sure enough, "Happy Days" debuted just one week after
"Welcome Back Kotter" did.)
Most opening TV themes are designed to only run about one minute. So
when Reprise decided to issue "Kotter" as a single, they surely had to
bring Sebastian back into the studio, to both lengthen and re-record it, to
get it to the more radio-friendly (2:48) 45 length. No doubt the new
"Happy Days" theme was also very top-of-mind at this time, given its
early-1976 episodes premiere, and the fact that both shows were on ABC.
I'd also suspect that some of the same "movers and shakers" were
involved with production of both shows. So why not crank out a slick, full,
45-length take for the new "Happy Days" theme, and see if radio bites?
Gordon, your Ron Hicklin Singers info makes perfect sense to me. Guys
like Charles Fox seemed to be positively prolific, as to co-writing TV
themes in the 70s. Hicklin was likely his "staff group", to crank out catchy,
usable ditties. But, in much the same way as they were replaced by The
Cowsills for "Love, American Style", I suspect this was again the case here.
Although Pratt & McClain were still unknowns, the duo had released three
previous singles for ABC, they were clearly experienced in the studio, and
with trying to create hit singles for radio. As opposed to the "staff demo
singers" that Hicklin's group was, with all due respect to them. Reprise
also probably wanted a 45 out for it absolutely ASAP, before some other
group/label covered it. I'll bet Pratt & McClain could crank out a radio-
ready take in no time. That's always been my sense, Gordon, although
much of it is just an educated guess.
Edited by jimct on 20 March 2014 at 1:34pm
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EdisonLite
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| Posted: 20 March 2014 at 4:56pm | IP Logged
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Jim, very interesting stuff. And yes, I do recall the opening theme was "Rock Around the Clock" for a time. Of course, it always remained the closing theme throughout the series' run, IRRC.
It'll be interesting if anyone here knows if the Pratt & McLain version ever aired as the opening theme song. (Or Jim, are you saying you know it never did?)
And yes, Charles Fox was behind many a great TV themes (with Norman Gimbel), and I've gotten to know him a bit here in L.A. Besides "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley", he also wrote my favorite Maureen McGovern song, "Different Worlds" from "Angie". Other themes as well.
Edited by EdisonLite on 20 March 2014 at 4:57pm
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Bill Cahill
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| Posted: 21 March 2014 at 8:11am | IP Logged
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I'd love to know what percentage of the Gary Lewis vocals are actually Gary, and what are Ron Hicklin.
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 14 September 2016 at 7:38pm | IP Logged
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There's the 2:34 version on Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 (1993), which sounds very nice.
Then, a bunch of CDs that use the same analog transfer as Have A Nice Day Vol. 18:- Warner Special Products' 2-CD 40 Summer Fun Hits (1993)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 34 Late '70s (1993)
- Rhino's Tube Tunes Vol. 1 The '70s (1995; digitally identical)
- Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 23 1976 (1996; digitally identical)
- Time-Life's Sounds Of The Seventies Vol. 40 TV Themes (1996; digitally exactly 0.1 dB quieter)
- Time-Life's Dr. Demento Collection Vol. 1 The Mid '70s (1996; digitally exactly 1.5 dB quieter)
- Time-Life's 2-CD Seventies Music Explosion Vol. 1 Sunshine (2005)
Then, the outlier - a 2:41 version on a CD called Double Date With Joanie And Chachi (Nick At Nite/550 Music 63456, released 1997).
I then found a needledrop of the 45 (mine was credited to "Mr.M 45-rip, cleaned by Xenomorf (time corrected)"). To my amazement, the 45 matches the 2:41 version on Double Date With Joanie And Chachi! Same reverb, same fade points.
It appears that someone pulled an incorrect (but nice-sounding) tape for Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 in 1993, with a different mix from the 45. The nice mastering from that incorrect tape was used for all subsequent CDs except Double Date With Joanie And Chachi (1997). Could the Rhino version be an LP version, with a different mix from the 45? Was there even a Pratt And McClain LP released in 1976?
So, for the 45 version of "Happy Days", I recommend Double Date With Joanie And Chachi (1997). (It's very inexpensive nowadays.)
Edited by crapfromthepast on 15 September 2016 at 6:39am
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davidclark
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| Posted: 14 September 2016 at 9:19pm | IP Logged
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yes, there was an LP issued in 1976.
https://www.discogs.com/Pratt-McClain-Pratt-McClain-Featurin g-Happy-
Days/master/478175
A scan of the LP label shows the timing as 2:35. Now, do we have anyone who
has that LP can check the version?
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Yah Shure
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| Posted: 15 September 2016 at 9:03am | IP Logged
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crapfromthepast wrote:
| Could the Rhino version be an LP version, with a different mix from the 45? |
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It is, indeed, Ron! The actual length of the track on my copy of the Reprise 2250 LP is 2:36.
The LP mix has a much more pronounced bottom end than the 45. It also runs just a tad faster (by maybe a half second) and the fade begins sooner than the one on the 45 (2:21 vs. 2:28) and dumps out sooner.
Here's the easiest way to tell the mix difference: when the low bass "those happy days" line is sung at the :16 mark, it's in the left channel on the 45, and the right on the LP. It isn't a matter of channels being reversed, because the sax is mixed to the left on both the 45 and LP mixes.
Edited by Yah Shure on 15 September 2016 at 9:04am
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crapfromthepast
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| Posted: 15 September 2016 at 10:37am | IP Logged
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Great work, guys!
Nice that we can still unearth a new 45/LP distinction, a scant 40 years after the song came out!
So my recommendation for the newly-discovered LP version is Rhino's Have A Nice Day Vol. 18 (1993).
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Top 40 Music on Compact Disc : Chat Board
Topic: Pratt & McClain-"Happy Days"
