En Vogue - Hold On

This is very interesting info, Ed. Thanks for passing that along.

My "Best Of" cd has the line "he'll want to f*** you" at 4:39. Are you sure that line on your copy is "he'll want to hold you"? Perhaps there are 2 different pressings of this cd - mine has the matrix number 62322-2 RE-1 01.

Moderator wrote: dj cd single Atlantic PRCD 3386 has two tracks. track 1 called the "radio edit" runs 4:15 not 4:30 as stated on the cd and has the "f*** you" line at 3:53. Track 2 called "edited version" runs 4:21 not 4:35 as stated and has the "f*** you" line at 3:59.

The 3 of us involved with music at the station listed to both tracks on PRCD 3386 repeatedly, aware of the possible "situation." None of us could make out the "f" word at all, for either track 1 or 2. We played Cut 1, the listed (4:30), actual (4:15) version on-air, right off that promo CD single. We received no complaints, and to us it was a non-issue. I always thought "One Of A Kind (Love Affair)" and "Who Are You", which MCA sent us a UK Polydor Import 45 of in '78, were both FAR more blatant and many years earlier - and we played them on-air, f-word and all.

I have the Best Of CD, and it has the censored LP version that does NOT have the extra non-vocal loop on your cassingle, Ed. The funny thing is that more than one cassingle must exist, because I clearly remember my cassingle having the dirty "f" word in it. I cannot, however, remember if it had the extra music section in it or not.

I have the US commercial 45 and four different versions of this on CD, and none of them have any naughty words on the fade-out. On those that don't fade out completely before the line, it's "have".

The commercial US 45 (Atlantic 7-87984, matrix ST-A-58272-2, printed 5:07, actual 5:06) has a vocal intro until 1:05, and has a 32-beat instrumental portion from 3:54-4:13.

The commercial US 45 version is found on Atlantic's Year In Review: 1990 (Atlantic PRCD 3674-2, 1990, printed 5:07, actual 5:05), although the sound is compressed/maximized. Same vocal intro until 1:05, same 32-beat instrumental portion from 3:54-4:13.

There's a shorter version on Big Hits '90 (PolyTel Canada 845 119-2, 1990, actual 5:03). These PolyTel Canada discs typically have the LP versions, although I don't have Born To Sing to compare. The vocal intro lasts until 1:06, the 32-beat instrumental portion that's found on the 45 is ABSENT, and at 3:54, on the words "let go", it picks up at what would be 4:13 on the 45. The fade starts about 8 beats after it does on the 45, at about 4:38, and extends about 15 seconds past the end of the 45. This version clearly has the line "have you" in it, where the line is partially masked by the quicker fade on the 45.

There's a shorter version that was most likely the UK single, since it turns up on two UK collections that typically use the UK single versions. It's on Snap It Up! Monster Hits 2 (CBS/BMG/WEA UK CD HITS 12, 1990, actual 4:24) and The Greatest Hits Of Dance (Telstar UK tcd2616, 1992, actual 4:24). The vocal intro is shortened; it removes the portion from 0:20-0:40 on the US 45, so that the vocal intro lasts until 0:45. The 32-beat instrumental break on the 45 is only 16 beats long here, and lasts from 3:33-3:43. At 3:43, after the 16-beat break, it rejoins the 45 version at the 4:13 point. It fades 32 beats earlier than the 45, with a 32-beat fade from 4:03 (4:33 point on the 45) to 4:23 (4:53 point on the 45). No naughty words - it fades before the vocals reach that point.

There's yet another version on Monster Trax (Quality Canada QRSPD-1123, 1991, actual 4:22) This is the version on Big Hits '90, which I assume is the LP version, faded very early.

As for the version on Cosmopolitan Vol. 1 (Sandstone SAN 5015 IPCD-1615, 1992, mastered by Steve Hoffman - yay! -, printed 4:50, actual 3:44), this is the only one that cuts off the vocal intro and begins right on the musical downbeat. Actually, it trims off the vocal intro and the first 16 beats of the music, coming in at the 1:15 point on the 45. More precisely, this is exactly the Big Hits '90 version (which I assume is the LP version), with the first 1:15 cut off. The 32-beat instrumental break, which doesn't exist here, would come in at 2:38.

So... I found that compared to what I believe to be the LP version (actual 5:03), the US 45 (actual 5:06) has an extra 32-beat instrumental break stuck in at the 3:54 mark, and fades about 15 seconds earlier than the LP version would (if you just stuck an extra 32 beats in there). The UK 45 (actual 4:24) shortens the vocal intro, has an extra 16 beats stuck in at the appropriate point, and fades 32 beats earlier than the US 45.

What a mess...

Edited by crapfromthepast