MacArthur Park Suite--TWO versions

There are two very different cuts of this song. the 17:35 version and the 17:47 version are not the same. Perhaps one is the 12" single and the other is the album version, although on my Donna Summer "Deluxe Bad Girls" and "The Dance Collection" CDs, they are both listed as the 12" single. Comparing the two songs to try and figure out why there was a 10 second difference in length, I noted that the mixes are edited differently. This becomes apparent when the song "One of a Kind" comes into the medley. On both CDs, the song begins at about the 8:27 mark...but on the Bad Girls deluxe edition it ENDS at 11:45, and on the Dance Collection, it ends a whole minute later at 12:45!!! I haven't determined it yet, but I'm guessing perhaps "heaven knows" is going to prove to be longer on the Bad Girls version to make up for the lost time...

Anyone with any input into this discrepancy?

Hi Budaniel,

The one with the shorter "Heaven Knows" is the *original* LP version.

The one with the longer "Heaven Knows" is the 12" version. Please remember this 12" single was released after the second 45, "Heaven Knows" (longer, with sax break) was issued. Casablanca re-edited the longer single version in and (curiously) edited a little of "One Of A Kind" out.

Andy

Hi

Thanks for pointing those differences out - I remembered my 12" single very well, I was very used to it before ever hearing the LP version of the medley.
I was a little annoyed each time I bought a CD that read "12" Single version" and its another copy of the LP. I figured no one noticed.
This is one of very few from that time that I still occasionally play the entire thing.

-MM

Let me shift gears to the single version for a moment. Was there a
promo/radio version that included the piano intro but starting at the
strings was otherwise the short/stock 45? (This would make it about a
(4:16) length.) That’s the version I remember hearing on the radio, but
given that the radio station did a lot of custom versions, it could just as
easily have been that.

Edited by sriv94

Over at 45cat, in the Canadian section, they show a 45
with a listed time of 3:59 from the album Live and More.

http://www.45cat.com/record/nb939ca