O/T: Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young

A fan-favorite from the Streets Of Fire Soundtrack, Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young by Fire Inc. wasn't a top 40 hit but many felt it should have been.

According to Wikipedia, "Fire Inc. was an improvised Wagnerian rock studio project created by Jim Steinman specifically for the film, featuring uncredited singers Laurie Sargent of Face to Face and Holly Sherwood as female lead vocalists, along with Rory Dodd and Eric Troyer as male backing vocalists, who appeared frequently on several Steinman product during the 1980s."

Steinman wrote the track as well. It only made it to #80 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Part of the reason I'm making this post is because they nickeled and dimed the LP version down to make the single edit, and while the LP version is rare on CD, I don't believe the single version has made it from tape to the digital format. I hope to never have to edit this again but if I do, I want these instructions documented! :-)

Delete 0:08 to 0:26, on the downbeat, to make the intro about 20 seconds.

Delete 3:07 to 3:14, between "young" and "before you know it..."

Delete 4:16 to 4:23, "on "the..." of "...let the rebels(?) begin..."

Delete 4:23 to 4:30, on "...young..."

Delete 4:39 to 4:46, on "...what.." of "...is what it means to be young..."

Delete 4:46 to 4:53, on "...what..." of "what it means to to be young..."

Delete 5:06 to 5:13, on the "-ken-" of "broken-hearted."

Delete 5:20 to 5:27, on I think the word is "true." Last word of the line, whatever it is.

Delete from 5:27 to the end, starting before they begin singing, "Let the..." again.


If I can trust the dub I have, it's a ludicrously fast fade of about 6.5 seconds or a little over, from 5:20 on the word, "..begin..." and gone after the final "...brokehearted..." at 5:27.

I'm going to make my fade slower but if you want to be accurate, that's how you should do it.

The dub I have of the vinyl single runs about 0.23% faster than the LP version I used which is, especially not knowing the accuracy of the turntable, of no consequence.

The dub of the single seems slightly more dynamically compressed that the CD copy of the song, but not so much that you would notice unless you were seeing the wave-forms side by side.

I hope this helps somebody! I'd swear I hear Meatloaf in the background, but I guess it's just because it's a Jim Steinman production...

Edited by NightAire

"Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young" is a GREAT song, and one of my
favorites by Jim Steinman.