"Honky Cat" - Elton John
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Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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Topic: "Honky Cat" - Elton John
Posted By: Todd Ireland
Subject: "Honky Cat" - Elton John
Date Posted: 27 March 2009 at 10:07am
| The actual commercial 45 run time of Elton John's "Honky Cat" is 5:10. (Thanks to Jim for once again supplying the timing info. The printed record label time is 5:12.) I'm passing this along because database CD times range from 5:07-5:15. |
Replies:
Posted By: Tim Brown
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 6:36am
| Was there a promo edit for Honky Cat? |
Posted By: Yah Shure
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 7:33am
Not that I'm aware of, Tim. Both of my DJ 45s are identical to my stock copy, with "Slave" on the B-sides. |
Tim Brown wrote:Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 8:01am
| Same with my DJ copy, it matches the stock with "Slave" on the B side. |
Posted By: Tim Brown
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 8:30am
|
Well, I did see online somewhere that there was a radio edit that was supposedly a minute shorter, but I couldn't find an audio example of it.
Just wanted to know what the edit points might be. Thanks for all your responses. |
Posted By: Tim Brown
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 8:37am
|
Here's what I found on the Song Facts site....
"Honky Cat" was released July 31, 1972, backed by "Slave". The radio edit runs to 4 minutes 7 seconds; the album version to 5 minutes 13 seconds. In the USA, it reached #10 on the Billboard Chart. I do know that some radio stations played an edited version, but I didn't know if it was a promo edit from the record company, or sometimes individual radio stations do their own edits. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 3:46pm
|
Tim, my promo 45 exactly matches up with both John's (Yah Shure) and
Bill Cahill's copies. More than anything else to do with Top 40 hits, my #1 personal interest has long been to discover/locate DJ 45 short versions. I'd be stunned if some stations didn't make their own in-house edit of it. If I was in radio as early as 1972, I surely would have.... I've never heard of the "Song Facts" site. But since they are incorrect about the easily-confirmable US BB peak of the song (it got to #8, not #10), I'm not giving their alleged (4:07) timing much credibility, either. And both their wording style and including of "USA" makes me believe that this was written by either a Euro or an Aussie. Which usually means (unless you're Abagon!) that your knowledge level of all things US vinyl is far less extensive. What are the chances that they could be more "privy" on this subject than John, Bill & I? I say zero. I will keep on eye out, however, for an *import* DJ 45 "Honky Cat" issue, and will report back here if I do locate one. |
Posted By: Tim Brown
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 7:36pm
| Thanks, guys. I really appreciate all the feedback I receive on this site. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 09 March 2014 at 7:41pm
My promo is the same as both of yours. Granted, it was almost 42 years ago, but I don't remember playing a short version on the air either, though it was the perfect "backtime to news" song in that it had a very long fade where you could fade out of it anywhere in the last minute or so of the song...could it be this was what some were hearing? |
Posted By: Paul Haney
Date Posted: 10 March 2014 at 5:22am
| I believe the only Elton John 1970s Top 40 hit to get an official radio edit was "Tiny Dancer". Elton had some long 45s back then and I'm sure some stations did some custom edits, but nothing was ever released as an "official" radio edit. |
Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 10 March 2014 at 3:46pm
Indeed, the only other EJ song from the 70s that I've ever seen a long/short promo of was his duet with Lesley Duncan "Love Song". My copy has a non-standard MCA catalog number which leads me to believe it was never commercially released. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 13 March 2014 at 5:17am
|
Steve, you are correct in that the early 1976 long/short promo 45 for
"Love Song" (MCA 1938) was never commercially released. It was one of the first "perks" I ever received from the owner of my local mom-and- pop record shop, during my first year of college. The store owner seemed to have some pretty detailed background info as to MCA's thinking here, for being just a retailer. He told me that MCA didn't think that the new live LP that "Love Song" came from (Here And There) had a song on it that was strong enough to be released as an official single. And since "Grow Some Funk Of Your Own" had just snapped EJ's streak of 8 Top 10 BB singles in a row, MCA didn't want to have a second consecutive EJ "non-smash 45 release". So he was told that MCA's "Spring '76 EJ Plan" was to publicize the live set's release mainly through print/media ads and in-store play. (That's probably why the store owner was so "in the know" on this situation.) And while MCA did send "Love Song" promo 45 copies to selected radio stations, they weren't going for any "official radio adds". (Despite this, at least 6 Top 40 stations added it anyway, with KRIZ/Phoenix peaking it as high as #3.) Besides, the retailer said, he was told that a new, non- LP single, also a duet, would be coming out from EJ in a few weeks (which turned out to be "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"), since Elton's next studio album/45 wasn't expected until late in the year (right again, with "Blue Moves" and "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word".) I remember being especially inquisitive about the "Love Song" 45 release situation at the time. I was not yet well versed in such unusual stock/promo 45 release patterns. I was also a big EJ fan at the time, and I was still upset that I had to buy the entire "Tommy" LP the year before, just to get "Pinball Wizard" (which I did later manage to acquire the Polydor promo-only 45 for, but far too late to prevent my high school years, nearly budget-busting purchase.) And I sure didn't want to see this no-stock-45s thing become any sort of trend for Elton John. I always appreciated Wayne (the owner) clearing that "Love Song" situation up for me. And also him giving me *two* copies of it. I kept buying stock 45s from him, for many years after, even after I starting working in Top 40 radio. And the tables got turned. He would ask me how certain songs were doing for us, whether I thought he should re- order/not re-order an iffy 45 title or not, or ask what I'd heard from the labels as to what the next single might be an album, or certain concert info rumors, etc. I know a lot of us had our own "Wayne-eqivalent", in our local areas. I miss those mom-and-pop days... |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 13 March 2014 at 8:49am
| Nice story, Jim. |