Roxette - "It Must Have Been Love"

The US 45 (EMI NR-50283) has a printed time of 3:59 and a designation of "Edit".

I have this edit on:

• Mystic Music Presents Cool Rock (Cema Special Markets, 1995)
• Now 1990 (Virgin EMI PolyGram UK, 1993)

The LP version from the soundtrack of Pretty Woman runs a little longer (4:19) and can be easily edited down to the single edit.

I have the LP version on Now That's What I Call Music 18 (Virgin EMI PolyGram UK). Here are instructions for creating the edit:

Remove the first 6 beats of the song - about 4.6 seconds.
Edit on the first guitar sound, two beats before the downbeat.
Put a 16-beat fade from about 3:40 (on the word "water") to about 3:52 (background singer sings "must") of the LP version.

Your mixdown will run about 3:48; the printed time on Cool Rock is 3:51.

On my TM Century CD, the first note sounds like it's just barely clipped a little bit. Is this just a problem with my copy, or do all copies of the "Single Version" sound like they might have slightly cut the first note?

Aaron indicates that the version on "Cool Rock" has the exact same slight intro clipping as what's on the TM Century CD. Unless Jim finds the promo CD is different, we both feel that the single edit was probably clipped, and that this is not a factor of the specific CDs that have included this version.

Here's an interesting discovery for "It Must Have Been Love". There's the single edit (3:50), the album version (4:19) AND what I just discovered: a version that's 4:40.

I noticed this when I was choosing the spanish version of the song for the CDRs I'm currently making. I have the spanish version on 2 CDs - one's a typical short version (3:46), but the other is about a minute longer at 4:40!

It made me wonder if an English version at 4:40 exists. So I checked discogs and found these 2 examples which would indicate that it does:

https://www.discogs.com/Roxette-It-Must-Have-Been-Love/relea se/4796605
-Italy, vinyl, 12", 4:48, 1990

https://www.discogs.com/Roxette-It-Must-Have-Been-Love/relea se/6945993
-Europe, vinyl, 10", 4:45, but the year is 1992, and it's labeled "It Must Have Been Love (L.A. version 1992)"!!

If there's an L.A. version recorded in 1992, then what's the other (1990) version that also clocks in at about the same time?

Was there a 12" English-language version at 4:45-ish?

Currently, on my computer I only have the English single version and this long Spanish version. So I have to get out and load up the English album version to see if this 4:40-ish version is simply longer than the LP version or a different edit. And I wonder if this "L.A. 1992 version" is a different recording altogether.

Does anyone know anything about this?

BTW, for me, "It Must Have Been Love" is one of the best ballads of the 1990s! Such a great melody, especially that chorus.

EdisonLite,

Roxette originally recorded "It Must Have Been Love"
in 1987 as "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the
Broken-Hearted)" in hopes of having a Christmas hit in
Germany. The idea was to record a Christmas song for
exposure, hoping to expand the duo's success beyond
its native Sweden. This 1987 version is the original
studio recording of the song. In the end, this '87
version was not even released in Germany, only
released in Sweden, peaking at No. 4 there. It can be
heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxjaqBpiy-8

In 1990, "It Must Have Been Love" was remixed (notice
the addition of electric guitar and heavier drums) for
the "Pretty Woman" film and soundtrack. This is the
version that became a worldwide smash. Roxette used
Marie's original 1987 vocals, except that "it's a hard
Christmas Day" became "it's a hard winter's day" in
order to take the Christmas reference away. (Also, the
echo on "touched" is removed in the 1990 version).

In 1992, Roxette re-recorded "It Must Have Been Love"
in Los Angeles. This country-inspired version was
released on their 1992 studio/live album, "Tourism".
The version on "Tourism" starts with a live recording
from Santiago, Chile and mixes in to the 1992 L.A.
version (which starts at about 2:03) for a total
running time of 7:10. This version can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tZGRtx6Qx8

I think that the version (4:48) on the Italy 12" from
1990 is simply a typo, as I imagine that it is the
1990 album version (probably 4:18), as it shows the
"Pretty Woman" soundtrack on the back sleeve.
Nonethless, it could be a mistake and actually feature
the original 1987 "Christmas for the Broken-Hearted"
(4:48) version. (I would bet on the typo).

In 1996, Roxette re-recorded "It Must Have Been Love"
in Spanish ("No Se Si Es Emor") for their Spanish-
language album, "Baladas en Espanol". I am unaware of
a shorter (3:46) version of "It Must Have Been Love"
("No Se Si Es Amor"). The version on "Baladas en
Espanol" clocks in around 4:41. It can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhIVfqn29lI

In May 2015, "It Must Have Been Love" was reissued in
Europe on 10" vinyl (and as a digital EP) by
Parlophone in order to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
This reissue featured an edit of the 1992 "Tourism"
version, chopping off the beautiful piano intro (which
is mixed in with the audience cheering on the
"Tourism" version) and starting with just the
harmonica, creating a new 4:45 "L.A. Version 1992"
edit. I remember being disappointed when this EP was
released that it did not feature the full version with
the piano intro (with the audience mixed out of this
piano intro, of course). This "L.A. Version 1992" can
be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oelHPAcLlkQ

For the record, I love all versions of this song. I
think that it would have been interesting to have seen
this "L.A. Version 1992" promoted as a single to
country radio way back then (starting with the piano
intro, with the audience mixed out, of course, and
faded early).

I hope that helps.

Jason


Edited by Bellenger1981