Roberta Flack - "Killing Me Softly..."

Could swear I put this up already, but apparently not: To the best of my knowledge, all stock 45s on this had a listed and actual time of (4:46), and ended, while all promo 45s had a listed and actual time of (4:13), and faded. Have never seen a promo of the (4:46) version, and always heard the fade during its current 1973 chart run on the radio.

Our Top 40 station - KLEO/Wichita - never played the edited version. As best I remember, the radio programming tip sheets and magazines showed most stations aired the full version. In fact, since the song was such a huge hit, it would be dumb to air an edit since so many listeners would react negatively.

GM

Gary Mack wrote: Our Top 40 station - KLEO/Wichita - never played the edited version. As best I remember, the radio programming tip sheets and magazines showed most stations aired the full version. In fact, since the song was such a huge hit, it would be dumb to air an edit since so many listeners would react negatively. GM

Gary, in all of my years looking at radio programming tip sheets and magazines, I've NEVER seen a station-by-station breakdown as to WHICH version of a current song was being aired by individual members of a "Top 40 Panel." I'll also try and track down our 1973 PD (John Long) for you, and tell him how "dumb" you think he was. And while I'm at it, I'll also tell all the stations who played the DJ 45 of "American Pie" how dumb they were for you, too, since it was "such a huge hit." You're entitled to your opinion, Gary. However, I don't agree with a word of it. Thanks, Pat, for the (4:46) DJ 45 info. After posting, I discovered that her LP didn't come out until 9 months after the 45 release. I then reasoned that there must've been a (4:46) DJ 45 version, because I did start hearing the long version on local radio by May/June 'of '73.

Oh, I can read just fine, Gary. If you said earlier that Vince Faraci told you that, instead of "radio programming tip sheets and magazines", I would've understood - to me, Vince and magazines don't mean the same thing - HE would obviously know. I haven't been on this Board very long, but I thought your post was a little hostile and mean spirited. This Board's not about ratings, markets, and who's the bigger programming genius, is it? It's about Top 40 Music on CD, and different versions of hit 45s offered up by the record companies, good or bad, no? I have no opinion on which Flack version is better - I'm just helping Pat Downey & Co. acknowledge its existence in his on-line book by providing facts as best as I can. I believe my comments are within this Board's scope, and I will not apologize for them. Gary, I'm very happy you have a radio philosophy that has worked well for you, and that you are confident in - my kudos, but is it relevant to this Board? Hey, I didn't press the Flack short DJ version up, Atlantic did (apparently, over Vince's better judgement!) I wish you continued success, sir.

Edited by jimct

Brian, I don't have the commercial 45, so I'll let someone else chime in who does have a copy. But FWIW, the '70s-vintage gold-label Oldies Series reissue 45 is the stereo (4:46) version, backed with the mono "Trade Winds," the original B-side of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

As for the DJ 45s discussed above, my college station received the (4:13) version first. We'd been playing it heavily for a couple of weeks before the (4:46) version arrived. Atlantic indicated that this reserviced copy was the "correct" version, and that the earlier (4:13) edit had been issued in error. By then, the short version had become the "hit" for us, so that's what we stuck with.