Irene Cara - Why Me

Hard to believe this one has never come up on the board before! I did not locate a topic for it via Search, so please forgive if the following is redundant:

The commercial 45 version is, of course, an early fade of the LP Version running about 3:58, about 3 seconds past the stated 3:55 runtime.

Here's where things get a little weird, though: the video version is an alternate edit of the LP Version that runs about the same length. I've always considered the video edit a better listen than the 'early fade'
45 version, personally: the early fade on the commercial 45 makes the song a bit lop-sided, as the intro is quite lengthy (around 40 secs) and the fade is pretty brisk, getting out of town pretty quickly upon hitting the
ad lib section at 3:46. The video edit, on the other hand, snips here and there, and keeps all of Irene's ad libs at the end, making the flow of the song make more sense. FYI, there are 5 edits to get the LP Version down
to the video version (3 during the intro, 1 following the 1st chorus, 1 during the 2nd chorus), nothing too complex. The copy of the video below ends kind of abruptly at about 3:53, but I think if it weren't cut off, it
would extend a few more seconds to take in all of the original fade easily, and run about 3:57.

This appears to be the official video version. (Note the warm VHS buzz as the screen lights up.)
Edit: Found another copy of the video here without the annoying 'Telegenics' graphic at 9 seconds in: again, this uses an edit of the LP Mix.

This, despite being labeled as such by Unidisc, does not appear to be the official video version. I say this because it appears that in order to have a
somewhat 'HQ' version of the video, someone has taken the Telegenics copy of the video (as seen above) and replaced the audio with an edit of the Jellybean 12" Mix instead of an edit of the LP Version. I don't know why
they would have done this, other than the fact that the version of the What a Feelin' album that Unidisc has been selling since the '90s (SPLK-7299) does not contain the true LP Version (or any edit thereof), but
the Jellybean 12" Mix instead. So, it's plausible that the wrong mix being used here was not so much a "mistake" so much as someone feeling the need to create an "incorrect" version from the remix in lieu of having access
to the LP Mix. At any rate, the edit of the Jellybean mix is not bad per se, but I don't believe that it existed in 1983 or exists outside of Unidisc's homemade "Official" video.

So, here's a question for my DJ friends and fellow music geeks who may know:
I see on Discogs that there was a "Special Radio Edit" 45 serviced to radio stations at some point: is there any chance that this promo 45 variation may have contained the official video edit? I have my doubts, because
the matrix code appears to be the same as the commercial 45, but research indicates that the video did not premiere until about 7 weeks or so into the single's chart run, so it's kind of/sort of plausible that the re-
service could have coincided with the video release (<- pure conjecture on my part, yes).


Edited by EternalStatic

Eric, excellent observation on the "Special Radio Edit" promo 45! I just pulled both promos. Yes, the label matrix numbers are the same, but the deadwax is clearly different. The "Special Radio Edit" has an RE-1, and this version truly is an edit of the LP version and matches the music video. I can tell that the "Special Radio Edit" was pulled from a slightly longer master than the LP version/length, because there are a few seconds of unique audio toward the end that were edited out of the LP version but left in for the radio edit. Same goes for the official music video. The unique audio is from 3:08 to 3:11 and again from 3:18 to 3:20 (nowhere to be found in the LP version). The fade on the promo 45 also extends a couple seconds longer than the LP version.

I suppose it's possible there's an out-of-sequence edit, but I think what is more likely is that both versions are a straightforward edit of a slightly longer version. Just a guess, but here's what is potentially on the longer tape starting at 3:05 of the radio edit (and 3:46 of the LP version):

Ohhh, ohhhh why me
(I love a symphony)
Why me
(I loved you totally)
Why me
(Why me, why me, why me)
Why me
(You loved me sinfully)
Why me
(I loved you totally)
Why meeeeeeee, oooohhhhhhh (this is the chord change up with the electric guitar)

I think the producer probably realized there should only be 4 repeats of the "why me" line before the chord change up happens, but there are 5 on the tape. One of those repeats was edited out for the LP version. Then when the radio edit was created, they realized once again they would have to remove one of the repeats but selected different edit points.