"My Old School" -- Steely Dan

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   Here's another one for the class.  Can someone pinpoint for me the correct running times of both the single and LP versions of "My Old School" by Steely Dan?

My only CD copy runs (5:48), even though the time listed on the jacket is (4:46)--this is the Decade of Steely Dan CD version.  The (4:46) running time is listed on the Countdown To Ecstasy LP per allmusic.com, but I don't have the LP or CD to check whether that time is accurate.

So what is the true LP time, what is the true 45 time and can the 45 be made from any of the LP versions?  Ed does not have the vinyl 45 (the song peaked at #63 Billboard), so I'm throwing it open for the class.  Thanks.

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sriv94 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 September 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote sriv94 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: "My Old School" -- Steely Dan Posted: 23 March 2006 at 11:02am
	Here's another one for the class. Can someone pinpoint for me the correct running times of both the single and LP versions of "My Old School" by Steely Dan? My only CD copy runs (5:48), even though the time listed on the jacket is (4:46)--this is the Decade of Steely Dan CD version. The (4:46) running time is listed on the Countdown To Ecstasy LP per allmusic.com, but I don't have the LP or CD to check whether that time is accurate. So what is the true LP time, what is the true 45 time and can the 45 be made from any of the LP versions? Ed does not have the vinyl 45 (the song peaked at #63 Billboard), so I'm throwing it open for the class. Thanks.
	Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken.

sriv94 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 September 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote sriv94 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 26 May 2006 at 9:52am
	Just bumping this up--I have subsequently found that the label lists the running time of the single of "My Old School" as (4:15). If anyone knows if this single can be created from the Decade of Steely Dan CD version (which runs (5:48)), please feel free to share.
	Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken.

sriv94 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 September 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote sriv94 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 January 2008 at 9:06pm
	Thanks to John (eriejwg) providing me his 45, I now have some findings to report: Using the Decade of Steely Dan version as my source ((5:48) run time), first, I had to speed it up 2%. There's one edit at around the (2:57.6) mark of the LP (shaves about 31.5 seconds off to around (3:29.23) of the LP), but the tricky part was that the sequence from roughly (3:57.61) to (4:01.33) had to be repeated several times and the song faded out from there (these times are from the edit). Actual single time should be around (4:21). Not the easiest edit to replicate, but it is doable. With a little patience. Edited by sriv94
	Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken.

satchdr Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 22 February 2007 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote satchdr Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 03 January 2008 at 10:31pm
	sriv94, I checked my CD of "Countdown To Ecstasy" and the actual time of My Old School is 5:46 although the listed time is 4:46.

sriv94 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 September 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote sriv94 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 January 2008 at 9:35am
	Thanks, Satch. Now all I need to figure out is if it was that way on the vinyl LP. And call me Doug--almost everyone else does. :)
	Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken.

satchdr Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 22 February 2007 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote satchdr Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 04 January 2008 at 10:05pm
	Glad to, Doug. I have to retrieve about 400 of my albums and "Countdown to Ecstasy" is one of them. When I get it back, I'll time it and post the result. My recollection is that I did not hear any difference between the LP and the CD. Satch

vanmeter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 28 December 2005 Status: Offline Points: 0	Post Options Post Reply Quote vanmeter Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 January 2008 at 3:23pm
	It's about 5:48 on my black-label ABC LP. I just checked.

sriv94 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Music Fan Joined: 16 September 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 4	Post Options Post Reply Quote sriv94 Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 January 2008 at 6:30pm
	Thank you, Van. Never really understood why LPs would mislabel their times--it's not like singles that were labeled for radio play (any station playing off of vinyl LP usually wouldn't have cared what the time was). And people at home probably wouldn't have cared either. Edited by sriv94
	Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken.

aaronk Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Admin Group Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 260	Post Options Post Reply Quote aaronk Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 January 2008 at 9:29pm
	Could've been an honest mistake, or it could've been the record label trying to save a few pennies. Royalties are paid partially based on song length.