Billy Joel - "The Entertainer"
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Topic: Billy Joel - "The Entertainer"
Posted By: chendagam
Subject: Billy Joel - "The Entertainer"
Date Posted: 11 October 2006 at 3:49pm
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I was just listenning to my 45 of "The Entertainer." I never noticed that it
was actually shorter than the album version...listed at 3:05. As I was listenning I remembered the lyrics... "It was a beautiful song But it ran too long If you're gonna have a hit You gotta make it fit So they cut it down to 3:05" |
Replies:
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 11 October 2006 at 6:48pm
| If you clock out that 45, you'll see it's longer than 3:05. Still shorter than the LP, but they obviously labeled the time as 3:05 as a joke, because of the lyric. |
Posted By: chendagam
Date Posted: 11 October 2006 at 7:18pm
| I did notice that but wasn't sure if it was a joke or just the normal mislabelling of durations like every other 45 we have seen. |
Posted By: Roscoe
Date Posted: 11 October 2006 at 9:18pm
| Another note about the 45 edit of The Entertainer: It contains an edit at about the 1:01 mark at the end of the "go their merry way" lyric on the tail end of the word "way". It picks up at the tail end of the last (different) word of another lyric later in the song (I don't remember the lyric). I had assumed it was a remix and wouldn't work as a straight edit. But I tried the edit and it's seamless. One of those edits that mysteriously works. |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 12 October 2006 at 7:16am
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If you get a chance to dig it out and/or listen to it, can you post exactly where the edit occurs for those of me who may want to try to replicate it? ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Roscoe
Date Posted: 12 October 2006 at 7:27pm
At approximately the 1:01 mark, where he sings the word "way", just after the bass drum beat, start your edit point exactly where the synthesizer riff begins. Place your ending edit point at about 1:26 mark, where the synthesizer riff begins on the word "same". Delete the :25 or so seconds in between those 2 points, and there you have it. Hope that helps. |
sriv94 wrote:Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 13 October 2006 at 7:21pm
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The edit does work, but it's still not the 45 version. Chendagam's dub of the 45 includes what sounds like steel guitars underneath the verse that leads into the edit. The LP version as I have it (from GH1&2) doesn't have any additional guitar aside from the acoustic guitar strummed throughout. So it seems there are mix and/or instrumentation issues as well and the 45 can't be replicated from the LP (unless the GH1&2 version was an underdub). ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: Roscoe
Date Posted: 13 October 2006 at 10:02pm
You're right; I never noticed the steel guitar before. I was using the GH1&2 version as well. I'll have to dig out one of my other Billy Joel CDs and see if the mix is the same as GH1&2. |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 07 June 2007 at 7:42pm
| I have specifics on this commercial 45's timing, which I had also read was shown on the 45 as being (3:05) due to the song's lyric, "so they cut it down to 3:05." The listed time is (3:05), but the actual time is (3:11). |
Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 07 June 2007 at 8:20pm
| Well, "eleven" doesn't rhyme with much beside "heaven" and "seven", so I guess I see why Billy wrote "they cut it down to 3:05". (And of course, at the time he wrote this song, he had no idea how much they'd cut it down to ... or if they even would!) |
Posted By: JMD1961
Date Posted: 10 June 2007 at 8:49am
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I'm operating strictly from memory here, but I used to have a reissue 45 of The Entertainer that was backed with Piano Man. Now, if memory serves, both sides were listed at being 3:05.
Now, according to the database (and my latest Whitburn Annual) Piano Man actually ran 4:30, but I was wondering if at some point it was listed as 3:05. (I never timed the single I had because, frankly, it wasn't something that occured to me way back then.) My point is, if the original single did list a time of 3:05, that might explain that particular passage in the lyrics of The Entertainer. He was referring to the handling of Piano Man. Maybe... ^_^ |
Posted By: jimct
Date Posted: 10 June 2007 at 9:30am
| James, the mono short version of my "Piano Man" DJ 45 has both a listed and actual time of (3:16). And the "Piano Man" side of my reprint 45, combined with "The Entertainer", states a listed time of (4:30). I like your theory, sir, but unfortunately I cannot confirm any of your details. |
Posted By: JMD1961
Date Posted: 10 June 2007 at 6:56pm
| No problem. As I said, I was working from memory, and I keep finding that that isn't what it used to be. (Not that it was ever that great... ^_^ ) |
Posted By: sriv94
Date Posted: 10 June 2007 at 7:32pm
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Roscoe (or anyone), were you able to figure out whether the GH1&2 version matches up with any other CD copies (while you can edit that version to match the 45 edit, the instrumentation on that version doesn't match the 45)? ------------- Doug --------------- All of the good signatures have been taken. |
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 21 August 2012 at 9:11pm
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I just got around to A/B-ing the 45 with the Greatest Hits version, and the instrumentation is quite different at 0:41. On the 45, the percussion is much busier, and there's a different lead guitar. Furthermore, some of the vocals have been re-cut. Bottom line: there's no way to create the 45 from the LP. ------------- Aaron Kannowski http://www.uptownsound.com" rel="nofollow - Uptown Sound http://www.919thepeak.com" rel="nofollow - 91.9 The Peak - Classic Hip Hop |
Posted By: MMathews
Date Posted: 22 August 2012 at 12:15am
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Hi all,
being from Billy's home turf of long island - i've heard quite a few interviews over the years. As i recall, the above theories about the 3:05 line are correct. He was extremely bitter about Piano Man being edited for the 45. He obviously just grabbed the "3:05" time to sound good in the lyric, he made his point. Hence, that edit/mix will never see a domestic cd release, and not likely either for the 45 version of The Entertainer. Seems like a non-issue though from his perspective, since the air-play of both songs through all these years has been on AOR formats that have no interest in anything other than the albums anyway! |