"Theme from ’Close Encounters..." - Meco

Is there a long promo 45 version of Meco's "Theme from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'"? I think I might have read somewhere that there is.

Todd, I have finally found my promo 45 for this. The "long version", in my estimation, fades out only about :12-:15 seconds before the LP version's cold end, JUST before that "Goodbye!....Goodbye!", alien-voiced ending. To me it is clear THAT was the part that Millennium DIDN'T want to have appear on the promo 45. One side of my promo has a listed time of (2:59) and an actual time of (3:00) (same as my stock 45 does), while this "long version side" has a listed time of (4:33) and an actual time of (4:31).   

EXACTLY right, Doug - thanks for refreshing my memory on that; I had forgotten. My station had good success with this song in '78, and the only version we ever played, for some reason, was the "long version" of the promo 45. Because of that, the "goodbye...goodbye" ending being included on the short 45 version wasn't at all imprinted in my memory banks!

sriv94 wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the stock 45 have the "goodbye...goodbye" at the end? Which would lead me to wonder if the short promo side is the same as the stock 45 (if Millenium didn't want the two "goodbye"s to appear on the promo).

As is so often the case, there were multiple promo copies of this song. Mine is mono/stereo with a listed time of 3:08 and DOES contain the alien at the end. Indeed, this is the only version I ever recall hearing or playing at the time.
Matrix #s on my copy are MN608 AS RE-1 on the stereo side and MN608 AM DJ on the mono side.

Hi folks,
My assumption also was that "goodbye, goodbye" at the end
refered to the little boy who said it in the movie.

Now, as for various promos of the song, i notice Hykker
has a 3:08 version. I'm wondering if that is the source
for the mystery intro i have.
In '79 K-tel put out a 2-record set called "Superstar
Collection"


It has what would be the 45 version of Close Encounters,
but with an 8 second intro i've never heard anywhere
else. It is merely the theme notes, played on a keyboard
solo, then breaks into the normal intro.

This differs from the LP intro where it fades with a lot
of overlapping sound effects.

So, is a promo 45 the actual source for this? For those
who have not heard this alternate intro, here's a link to
it taken from my Ktel LP:

http://www.4shared.com/mp3/YKx8WSf0/Meco_-
_Theme_From_Close_Encoun.html

Thanks for any info!
MM