"...Witch Queen of New Orleans"- Redbone

The actual commercial 45 run time of Redbone's "The Wicked Witch of New Orleans" is 2:43. (Timing info compliments of Jim. The printed record label time is 2:45.) I only post this because database CDs containing the correct hit version run from 2:40-2:45.

Edited by Todd Ireland

LOL Right you are, Yah Shure. I must've had the Wizard of Oz on the brain when I typed this!

crapfromthepast wrote: I was comparing the 45 version on Have A Nice Day Vol. 7, which is mono and has a fadeout, to the version on Rock Artifacts Vol. 1, which is in stereo and has a great cold ending. Artifacts sounds much better than the version on Have A Nice Day. My copy of Artifacts is the re-release that doesn't have any liner notes. Would somebody that does have the liner notes to Vol. 1 kindly post where this stereo version came from? To my ears, it sounds like it was originally supposed to have the cold ending, but I'd like to know what the real story is.

Here's what the liner notes say:

Both the single release and album version of "Witch Queen" (From the LP Message From A Drum) ran 2:45 and were edited from a somewhat longer master tape. Bob Irwin notes, "We must have found 10 different versions or mixes of this tune; loads of strings and overdubs on some, some with no strings at all! Compared to some, the released version was sparse. On the version presented here, we left the violin intro intact, whereas it was sliced off the single master. Musically, the complete intro, only six seconds longer, makes more sense. Also, the take used for the single ends cold; the single had a repeat of the last chorus spliced on so it could be faded out [the last 12 seconds of the 45/LP version]. Here we left the original cold ending, but then let the strings creep back in slightly at the end [last 16 seconds of this version]."

Edited by Roscoe

My previous promo 45 for this song only had the "hit" on one side of it,
and exactly matched the mono, listed (2:45); actual (2:43) particulars of
my stock 45.

However, I recently spotted a second promo for it, this time a
mono/stereo coupling of the hit, so I bought it. The mono side is exactly
the same as the two versions referenced above. But the stereo side had a
listed time that was :03 longer, at (2:48), and it did actually run :02 longer
than the mono side did, at (2:45).

To my knowledge, this promo 45 was the song's only legitimate stereo 45
version appearance back in 1972, and, not surprisingly, doesn't include
the ending audio that Bob Irwin both found and used on that later
"Artifacts" CD.

Andy, I'm sure you're correct about a stereo LP version of the song being
on the 1972 album. That's why I included "45" twice in the opening
sentence of my second paragraph.

I only wanted to establish/emphasize that a stereo version existed on a
1972 promo 45 because, earlier in the thread, Bob Irwin was quoted by a
poster as saying he found "10 different mixes" of the song in the vaults
for it, years later. Who knows what may have appeared on the 1972 LP, or
on CD afterwards. But the "Marie Marie" intro lyrics on the stereo side of
the promo 45 were each fully panned to either one side or the other.
Sounded great to me, especially after just playing/timing the mono side.
Really brought the version much more to life (as I fear the long-time
influence of the BSN board is starting to somehow affect my mono version
sensibilities!)    :)