I have always wondered about Billy Joel’s claim that his song (which Wikipedia says was actually “Piano Man”, not “The Entertainer”) was cut down to 3:05 to fit radio’s rules. Yet, “Piano Man” was released in 1973. Now, “Stairway to Heaven” of 8+ minutes was released in 1971 and “American Pie” of 8+ minutes was released in 1971 (on LP) and as a single in 1972. I don’t recall a “short version” of any of these songs. (To curious rock fans, Iron Butterfly’s “In A Gotta Divita” (sp?) is around 17+ minutes in its entirety, but the radio cut is like 2+ minutes.)
So, what’s the Straight Dope here?
a) Was there a 3:05 rule in radio, and why weren’t earlier songs abridged by this?
b) Was there ever an abridged version of Piano Man, American Pie, or Stairway to Heaven?
I will share that the single of American Pie had the song split between the “A” and “B” sides. As I recall, Side “A” would fade out, and one would have to flip the record to Side “B” to hear the second-half of the song…but the radio played the uncut, LP version.
I think there was (is?) an unofficial length for songs intended to get significant airplay. Whether it was precisely 3:05 or even three minutes is debatable. But I think it was well understood in the pop music industry that a song of 2:15-3:15 or so would get considerably more airplay than six-minute ballads or eighteen-minute psychedelia. Or even eight minute “beautiful song(s) that ran too long…”
You also have to make the distinction between Top 40 radio, usually AM, and freeform FM radio.
Top 40 stations wanted short songs to constantly demand attention, and create blocks around which commercials could be run. FM radio evolved as a counter, dedicated to the music, willing to play long songs, album tracks, and even whole album sides without interruption.
Did AM radio play “Stairway to Heaven”? I doubt it, and if so, not very often. It was never released as a single. FM stations did, incessantly. There was no need for a shorter version.
The single version of “Piano Man” ran 4:30, the album version 5:40.
“American Pie” was, as you said, cut in two, with only the first part played.
Again, these were all 70s songs and the music world had changed enormously since 1964, when Phil Spector mislabeled the 3:45 “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” at 3:05, which is what Joel was referring to.
There definitely was a something. If not a “rule”, then a guideline. Because “radio edit” versions (on 45s) were very common. If you’ve never experienced them, check out the 45 versions of Who Are You, or Won’t Get Fooled Again. They are really jarring, in how much is cut, and how the pieces are put back together.
Other notable examples of pop radio butchery would be Blinded By The Light and Don’t Fear the Reaper (it still has enough cowbell, though, thank you very much!).
Songs like American Pie and Stairway to Heaven and The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald got airplay despite not having pop radio friendly length. But, they were the exceptions. (Even with that, most radio stations only played side A of American Pie).
Not to mention that the “3:05” 45rpm versions also lost the swear words. No “who the fuck are you”, no “funky shit going down in the city”, and no “do goody-good bullshit” on pop radio. Then AOR stations came to popularity, and we finally got our funky shit. Only for a time, though. In 2016, we’ve regressed! The digital music service I listen to has bowlderized versions.
No, as the longer version was the album cut. The single is missing the verses about John wanting to be a movie star and the verse about Paul the real estate novelist.
Per Wikipedia, there was a 3-minute edit of “Piano Man” but it was promo-only. The normal radio edit was 4:33 and the album version was 5:38.
Shorter songs means more commercials.
The band which broke the mold was Guns N’ Roses, who released “November Rain” (8:57) without any edits. It reached #3 on Billboard and remains the longest song ever to reach the top ten.
Oh, the mold had been broken numerous times before then. “Hey Jude” and “MacArthur Park,” for example, forced deejays to hold their yaps for over seven minutes back in the '60s.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” does not have a short version that I know of.
“More Than A Feeling”, however, does. The “So many people have come and gone…” verse was scissored for AM radio, but not FM. Its followup, “Long Time”, had the prequel, “Foreplay”, removed for the single release; that “Foreplay” song also led to some embarrassing moments for my fellow tweens who didn’t know that it was anything other than a song by Boston.
ETA: “Stairway to Heaven” was never released as a single.
I forgot to mention the single version of Piano Man also omits the bridge between verses. So it jumps directly from “And he’s quick with a joke, or to light up your smoke, but there’s some place that he’d rather be” to “And the waitress is practicing politics as the businessmen slowly get stoned.”
Some stations back then were AOR, Album Oriented Radio and would play whole albums in 2 or 3 sessions. I don’t think the concept lasted very long, though. There are some fairly dull songs on even the best albums.
The earliest long song I remember was “Alice’s Restaurant” at 18+ minutes from 1967, although that might be considered an act rather than just a song.
Speaking as someone who worked in both AM and FM radio in the 70s.
It wasn’t a “rule” but there were two compelling reasons for radio stations to do it:
Teenagers had short attention spans and could hit the pushbuttons on a car radio (in those days they were AM radios) as fast as you can text. Get into a 4 or 5 minute song they didn’t like and you could lose them for the rest of the hour. This was especially true for songs with long instrumental parts.
Between commercials, news (which radio stations HAD to have in those days) and other non-music stuff, there might have been as little 25-30 minutes of actual music over an hour. What was better – six 5 minute songs or ten 3 minute songs? Hint, see #1.
The earliest chopped songs I can remember were Ray Charles What’d I Say and Stevie Wonder’s Fingertips. Both were released in two parts and radio stations could play half the song.
Some other chopped songs. And remember, any good radio person could chop them even shorter if needed:
Lucky Man (Emerson Lake & Palmer) 4:36 on the album, 3:33 radio version Light My Fire (Doors) 7:06 album, 2:52 radio
**Layla **(Eric Clapton) 7:00+ with the piano. There were a lot of different ways to cut it, and all of them were under three minutes Make Me Smile (Chicago) the record company did its own cut n’ paste version to get a single out of Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon, but some radio stations recut the album and made a longer but smoother flowing version
Yeah it was only the keyboard and guitar solos that were the best things they ever put down.
Even on the original it always was a letdown when you have the theme come back and Jim’s going to sing again. It didn’t make him look good that those things were so good.
