Sublime's Doin' Time

Cafe Society
1

Any Wikipedia editors out there?

Today, I heard the song Doin’ Time, the original version where Bradley Nowell sings Doin’ Time instead of Summertime. According to Wikipedia, they were pressured to change the lyrics in order to use the Gershwin sample:

In order to release the song using the Gershwin sample, the band had to agree to use the line “summertime” instead of “doin’ time”. However, the song was already recorded with the “doin’ time” lyric, and lead singer Bradley Nowell had recently died of a heroin overdose. The lyric was re-recorded by Sublime’s friend/producer Michael Happoldt singing “summertime”. It is this version of the song that appears on Sublime’s self-titled album.

But, Bradley died on May 25, 1996 and the album was released on July 30, 1996 – was that really enough time to re-record the song, remaster the album, and publish the CDs? (I wonder if it was initially also released on vinyl)

Also, the guy singing Summertime really sounds like Bradley to me.

2

Back in the days of vinyl, a record could move from the studio to the store in less than a week.

3

Wow! Not if they had printed lyrics, I guess, though (I don’t remember if the Sublime CD had printed lyrics).

4

I’d always assumed Bradley’s vocals were on the final version, but now I’m wondering if I’ve just internalized the sound so much that I can’t tell the difference. It’s wild to think how fast things moved back then: even with Bradley’s passing in late May, getting a re-recorded track out by the July release date seems tight but not impossible—especially if the label was pushing hard. I’d be curious to hear isolated vocals from both versions to compare them more closely.

5

Does this work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBHIgWoZqYE