majormajor
One Too Many
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Major: Is the version you posted the original version released in the US? Seems a bit different to me. Also the length of the version you posted is 4:15, which is longer than the maximum length for airplay in the US at the time. All songs, in order to get airplay, needed to be no longer than 2:30 to 2:45. Three minutes was pushing it. Sometimes known in songwriter circles as the Three Minute Story. You got no more than three minutes to tell your story.
As an aside (yes, there is always an aside), the shortest hit of the R&R era was Stay (please, please stay), by Maurice Williams and the Famous Zodiacs. It clocks in at 1:31, as I remember.
Hi PC
This is Parts 1&2 - i.e. the a-side AND the b-side, strung together. You are quite right. Records were just not that long back then!
I seem to recall that it was Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone" that pushed the envelope - so much so that Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops based his vocal on "Reach Out" on Dylan's phrasing.....
PS. I'm out and about right now. I'll pop Maurice Williams/Stay up later. A brilliant tune!!
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