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I Heard It Through the Grapevine

V

vchimpanzee

The other day I heard the Creedence Clearwater Revival version not on a classic rock station, but on an oldies station. I can't remember if I had changed from the Good Time Oldies station to one that was locally programmed, but whichever station it was, it played the song only for the length of time of most songs.

I was listening to some stations in the mountains back in 1998 and one had changed from country to classic rock. I can't remember whether it was a satellite format, but I didn't bother to change stations and when this station played the Creedence version, it just kept going and going and going like "Free Bird".
 
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The Creedence version was 11 minutes long. As a result, it was not a hit, except on album rock stations at the time. Therefore I would not play it on an oldies station unless I was an ex-hippie who still smokes weed, which I'm not. But perhaps the person who runs that station is. Creedence had lots of hits in the 60s, but by the 70s they were done.
 
The album version is 11 minutes long. It's on the CCR "Cosmo's Factory" album. That's what you heard.

Most Oldies stations would probably play the single edit version. There are always exceptions, however.
 
TheBigA said:
The Creedence version was 11 minutes long. As a result, it was not a hit, except on album rock stations at the time. Therefore I would not play it on an oldies station unless I was an ex-hippie who still smokes weed, which I'm not. But perhaps the person who runs that station is. Creedence had lots of hits in the 60s, but by the 70s they were done.
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I think that your time frame is a little bit off:
"Suzie Q" 1968 11

"Proud Mary" 1969 2

"Bad Moon Rising" 2

"Green River" 2

"Down on the Corner" 3
"Fortunate Son" 6
"Travelin' Band" 1970 2
"Who'll Stop the Rain" 13
"Up Around the Bend" 4

"Lookin' Out My Back Door" 2

"Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" 1971 8
"Hey Tonight" — — 9
"Sweet Hitch-Hiker" 6

There were also flip sides, "Run Through the Jungle" and "Long As I Can See the Light". Other songs charted but didn't make the top 20.
 
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tbolt909 said:
The album version is 11 minutes long. It's on the CCR "Cosmo's Factory" album. That's what you heard.

Most Oldies stations would probably play the single edit version. There are always exceptions, however.
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I remember oldies stations -- pre-"classic hits" -- all playing the Marvin Gaye version and some playing the Gladys Knight version as well, but never heard CCR's except on classic rock stations.
 
CCR was a band that had appeal on both Top 40 and Album Rock formats. John Fogerty wrote many hits. Radio programming dictated on whether to play an Album version or an edit. Most FM Album Rock formats would play full album versions, while AM stations played edits.

Nowadays, most Oldies or Classic Hits stations probably play edits. Classic Rock formats might still play the full versions. Many long songs get "trimmed" for Radio Edits. That's a Radio decision, not a music aficionado decision...
 
tbolt909 said:
Wrong. The CCR version came out in 1970. It wasn't really issued as a single, but a 3 minute edit was available...
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Correct. Not sure where BigA got his 1973 date from. I was definitely listening to Grapevine and Susie Q on WBCN Boston as a teenager, as extended versions.
 
tbolt909 said:
Wrong. The CCR version came out in 1970. It wasn't really issued as a single, but a 3 minute edit was available...
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How? Only if you played the album version and faded it out. But they had other singles out in 1970 off Cosmo's Factory, as listed in post #4.

It charted for the first time in 1973, probably from the album.

The only way the edited version was available was in the 1976 album Chronicle Vol. 1. By that time, the band was over, and the label was milking the library.
 
CTListener said:
Correct. Not sure where BigA got his 1973 date from. I was definitely listening to Grapevine and Susie Q on WBCN Boston as a teenager, as extended versions.
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From the Billboard discography. It charted twice: 1973 and 1976. WBCN was a rock station and didn't report to the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Yes rock stations played the album version from when the album was released in 1970, just as they played album versions of other longer songs. If you're an oldies station, you should be following the Billboard chart. If you're classic rock, you play the Creedence version.

Tom Fogerty left the band in 1971, and the band itself broke up in 1972.
 
TheBigA said:
How? Only if you played the album version and faded it out. But they had other singles out in 1970 off Cosmo's Factory, as listed in post #4.

It charted for the first time in 1973, probably from the album.

The only way the edited version was available was in the 1976 album Chronicle Vol. 1. By that time, the band was over, and the label was milking the library.
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Ever heard of Radio Only Promo copies? Radio stations often got edited versions that were not available to the general public or in record stores.

Songs are often re-released and re-issued. Van Morrison released Moondance in 1970. It didn't become a "hit" single until many years later. Actually, it became very popular on Radio, but wasn't a "hit". It charted at #92...
 
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tbolt909 said:
Ever heard of Radio Only Promo copies? Radio stations often got edited versions that were not available to the general public or in record stores.
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There was no edited promo version of this song that I know of until 1973. Prior to that, the only version was on the album.

If you have a promo version with an earlier copyright date, let me know.
 
TheBigA said:
There was no edited promo version of this song that I know of until 1973. Prior to that, the only version was on the album.

If you have a promo version with an earlier copyright date, let me know.
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Sometimes jocks were known to make their own edits. Splicing tape to customize a song. Jethro Tull "Thick As A Brick" was edited for airplay in many different ways.

Whether that was legal or ethical, not sure. I know that it did happen...
 
tbolt909 said:
Sometimes jocks were known to make their own edits. Splicing tape to customize a song. Jethro Tull "Thick As A Brick" was edited for airplay in many different ways.
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Billboard shows no edits or singles for Thick As a Brick. However, the next album shows several edits for A Passion Play. But no Top 40 airplay for Thick As a Brick.

Thick As a Brick posed a unique challenge because it was a 45 minute opera, on two sides of an album. And it came right after their big hit Aqualung. So some AOR stations would edit the two sides and play the whole thing, usually at night. Some would play parts of it. There are German, Danish, and Italian 7" singles of Think As a Brick. All list the contents as Part 1 & Part 2. No timings for the sides, except for the German single, which apparently is an edit. As for rock radio in the US, we're talking about 1972, so for the most part it's pre-consultant AOR. It was still the wild west then.
 
Wasn't "Grapevine" given secondary popularity years after the record version by a well known TV commercial?
 
This song was from the 1970 release, "Cosmo's Factory". In Portland, the song was played at night on KISN. I don't think KGW played it but KPAM probably played it, being primarily an FM and having a liner that read, "playing the longer versions of all your favorites". These were all Top 40 stations.
 
The Creedence version I heard did not last longer than any other station this oldies station played.

One detail not brought up by anyone is that John Fogerty "huheed" it.
 
vchimpanzee said:
The Creedence version I heard did not last longer than any other station this oldies station played.

One detail not brought up by anyone is that John Fogerty "huheed" it.
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I always though he sang "hoid it," using the same odd pronunciation of the "er" sound he used in "toinin'" and "boinin'" on "Proud Mary." If native Californian Fogerty was going for an authentic Cajun pronunciation, I think he failed. Substituting "oi" for "er" is characteristic of the Brooklyn accent.
 
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