Laurel Canyon

[jakell]

Jakell, I think McLean has two versions of this song and in both of them the lyrics are the same. I don't know of a version with alternate lyrics.

Pretty amazing song, I don't think McLean ever did anything like it again.

These aren't really alternate lyrics, just extra verses tacked on to the ones we already know. They may have been cut because they are a bit darker, or simply make the song too long. I've heard two versions, one with three verses, and the single version with two verses (probably pruned to make it a more commercial length).

Have found it on Youtube ! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMlzfpwJZuc

[lightningBugout]

Thanks for posting the video. It's incredible.

It's interesting what a nice counterpoint to HOWL it makes.

ps. that first "extra" verse is on most recordings, I think. Just not the 2nd two.

[Sweejak]

Some of the interpretations paint Jagger as satanic. I read a story about Altamont and popular misinfo, for instance Sympathy for the Devil was not being played when Meredith was slain. I think it might have been Ben Fong Torres in a Slate write up. and maybe I can see why, if those lyrics were taken out, McLean would want to revise, but apparently they haven't been.

Do you know which lyrics were added?

[RomanyX]

OK, kids, Auntie Rom is going to show her age, just to clear this up...

Back in '72, most AM/Top 40 radio stations broadcast music recorded on 45 rpm vinyl. That posed a problem with long tracks, so they had to be faded out & split up into sides A & B. In the beginning, a lot of DJ's played only the first half of "American Pie," thus leaving off your so-called "added verses" in the interest of time. It wasn't censorship, or anything like that, just a commercial decision on the part of the stations. However, after it had been on the charts for a little while, people started complaining if they didn't get to hear the whole thing.

I just looked at Wikipedia to verify the dates, & came away scratching my head:

Some Top 40 stations initially played only side two of the single, but the song's popularity eventually forced stations to play the entire piece.

Trust me, I was in the 7th grade at the time, & glued to the radio just like I'm glued to my computer now: whenever only one side was played, it was the A side.

[jakell]

OK, kids, Auntie Rom is going to show her age, just to clear this up...


I just looked at Wikipedia to verify the dates, & came away scratching my head:

Some Top 40 stations initially played only side two of the single, but the song's popularity eventually forced stations to play the entire piece.

.

Just a guess here, but the song has a fairly slow start; by halfway through the song it has settled into the more upbeat verse/chorus structure. Maybe some DJ's thought it 'swung' more if they only played the second half.

This is the first I've heard of a song being split over two sides, I suppose EP's (12 inch singles -step aside grandma) were not around then.

[RomanyX]

This is the first I've heard of a song being split over two sides, I suppose EP's (12 inch singles -step aside grandma) were not around then.

The 12" singles may have come into being because of longer tracks like "American Pie". I never saw any of those until the disco daze of the later Seventies. I never heard anyone call those EP's, btw. Around here, an EP was a 7" with multiple tracks in 33-1/3 rpm format.

edited to fix a typo

[jakell]

This is the first I've heard of a song being split over two sides, I suppose EP's (12 inch singles -step aside grandma) were not around then.

The 12" singles may have come into being because of longer tracks like "American Pie". I never saw any of those until the disco daze of the later Seventies. I never heard anyone those called EP's, btw. Around here, an EP was a 7" with multiple tracks in 33-1/3 rpm format.

I think EP used in that context may be British. It may be the multi-trackness that makes it an EP. I've never come across a 7" EP, they sound very fiddly- try finding that second track in a dimly lit club. Were there club DJ's in the sixties? I can see that club DJ's would prefer the more robust 12" variety.

[jakell]

Some of the interpretations paint Jagger as satanic. I read a story about Altamont and popular misinfo, for instance Sympathy for the Devil was not being played when Meredith was slain. I think it might have been Ben Fong Torres in a Slate write up. and maybe I can see why, if those lyrics were taken out, McLean would want to revise, but apparently they haven't been.

Do you know which lyrics were added?

Not so much added as subtracted. The ones I've quoted above are the ones you don't usually hear.

[IanEye]

This is the first I've heard of a song being split over two sides, I suppose EP's (12 inch singles -step aside grandma) were not around then.

one artist who did this quite frequently was James Brown:







also, Ray Charles:



also, i believe a certain hit by Les McCann and Eddie Harris was given the 'parts 1 & 2 treatment as a 45 rpm single....

[RomanyX]

I think EP used in that context may be British. It may be the multi-trackness that makes it an EP. I've never come across a 7" EP, they sound very fiddly- try finding that second track in a dimly lit club. Were there club DJ's in the sixties? I can see that club DJ's would prefer the more robust 12" variety.

I lived in the SF Bay Area then, as now. The staff at the record stores used that phrase, as did the music reviewers in the Rock magazines of the day (CREEM, Circus, Rock Scene, etc.)

That EP format wasn't used by DJ's. It was just a record format, albeit a rare one. The earliest ones I saw were British imports, dating from about 1966-67. In the late Seventies/early Eighties, it was a popular format for the tiny independent labels that recorded a lot of Punk & New Wave bands.

The "discotheque" phenomenon began in the Sixties, so they must have had DJ's of some sort.

[RomanyX]

also, i believe a certain hit by Les McCann and Eddie Harris was given the 'parts 1 & 2 treatment as a 45 rpm single....

[MinM]

Penny for your thoughts: How organized crime, bankers and covert ops gave birth to hippies in Laurel Canyon

http://pennyforyourthoughts2.blogspot.c ... overt.html

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rigorousintuition.ca :: View topic - Did U.S. intelligence assets kill Antioch College?

[American Dream]

The Dope Inc. book (from the LaRouche Organization), seems to be right in certain ways, but really "off" in others, most notably the overemphasis on British Intel's role in the birth of the Psychedelic Movement...

[vince]

Damn! I thought another section of that guy LC thing was up!

[Sweejak]

Pretty interesting and now I get to use Larouche as a hammer on anyone who believes in the Aquarian conspiracies!javascript:emoticon(':wink:')

I think, if I had the time, that I should look at other art and artists that were influential in the era, and at other countries experience of the 60's to see if this hangs together.

So what do people here think?

I still think it was an entwining of a perennial movement with CIA/mil occult intel/crime/mad ave marketing/, and with the 'natural' movement usually leading the way but with plenty back and forth. I leave a large space for some kind of synchronicity which I won't pretend to understand... and for faddism which self replicates and self references in a auto-pilot mode.

I guess at some point along the line all culture is invented and that would mean it would or could be directed as well.