did Lyin' Eyes have a radio version?

[alreadygone]

I was listening to the song on the radio the other day and I realized that they took out the second verse ("he rushes to her arms, they fall together") and shortened the third verse (they jumped to the "you sure know how to arrange things" part pretty quickly). Anyone else noticed this?

[shunlvswx]

Yes. There are two version. The whole song version and then edited version where they skip the second verse and go right into the third and of course they skip some lines in the third verse and goes into my oh my, you sure know how to change things. I hate the edited version.

[chaim]

I don't rememember which version is on GH1, but I think this compilation contains the irritating edited version: http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-legend-of-eagles-mw0001921455

[Freypower]

GH1 contains the full length version.

[zeldabjr]

wow..I never knew there was an edited version...never heard it before I guess...and I know I wouldn't like it!

[shunlvswx]

I hate when the edited version comes on the radio. Half the time my local radio station plays the edited version more than the full version. I never know when its the edited version until Glenn sings the first line of either second or third verse. I'm glad when I listen to Lyin' Eyes on my cd, Pandora or I Heart Radio, its always the whole song.

[FWIW]

I hate the edited version, too. Does anyone know who made the decision to have an edited version? In HotE Szymczyk said he was pressured to make some edits to Hotel California, but he refused. Did he okay an edited version of Lyin' Eyes?

[Brooke]

Good grief, after over 30 years of listening to the song I've never noticed an edited version! Shows how I mindlessly listen to music, I guess! :brickwall:

I will pay more attention to it the next time I hear it on the radio!

[shunlvswx]

To think about it, Lyin' Eyes has a lot of verses. So I guess the "She get up" and "my oh my" verses are not the second and third. LOL The edited version is like this.
They have the first verse. Then they have the "late at night" verse. The "So she tells him" verse. Then chorus. Then the edited version goes into the "She gets up and pours herself a strong one" verse. Then goes into the "My oh my" verse and ends with the chorus. So they skips the "On the other side of town, a boy is waiting" verse, "She rushes to his arms; they fall together" verse, "She wonders how it ever got this crazy" verse.

They literally butchers the song. You never can tell which version is played until Glenn sings either "on the other side of town" or "she gets up" verses.

[buffyfan145]

I knew this as my Mom always hated the radio cut out the rest of the lines. LOL I remember being little and her getting so mad when it would come on the radio, when our CD had the full song. As I got older I felt the same as it doesn't tell the song's full story. This still happens to this day with songs and it drives me crazy as I end up preferring the album's version even if I heard the radio version first. Radio and advertisers really hate playing songs over 4 mins and will only do it for certain ones. It's still why most songs will get a radio edit if they are deemed "too long".

[Jonny Come Lately]

Count me as another non-fan of the radio version of Lyin' Eyes. Shun has described the differences in the edited version very well, and I totally agree that it butchers the song. It is such a shame to do this to such a story-based song, especially as I think it removes several of the most important lines - we never meet the man the woman is cheating with, and we immediately go from hearing about her leaving the house to pouring herself a strong one, which makes no sense. I sometimes wonder how I would have felt had I heard the radio version before the full one, I suspect hearing the 'additional' verses would have delighted me It feels like ripping the pages out of a book and I hate that, especially as I believe Don and Glenn wrote verses that weren't used. As a result, hearing Lyin' Eyes on the radio is a bit of a strange one for me as I love the song but really don't like the edit.

Radio edits in general are a funny thing because I think there are some songs that do need one - the classic example is probably Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, where removing the somewhat bizarre and radio-unfriendly jam section after the second chorus makes it not only shorter but much more suitable for airplay. I also think in some ways the edited version of Life's Been Good works better - although I do love the original, I sometimes think the middle section is a little bloated and hearing the second part of the lyrics sooner makes the song flow better. On the flip side, there are others like Hotel California where I am extremely glad that they are not edited (my opinion is that although the song is six and a half minutes in length, there is nothing that needs to be edited - it needs the intro and the guitar solos, and you can't edit out any of the lyrics). Unfortunately, I personally feel Lyin' Eyes also falls into the 'shouldn't be edited' category, as all the lyrics are important to the story the song is trying to tell.

[shunlvswx]

I've heard the edited version of Life's Been Good too. They kinda don't edited the verses, just the instrumental interlude at the beginning and in the middle before it goes into the "I go to parties some time until 4" verse and then they edited the ending instrumental interlude. I'm ok with that since its not butchering the verses.

[FWIW]

Unfortunately, I personally feel Lyin' Eyes also falls into the 'shouldn't be edited' category, as all the lyrics are important to the story the song is trying to tell.
Me, too! I think anyone paying attention to the lyrics would also put Lyin' Eyes in the 'shouldn't be edited' category. As others have pointed out, the song no longer makes sense.

I think I read somewhere (possibly a Cameron Crowe piece) that Glenn and Don actually had more verses for the song. Maybe they thought they could avoid the editing room by sticking with a 'shorter' version of the song. Regardless, I bet they weren't happy with the edits.

[AlreadyGone95]

I've heard the edited version on the radio a couple times. The first time, I didn't realize that it was edited until after the song had gone off. I was puzzled. Lyin' Eyes isn't a 4 minute song! Most of the time, my local stations play the version because playing 6+ minutes songs on the classic stations isn't that uncommon anymore.

I'm not a fan of any edited version of a song. I want to hear it the way it sounds and is made on the album.

[shunlvswx]

Oh. Don't forget they edited The Heart of The Matter too. They skipped the little bridge of "I'm learning to live without you" verse and goes straight into "I've been trying to get down to the heart of the matter" verse. They skip "I'm learning" verse a lot in the song. I hate that and it butchers the song. I've never heard the whole song on the radio.

[alreadygone]

one of the other songs that has a well known single version as opposed to an album version is "light my fire" by the doors. But the difference is - there's no lyrics removed - its just endless keyboard jamming.

[Glennsallnighter]

They play the abridges version on Sunshine Radio in Ireland

[Freypower]

Unfortunately, Glenn played the edited version as part of a medley with Take It Easy. I saw this in 1988 with LRB and if you have seen Live In Dublin, you have seen it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DZZ9CXoViU

[Glennsallnighter]

The radio abridged one is different from the Dublin performance. The Dublin performance cuts it short whereas the radio abridged one cuts out some of the meddle verses.

[shunlvswx]

I was listening to LITFL on the way to work and LITFL has an edited version too. On this version, they cut the third verse and repeat chorus. They go straight the little instrumental as they sing Life In The Fast Lane.

[scottside]

I was listening to LITFL on the way to work and LITFL has an edited version too. On this version, they cut the third verse and repeat chorus. They go straight the little instrumental as they sing Life In The Fast Lane.

Yes, I heard this once before only and I believe it was edited for the "G--damn" in the last verse. Some stations were reluctant to play this, but certainly none where I live.

[shunlvswx]

My local radio stations usually plays the whole song all the time. They do bleep out the "G-damn" line. I think that was the first time I ever heard them not even play the third verse.

[buffyfan145]

I heard that edited of LITFL version for the first time about 2-3 years ago on one of our more recent variety stations that plays multiple genre hits from the 60s-today. Our other classic rock stations never played the edited version.