What is an album version?

Answer 1

The album version of a song is the version that is recorded on a regular album. It is also commonly called the long version. The adjectives album and long are used to differentiate it from the short version, a.k.a. the radio version, the single, or the "45." Several decades ago, radio station executives were very fussy about singles being close to three minutes in length, which cramped the style of many artists and their record companies. Those who gave in to the pressure from the radio execs often made a different recording for air play and singles sales than the full version of the song that went on their album. The reason I had specified "regular" album is because many greatest-hits albums contained the short versions of an artist's hits. Many album versions have longer introductions or longer solos. Also, versions made for radio often had "cleaner" lyrics than their album counterparts. For example, in "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band, the album version contains the lyrics "I told you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best that's ever been!" The "short" version of that song, which isn't any shorter than the album version, has the lyrics "I told you once, you son of a gun, I'm the best that's ever been!" (Many may find that less offensive, but I think calling the devil a son of a gun is just plain goofy.)