Player's "Baby Come Back"

One of my favourite baseball podcasts recently used the smooth rock classic "Baby Come Back" by Player. I immediately noticed that the song I was hearing was different than the version that I'm used to hearing.

The version I'm used to hearing is the 7" single cut, which checks in at 3:40. The version on the podcast was the album version, which is 3:56 in length and features a guitar solo. The single cut reached #1 on the Billboard chart back in November 1977, according to Joel Whitburn.

Sixteen seconds seems somewhat insignificant, but every second counted on radio, and anything longer than that would be on the bubble of played/not played. Unless you were a huge artist, the chances of your "long" record getting played were slim.

Here's a rendition of the longer version: