Papa Was A Rollin' Stone

It's hard to find an original copy of this classic Temptations single these days, yet there's a very good reason why it's worth seeking out. In the "You learn something new every day" department, it turns out that the common reissue of this tune—for example, the one that used to be available from Collectables—is only about half as long as the original. It's about 3 1/2 minutes long, whereas the version on the original Gordy release is nearly 7 minutes! (I recorded both to verify the times.) You lose not only some dynamite instrumental buildups, but also a verse or two. Thanks to a customer for pointing this out to me! The B side is a 4:49 instrumental version. Note: I just haven't had any luck finding Near Mint or better copies of this single lately, especially the audio component. The track is so quiet that even the lightest of surface noise can be intrusive. This copy has EX+ labels, with light ringwear, EX+ vinyl with some scuffing mainly on the B side, and EX audio.