But Not Tonight: when the other side became the single

Turn the record over

In Britain, Stripped led the February 1986 seven-inch, with But Not Tonight on the reverse. For the American single, Sire put But Not Tonight first. The official archive dates that US issue to 22 October 1986 and identifies Robert Margouleff’s specially prepared seven- and twelve-inch remixes. ^[1]

The film adds a complication

But Not Tonight also appeared on the Modern Girls soundtrack. According to the archive, the soundtrack album uses the seven-inch version, while the film’s closing credits use a different Margouleff remix, edited for that setting. A recording described casually as the soundtrack version may therefore need a more exact description: soundtrack album or film credits? ^[1]

Which song introduces the other?

The change of sides creates a useful listening experiment. Play Stripped followed by But Not Tonight, then reverse the sequence another day. Our reading is that the first track establishes a frame for the second. An apparent change of mood can feel like a release of tension in one direction and a descent into a heavier atmosphere in the other.

That observation does not tell us why any individual listener preferred the US release, or settle the familiar argument about which song deserved the attention. It simply recognises that the packaging helped organise the encounter. The same pair of titles did not necessarily arrive as the same experience.

A title is not a complete identifier

The record also illustrates a practical problem in online collecting. A song title and an approximate duration are useful clues, but they do not always identify the mix. Country, format, catalogue number and the exact release context matter.

The point is not to make listening feel like an examination. It is to explain why a familiar song can sound slightly wrong, or unexpectedly right, when you return to it through a different source. Sometimes the memory belongs to a particular version rather than an imaginary single definitive recording.

There is a quiet fan pleasure in discovering that your favourite was somebody else’s B-side, and another listener’s introduction. The catalogue holds all of those experiences without requiring one of them to win.