--- a/pandas/__init__.py
+++ b/pandas/__init__.py
@@ -58,7 +58,4 @@ test = NoseTester().test
 del NoseTester
 
 # use the closest tagged version if possible
-from ._version import get_versions
-v = get_versions()
-__version__ = v.get('closest-tag',v['version'])
-del get_versions, v
+from .version import version as __version__
