diff --git a/doc/org.texi b/doc/org.texi
index 9205abb..876f673 100644
--- a/doc/org.texi
+++ b/doc/org.texi
@@ -15042,30 +15042,6 @@ references will be removed when the code block is exported.
 expanded before the block is evaluated.
 @end itemize
 
-@subsubheading Noweb prefix lines
-Noweb insertions are now placed behind the line prefix of the
-@code{<<reference>>}.
-This behavior is illustrated in the following example.  Because the
-@code{<<example>>} noweb reference appears behind the SQL comment syntax,
-each line of the expanded noweb reference will be commented.
-
-This code block:
-
-@example
--- <<example>>
-@end example
-
-expands to:
-
-@example
--- this is the
--- multi-line body of example
-@end example
-
-Note that noweb replacement text that does not contain any newlines will not
-be affected by this change, so it is still possible to use inline noweb
-references.
-
 @node noweb-ref
 @subsubsection @code{:noweb-ref}
 @cindex @code{:noweb-ref}, src header argument
diff --git a/lisp/ob-core.el b/lisp/ob-core.el
index 0adfc33..1ae16d7 100644
--- a/lisp/ob-core.el
+++ b/lisp/ob-core.el
@@ -2536,34 +2536,23 @@ block but are passed literally to the \"example-block\"."
 	 (comment (string= "noweb" (cdr (assoc :comments (nth 2 info)))))
 	 (rx-prefix (concat "\\(" org-babel-src-name-regexp "\\|"
 			    ":noweb-ref[ \t]+" "\\)"))
-         (new-body "")
-	 (nb-add (lambda (text) (setq new-body (concat new-body text))))
 	 (c-wrap (lambda (text)
 		   (with-temp-buffer
 		     (funcall (intern (concat lang "-mode")))
 		     (comment-region (point) (progn (insert text) (point)))
 		     (org-babel-trim (buffer-string)))))
-	 index source-name evaluate prefix)
+	 source-name evaluate prefix)
     (with-temp-buffer
       (org-set-local 'org-babel-noweb-wrap-start ob-nww-start)
       (org-set-local 'org-babel-noweb-wrap-end ob-nww-end)
       (insert body) (goto-char (point-min))
-      (setq index (point))
-      (while (and (re-search-forward (org-babel-noweb-wrap) nil t))
+      (while (re-search-forward (org-babel-noweb-wrap) nil t)
+	(goto-char (match-beginning 0))
 	(save-match-data (setf source-name (match-string 1)))
 	(save-match-data (setq evaluate (string-match "\(.*\)" source-name)))
-	(save-match-data
-	  (setq prefix
-		(buffer-substring (match-beginning 0)
-				  (save-excursion
-				    (beginning-of-line 1) (point)))))
-	;; add interval to new-body (removing noweb reference)
-	(goto-char (match-beginning 0))
-	(funcall nb-add (buffer-substring index (point)))
-	(goto-char (match-end 0))
-	(setq index (point))
-	(funcall
-         nb-add
+	(save-match-data (setq prefix (make-string (current-column) ?\s)))
+	(delete-region (point) (match-end 0))
+	(insert
          (with-current-buffer parent-buffer
            (save-restriction
              (widen)
@@ -2625,8 +2614,7 @@ block but are passed literally to the \"example-block\"."
                                    "`org-babel-noweb-error-langs')"))
                     "")))
                "[\n\r]") (concat "\n" prefix))))))
-      (funcall nb-add (buffer-substring index (point-max))))
-    new-body))
+      (buffer-string))))
 
 (defun org-babel-script-escape (str &optional force)
   "Safely convert tables into elisp lists."