I like what Paul Williams, who wrote the lyrics, said. "We (Roger Nichols (melody) and Paul Williams (lyrics) said. We wrote a song for a bank commercia, never expecting it to be a song to be put on any album. But then an Angel (Karen) sang this song, and changed my life forever."
Karen and Richard are both undeniably talented, but Karen has the voice of an angel. Her voice just envelops me like a warm blanket, not to mention that she was beautiful and had a wonderful personality.
The thing about Karen's voice is that it had low to high range and the tone through all those ranges was just so pure and effortless. Many have said she had the purest voice ever.
Karen was the angelic voice. OMG. Just whoa. But let's never overlook her brother, Richard, who wrote and composed all this stellar music people have been enjoying for a half-century. The guy is a genius. What an incredibly talented music sibling tandem!
Her brother was an amazing arranger and had an ear for what songs would work best for Karen to sing but with her voice it's almost impossible to go wrong. To me she still has the best voice ever and she has been gone almost 40 years now, unfortunately. Today's singers just can't imagine how truly great she was and no autotune! There is a reason their songs haven't been remade.
When the Carpenters were big in the 70s, I was a kid and loved them, loved Karen. I remember that they were made fun of for being sappy. You weren't cool if you liked them. I told my mom that once and I'll never forget what her response was. It literally changed how I processed input from there on and gained a confidence and trust in my own opinions. She said, with a big smile, "but you love them anyway, don't you?" To which I just smiled and nodded. It was very profound for me.
Decades ago, my friend and his wife asked me what female celebrity I thought was really beautiful. Caught off-guard, I blurted out "Karen Carpenter", though I had only seen her face once - it was her melancholic voice that I found so profoundly beautiful.
Karen Carpenter was all of 20 when she laid down this lead vocal.. She was yet to have a serious relationship of her own.. Yet one would believe that she'd been married for years from the emotion that she packs into this song.. She was an incredible talent.. and is immortal due to the incredible musical legacy she left behind.. Her voice will continue to touch people!
This was our wedding song…..& sometimes I just have to sit back & let the tears flow when listening to it. My hubby passed away unexpectedly 15 years ago Jan (by taking his own life)…..& I was left to raise our 4 young sons on my own. I’ll never understand why, but it’s so good to have such things as this to hold onto😓.
Your intuition is correct. The song was originally composed as a commercial jingle for a now defunct bank back in the 1960's/early 70's. It showed a young married couple just getting started with the song playing in the background, I believe.
It was for Crocker Bank and Paul Williams was the one who wrote it. Às he put it, "the song was just a regular commission, and then they found an angel to sing it."
When I was married in a big Cathedral back in 1977 .. my wife picked this song which was sung by my young cousin . We divorced 2 yrs later . We have been friends for years Such turmoil we went thru as young naiive kids . I was 20 she was 19 . Now listening to this 45 yrs later I get flashbacks and wish I could speak to my young self ...... so sad.
"This sounds like a wedding song. Like when you're first starting out. " NAILED it. Richard heard chorus of this on a commercial for a bank. The television commercial showed a couple getting married and starting a new life. He bought the rights and turned it into a complete song.
I was listening to Karen back in the 70's. Her voice was magical, still is today. I remember hearing about her death and I paused, I thought somebody had made a mistake. You had to be there during that time, music was magical, The Carpenters, Captain and Tennille, Bob Marley, The Four Tops (I Believe in you and me) and the Jackson 5. My god you had to be there to know what I'm talking about! God bless Karen
Yeh... I remember waking up in the morning with the radio on and it came across the air waves. Even though I didnt know her personally but knew her music. It was like ahhh sh!t. And was sad to hear.
I was Navy when we were messaged at Sea that Karen had succumbed to Anerexia Nervousis. Both fleets, Canadian and US put up signal flags and Our National Flags at the bow were put at half mast.
That's amazing. Everyone loved Karen, even Metalheads and Punks loved her. Thank you for your service. I wonder if that has been done for any other performer.
It's so odd to see someone getting a taste of the Carpenters for the first time. Hell, my memories are highlighted with their music. Smiles, Laughs and Tears.
Written originally as a bank commercial, The Carpenters went on to international success with this song. Probably the most requested "first dance" song at so many weddings in the early to mid 1970s, and understandably so. I was 16 at the time. 16?! Has it really been that long?
That song is now 50 years old Angela, and TIMELESS, TIMELESS, TIMELESS.. that is the legacy of the great Karen Carpenter's voice and Richard's production of the song. We will still be listening to the Carpenter's music forever into the future of Humankind.
I always adored her voice. Something unique about it. And her brother was one of the first to lay multiple tracks to give a sense of background singers. Was totally new when it came out.
It was first written and recorded by Paul Williams for a one minute bank commercial that shows a wedding of a young beautiful couple. Richard Carpenter happened to see the commercial and loved the song and contacted Paul Williams asking him if he had a completed version of the song. Paul said he did and once the Carpenters recorded it his life changed. At the time he wrote the song he did not expect it to ever go anywhere.
Paul Williams wrote these lyrics for a California bank commercial. The Carpenters heard it and ran with it. This was the go to wedding song in the 70’s.
This actually WAS written for the Crocker Bank in a late 1960s advertising campaign. It was featured prominently in 1 minute, 30 second, and 15 second versions on television and the audio, with a voice over announcer added, on the radio, too. The video was of a very young couple getting married and getting their 1st house together. The bank was aggressively marketing to stable younger potential mortgage clients. The song was so catchy, it was released as a single and it made the brother and sister Carpenters into superstars. Karen had an immense talent bottled inside of a very sick mind. Wracked with anorexia and profound depression, she passed too early. Some of the angst you hear in her lower register as she pulls the end of her notes with a barely hearable rasp are absolutely heartbreaking, and beautiful. Its that ache in her voice that you picked up on so quickly. Some folks say the arrangements are dated, and they have a good point. Even in the prime of the Carpenters career, they were regarded as wholesome and family oriented squares. The arrangements and harmonies are all Richard, the pianist, her brother.
I played in wedding bands (back when they used to have bands at weddings) and I can tell you that FOR DECADES this song was the requested "first dance" song like 95% of the time. Written by Paul Williams
As a 59 year old man, married for thirty years, I am hear to say that is exactly what this songs is about...growing to together. For such a young lady, you really get it. Karen had one of the best voices ever! It's nice to see a young person such as yourself really appreciating it.
I m 64 yo ans was a member of the Carpenters Fan Club back when they first started, I understand your site is for reactions to songs in the single form but Here I really wish you would sit in a room by yourself in low light setting and listen to the full album the Carpenters Greatest hits all the way through, It Will Blow You Away. Karen's range will never be topped. She was one of a kind, Angfulelic is the word for her voice. Please do this and let me know what you got from it, Be one of the first to do a full Greatest hits Album reaction. .
I’m so happy to see a new generation falling in love with the Carpenters. I grew up as a teenager with their music. They fell out of fashion for a period but I always knew they would be appreciated again for their amazing talent. Karen had the most beautiful voice on earth and Richard was such an amazing musician and vocalist too.
Karen Carpenter has a 3 octave range but it was the low tones that was unique among female vocalists and the fact that she was pitch perfect. The songs she sang allowed for some magical arrangements that were simply awesome.
I had read in the biography of the Carpenters by Ray Coleman she had a 4 octave range? Of course, it's not just how many octaves one has, but what one does with them....
The Lovely Karen Carpenter and her equally talented Brother Richard. Also amazing back up crew. Thank you for reviewing! She was also an accomplished drummer! And written by Paul Williams. ❤️🥀🌸💐🌹🏵️🌺♥️💐🌸🥀❤️🌹🏵️🌺♥️🏵️🌹💐🌸🥀❤️🥀🌸💐🌹🏵️
Will never forget listening to this on the radio and singing along with my Mom and brother in 1971 as we drove along in her 1965 Ford Falcon. We were 'just the three of us' after my father had left. We believed the words of this song, our better years were ahead of us. I cry every time I hear this song remembering my Mom, she was the strongest person I have ever known.
Girl, you are on a Carpenter’s roll. These songs are sappy by today standards, but at the same time the quality of the music, melody and vocals is astonishing. They were so successful due to her smooth, angelic vocal quality. They struggled with a reputation of being a sugary, pop group that during the 1970’s was contrasted with the emergence of rock, metal, and more harsh musical genres. She was tired of being associated with the superficial bubble-gum reputation and wanted to taken more seriously as an artist. Even with that voice, maybe the best female vocalist of all time, she felt under-appreciated. It was our great loss in 1983 when she succumbed to her illness, brought on by years of dietary abuse, laxatives, purging, and malnutrition.
It’s crazy that I grew up listening to The Carpenters, and I still get goosebumps all over. This was the first song at my Sisters Wedding back in the 70’s.
After the success of this song and Close To You, Richard and Karen invested in two apartments in their home town of Downey, CA. They names them Close To You, and Only Just Begun. They were sold years ago, but retain these names along with musical notes on the respective address/signs in front.
After you say "HER VOICE!", you should follow that with "HIS ARRANGEMENTS!" All those beautiful harmonies and accompaniments, surrounding Karen's angelic voice, were all written and/or arranged by Richard. The Carpenters were definitely a duo, not a solo act.
Actually A&M Records didn't want Richard at all, it was Karen who refused to sign with out him at her family's insistence. A&M brought in Ron Gorow to smooth over most of the work arranged by Richard.
@@mrk8050 Regardless of their initial hesitation, I'm sure A & M was thrilled to have Richard after his arrangement of Close To You propelled the song and the Carpenters to #1. It definitely was a team effort.
@@nealbraatz3911 Ron Gorow was brought in at the very beginning of their A&M deal to clean up their sound. I'm not saying Richard didn't write great songs, he did, but he wasn't the musical producer that he's been made out to be. Because if he was, where is his long list of collaborations with other artists that should have been there after Karen's sad and untimely death. He's not like say Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from Abba or even Jeff Lynne from ELO who all are great song writers who virtually had their doors knocked down by hundreds of other artists and record company's to work in collaborations. After Karen, Richard and the rest of her family made a living off her reputation and the royalties her amazing voice, even though in life they all treated her with such distain and disrespect.
@@mrk8050 I'm as big a Karen Carpenter fan as anyone, but she didn't compose or arrange any of their music, nor did she write any of the lyrics, so those royalties were just as much Richard's (and the other writers) as hers. Also, funny how so many KC fans blame everyone else, but Karen, for her death. How do you know what really was going on? She was a grown woman making her own decisions. Her friends and, yes, her family tried to help her, but she continually lied and covered up her self destructive behavior. If her parents were treating her with such "disdain and disrespect", why was Karen staying at their home when she died?
Originally Paul Williams wrote this song for a bank commercial, sung by Karen. A couple starting out life, savings accounts, car loans, home mortgage, retirement. I remember the add. It went on to be the most played song at Weddings
She's a female equivalent of somebody like Lou Rawls, she sings at the deep end of things, it's all rich and textured and you can sense the vibrations of the those tones she produced. She's great. Lovely reaction there.
Girl, you know your stuff! The song was originally written for a bank commercial that featured a newlyweds starting their new life together! The Carpenters then recorded it, and it became one of their signature songs. In the 70's, it was one of the most popular songs at weddings and high school graduations. It's all about new beginnings and the uncertain, but hopeful, road ahead. Thanks for your reaction. You've just gained a new fan and subscriber.
It warms my heart to see someone like yourself from a younger generation appreciate good music from a other era. This song and message are timeless, as is Karen's rich, soulful voice. We had a singing group that did Carpenters songs and as accompanist I still have the songbook. Thank you for your reaction and for helping keep good music alive.
Oh, you sweet, adorable young lady -- I've been watching your Carpenters reactions and now this 57 year old lady has just subscribed. You are a breath of fresh air. I'm going to check out your Billy Joel and others soon. I love seeing intelligent young people discover the great music of my life from the 70's and 80's. 😊
Of all the reactions I’ve watched, yours is so genuine and heartfelt. Karen’s voice is incomparable. And there are millions of us who can still only say, “Wow.”
I like this gals reactions, she’s sincere. Much of what’s she’s listening to requires having a good soul and a kind heart. On another note, you notice how much strength Karen can get out of her voice while sitting down.
It's been fun watching you discover the Carpenters. It warms an old mans heart to see the next generation fall in love with the things of our generation. Before the dawn of auto tune there was talent.
Listening to the Carpenters now is devastatingly bittersweet. Brings back memories of me as a child in the 90s listening to their music on repeat when I went sailing with my dad. He’s the one who introduced me to them and it reminds me of a time I once loved him and of a time we were a happy family. Thinking of him as I listen to this and finding forgiveness for myself for becoming so estranged from him. Thank you for the reaction.
Yes, wedding song. This was my Aunt and Uncle's wedding song. Don't you wish we could attend a Carpenter's concert? I sure do. By the time my mom introduced me to this, in the late 80s, she was gone.
Songwriter Paul Williams said, " I wrote it and than an Angel sang it." How true that was.
I didn't know Paul Williams wrote this. Thanks, dummy! I kid.
Yeah, Williams wrote it for a bank tv ad.
First it was in a bank commercial
I like what Paul Williams, who wrote the lyrics, said. "We (Roger Nichols (melody) and Paul Williams (lyrics) said. We wrote a song for a bank commercia, never expecting it to be a song to be put on any album. But then an Angel (Karen) sang this song, and changed my life forever."
They called her "One Take Karen" because she was great on the first take. She was just born with perfect pipes.
Karen and Richard are both undeniably talented, but Karen has the voice of an angel. Her voice just envelops me like a warm blanket, not to mention that she was beautiful and had a wonderful personality.
The thing about Karen's voice is that it had low to high range and the tone through all those ranges was just so pure and effortless. Many have said she had the purest voice ever.
Karen was the angelic voice. OMG. Just whoa. But let's never overlook her brother, Richard, who wrote and composed all this stellar music people have been enjoying for a half-century. The guy is a genius. What an incredibly talented music sibling tandem!
This was my younger brother's 'wedding song'. He died a couple of years ago. Chokes me up every time I hear it.
Karen Carpenter - Absolute perfection
Her brother was an amazing arranger and had an ear for what songs would work best for Karen to sing but with her voice it's almost impossible to go wrong.
To me she still has the best voice ever and she has been gone almost 40 years now, unfortunately.
Today's singers just can't imagine how truly great she was and no autotune!
There is a reason their songs haven't been remade.
When the Carpenters were big in the 70s, I was a kid and loved them, loved Karen. I remember that they were made fun of for being sappy. You weren't cool if you liked them. I told my mom that once and I'll never forget what her response was. It literally changed how I processed input from there on and gained a confidence and trust in my own opinions. She said, with a big smile, "but you love them anyway, don't you?" To which I just smiled and nodded. It was very profound for me.
Decades ago, my friend and his wife asked me what female celebrity I thought was really beautiful. Caught off-guard, I blurted out "Karen Carpenter", though I had only seen her face once - it was her melancholic voice that I found so profoundly beautiful.
Karen Carpenter was all of 20 when she laid down this lead vocal.. She was yet to have a serious relationship of her own.. Yet one would believe that she'd been married for years from the emotion that she packs into this song.. She was an incredible talent.. and is immortal due to the incredible musical legacy she left behind.. Her voice will continue to touch people!
She was only 20 when she did this.Karen Carpenter is the only female vocalist whose voice can literally bring me to tears.
I love your beautiful and organic reactions to her voice. Thank you keeping her alive in my memory.
This was our wedding song…..& sometimes I just have to sit back & let the tears flow when listening to it. My hubby passed away unexpectedly 15 years ago Jan (by taking his own life)…..& I was left to raise our 4 young sons on my own. I’ll never understand why, but it’s so good to have such things as this to hold onto😓.
So sorry for your loss. Keep strong.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
There will never be another voice like Karen Carpenter again, RIP Karen your missed!
Your intuition is correct. The song was originally composed as a commercial jingle for a now defunct bank back in the 1960's/early 70's. It showed a young married couple just getting started with the song playing in the background, I believe.
It was for Crocker Bank and Paul Williams was the one who wrote it. Às he put it, "the song was just a regular commission, and then they found an angel to sing it."
Mark Lindsay performed the original version, and it’s also a great song. Great bass line also
I rmbr seeing that commercial
Don’t feel bad…her brother Richard said in an interview her voice made him cry,too.
I never knew this either. Karen was a goddess in voice.
Karen was such a beautiful woman inside and out. RIP sweet lady.
This was their signature hit. When Karen moved out and got her own house, her doorbell played the first six notes of the song.
I love your reactions. Love the Carpenters ❤️❤️❤️. Try react to "Only Yesterday"., Thank you and Stay safe.
It is impossible to rave too much about Kaen's voice; it's simply had the most incredible tone and depth.
When I was married in a big Cathedral back in 1977 .. my wife picked this song which was sung by my young cousin . We divorced 2 yrs later . We have been friends for years Such turmoil we went thru as young naiive kids . I was 20 she was 19 . Now listening to this 45 yrs later I get flashbacks and wish I could speak to my young self ...... so sad.
This song received three dislikes. Who are these people. How can you hate this song. Oh divorced people okay now some of us understand. Great reaction
One of the greatest voices to ever grace this earth ❤️
My all time favorite female vocalist. Very touching, can’t describe
Mine as well, always has been, always will be...
angelic voice silenced too early in life
"This sounds like a wedding song. Like when you're first starting out. " NAILED it. Richard heard chorus of this on a commercial for a bank. The television commercial showed a couple getting married and starting a new life. He bought the rights and turned it into a complete song.
Crocker bank, I remember the commercial when it came out. It was written for the commercial.
I was listening to Karen back in the 70's. Her voice was magical, still is today. I remember hearing about her death and I paused, I thought somebody had made a mistake. You had to be there during that time, music was magical, The Carpenters, Captain and Tennille, Bob Marley, The Four Tops (I Believe in you and me) and the Jackson 5. My god you had to be there to know what I'm talking about! God bless Karen
Yeh... I remember waking up in the morning with the radio on and it came across the air waves. Even though I didnt know her personally but knew her music. It was like ahhh sh!t. And was sad to hear.
Her Voice! So rich, harmonic, deep, familiar, carefree, and beautiful!
Striking, intense and sultry!
I was Navy when we were messaged at Sea that Karen had succumbed to Anerexia Nervousis. Both fleets, Canadian and US put up signal flags and Our National Flags at the bow were put at half mast.
I've never heard of anything like that before. So awesome. Thank you for sharing that and for your service.
That's amazing. Everyone loved Karen, even Metalheads and Punks loved her. Thank you for your service. I wonder if that has been done for any other performer.
The smile on your face when her vocal starts is priceless and so genuine.
Just a couple of sung words is all it takes to realize her unique gift.
No one today comes close, not that I have heard anyway.
No one back then either. Absolute flawless voice.
Karen is in a class above everyone else! Greatest female vocalist ever! 👏💪🤗
It's so odd to see someone getting a taste of the Carpenters for the first time. Hell, my memories are highlighted with their music. Smiles, Laughs and Tears.
Written originally as a bank commercial, The Carpenters went on to international success with this song. Probably the most requested "first dance" song at so many weddings in the early to mid 1970s, and understandably so. I was 16 at the time. 16?! Has it really been that long?
That song is now 50 years old Angela, and TIMELESS, TIMELESS, TIMELESS.. that is the legacy of the great Karen Carpenter's voice and Richard's production of the song. We will still be listening to the Carpenter's music forever into the future of Humankind.
I always adored her voice. Something unique about it. And her brother was one of the first to lay multiple tracks to give a sense of background singers. Was totally new when it came out.
Incredible to believe Karen was barely 20 years old when they recorded this beautiful song. Tears well up listening to her voice
It was a wedding song for years
Richard heard it as a bank commercial and said, that is a hit
Imagine, Paul Williams was hired by a bank to write a jingle.... Quality f'n jingle... Lolol. Thank goodness for Carpenter's great ear.
This song was Wells Fargo commercial. Her brother Richard saw the commercial and decided to make it into a song. Her brother Richard was a genius.
It wasn't Wells Fargo. It was Crocker National Bank...
Fun fact - Karen Carpenter was also an elite drummer.
It was first written and recorded by Paul Williams for a one minute bank commercial that shows a wedding of a young beautiful couple. Richard Carpenter happened to see the commercial and loved the song and contacted Paul Williams asking him if he had a completed version of the song. Paul said he did and once the Carpenters recorded it his life changed. At the time he wrote the song he did not expect it to ever go anywhere.
Paul Williams wrote these lyrics for a California bank commercial. The Carpenters heard it and ran with it. This was the go to wedding song in the 70’s.
Crocker bank.
This actually WAS written for the Crocker Bank in a late 1960s advertising campaign. It was featured prominently in 1 minute, 30 second, and 15 second versions on television and the audio, with a voice over announcer added, on the radio, too. The video was of a very young couple getting married and getting their 1st house together. The bank was aggressively marketing to stable younger potential mortgage clients. The song was so catchy, it was released as a single and it made the brother and sister Carpenters into superstars. Karen had an immense talent bottled inside of a very sick mind. Wracked with anorexia and profound depression, she passed too early. Some of the angst you hear in her lower register as she pulls the end of her notes with a barely hearable rasp are absolutely heartbreaking, and beautiful. Its that ache in her voice that you picked up on so quickly. Some folks say the arrangements are dated, and they have a good point. Even in the prime of the Carpenters career, they were regarded as wholesome and family oriented squares. The arrangements and harmonies are all Richard, the pianist, her brother.
If you got married in the 70s, this song was mandatory. Along with wide lapel, bell bottom, white tuxedos, and big Farrah Fawcett hair.
#1 Wedding song EVER
I played in wedding bands (back when they used to have bands at weddings) and I can tell you that FOR DECADES this song was the requested "first dance" song like 95% of the time. Written by Paul Williams
As a 59 year old man, married for thirty years, I am hear to say that is exactly what this songs is about...growing to together. For such a young lady, you really get it. Karen had one of the best voices ever! It's nice to see a young person such as yourself really appreciating it.
With her voice you can really feel what she is singing about, such a angelic voice, I was so in love with her as a kid growing up in the 70s!!!!!
Yeeees.... Her voice
She was a natural, she sang as if she was born to do just that!
And to realize Karen was only 19 when she first recorded that song. What 19 year old has ever sounded like that? No one!
The way she pronounces each word is a work of art. It's like a perfectly played instrument with such clarity and warmth.
She has perfect diction u can understand every word ... she always did her songs in one single take she was that good
I m 64 yo ans was a member of the Carpenters Fan Club back when they first started, I understand your site is for reactions to songs in the single form but Here I really wish you would sit in a room by yourself in low light setting and listen to the full album the Carpenters Greatest hits all the way through, It Will Blow You Away. Karen's range will never be topped. She was one of a kind, Angfulelic is the word for her voice. Please do this and let me know what you got from it, Be one of the first to do a full Greatest hits Album reaction. .
Arguably, Karen was the best female Rock Drummer in History.
Her voice....she is one of those who sing as easily as they breathe.
I’m so happy to see a new generation falling in love with the Carpenters. I grew up as a teenager with their music. They fell out of fashion for a period but I always knew they would be appreciated again for their amazing talent. Karen had the most beautiful voice on earth and Richard was such an amazing musician and vocalist too.
She was so incredibly silky smooth, airy, beautiful, and effortless.
It's great to see a new generation discover this music. She was incredibly talented, but a tragic life story.
This song was played at pretty much every graduation for about ten years.
In my opinion The most beautiful female singing voice I’ve ever heard 💕💕💕🥰👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Portland Oregon USA 🇺🇸
Karen Carpenter has a 3 octave range but it was the low tones that was unique among female vocalists and the fact that she was pitch perfect. The songs she sang allowed for some magical arrangements that were simply awesome.
I had read in the biography of the Carpenters by Ray Coleman she had a 4 octave range? Of course, it's not just how many octaves one has, but what one does with them....
The Lovely Karen Carpenter and her equally talented Brother Richard. Also amazing back up crew. Thank you for reviewing! She was also an accomplished drummer! And written by Paul Williams. ❤️🥀🌸💐🌹🏵️🌺♥️💐🌸🥀❤️🌹🏵️🌺♥️🏵️🌹💐🌸🥀❤️🥀🌸💐🌹🏵️
Will never forget listening to this on the radio and singing along with my Mom and
brother in 1971 as we drove along in her 1965 Ford Falcon. We were 'just the
three of us' after my father had left. We believed the words of this
song, our better years were ahead of us. I cry every time I hear this
song remembering my Mom, she was the strongest person I have ever known.
OMG!! The first time I ever heard The Carpenters (Close to You, 1970) I was driving my...1965 Ford Falcon!!!!! Wow!!
Your Carpenter reactions are absolutely my favorite. A Song for You would be one you would enjoy. Keep up the great work.
Perfect pitch and a hell of a drummer! What a talent! Best female voice ever!
Girl, you are on a Carpenter’s roll. These songs are sappy by today standards, but at the same time the quality of the music, melody and vocals is astonishing. They were so successful due to her smooth, angelic vocal quality. They struggled with a reputation of being a sugary, pop group that during the 1970’s was contrasted with the emergence of rock, metal, and more harsh musical genres.
She was tired of being associated with the superficial bubble-gum reputation and wanted to taken more seriously as an artist. Even with that voice, maybe the best female vocalist of all time, she felt under-appreciated. It was our great loss in 1983 when she succumbed to her illness, brought on by years of dietary abuse, laxatives, purging, and malnutrition.
Lovely, classy Karen Carpenter.
Karen has perfect pitch. She is a true alto.
It’s crazy that I grew up listening to The Carpenters, and I still get goosebumps all over. This was the first song at my Sisters Wedding back in the 70’s.
Same here, her voice is so surreal I doubt we'll ever see another like her. RIP Karen
After the success of this song and Close To You, Richard and Karen invested in two apartments in their home town of Downey, CA. They names them Close To You, and Only Just Begun. They were sold years ago, but retain these names along with musical notes on the respective address/signs in front.
Luv your reactions 😘
After you say "HER VOICE!", you should follow that with "HIS ARRANGEMENTS!" All those beautiful harmonies and accompaniments, surrounding Karen's angelic voice, were all written and/or arranged by Richard. The Carpenters were definitely a duo, not a solo act.
Actually A&M Records didn't want Richard at all, it was Karen who refused to sign with out him at her family's insistence. A&M brought in Ron Gorow to smooth over most of the work arranged by Richard.
@@mrk8050 Regardless of their initial hesitation, I'm sure A & M was thrilled to have Richard after his arrangement of Close To You propelled the song and the Carpenters to #1. It definitely was a team effort.
@@nealbraatz3911 Ron Gorow was brought in at the very beginning of their A&M deal to clean up their sound. I'm not saying Richard didn't write great songs, he did, but he wasn't the musical producer that he's been made out to be. Because if he was, where is his long list of collaborations with other artists that should have been there after Karen's sad and untimely death. He's not like say Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from Abba or even Jeff Lynne from ELO who all are great song writers who virtually had their doors knocked down by hundreds of other artists and record company's to work in collaborations. After Karen,
Richard and the rest of her family made a living off her reputation and the royalties her amazing voice, even though in life they all treated her with such distain and disrespect.
@@mrk8050 I'm as big a Karen Carpenter fan as anyone, but she didn't compose or arrange any of their music, nor did she write any of the lyrics, so those royalties were just as much Richard's (and the other writers) as hers. Also, funny how so many KC fans blame everyone else, but Karen, for her death. How do you know what really was going on? She was a grown woman making her own decisions. Her friends and, yes, her family tried to help her, but she continually lied and covered up her self destructive behavior. If her parents were treating her with such "disdain and disrespect", why was Karen staying at their home when she died?
Originally Paul Williams wrote this song for a bank commercial, sung by Karen. A couple starting out life, savings accounts, car loans, home mortgage, retirement. I remember the add. It went on to be the most played song at Weddings
She's a female equivalent of somebody like Lou Rawls, she sings at the deep end of things, it's all rich and textured and you can sense the vibrations of the those tones she produced. She's great.
Lovely reaction there.
Loved Karen and her voice 60’s-70’s. was a whole vibe!
What a brother and sister harmony🥰
I don't need her songs played at my Funeral, because ill be listening to her live in Heaven.
I still remember this song as The Crocker Bank song. Now I'm aging myself.
Girl, you know your stuff! The song was originally written for a bank commercial that featured a newlyweds starting their new life together! The Carpenters then recorded it, and it became one of their signature songs. In the 70's, it was one of the most popular songs at weddings and high school graduations. It's all about new beginnings and the uncertain, but hopeful, road ahead. Thanks for your reaction. You've just gained a new fan and subscriber.
It was our theme at our HS prom in 1974!!!!
Growing up in the 60s & 70’s this was definitely the Wedding song to play, absolutely beautiful ❤
This was our wedding song….45 yrs ago…we’re still together and love the song.
It was ours as well 43 years ago, we still love it
the most Angelic and unworldly voice ever! Its unreal!
Commentary from a beautiful young Black woman.
$$ Lol!! Played.
It warms my heart to see someone like yourself from a younger generation appreciate good music from a other era. This song and message are timeless, as is Karen's rich, soulful voice. We had a singing group that did Carpenters songs and as accompanist I still have the songbook. Thank you for your reaction and for helping keep good music alive.
Karen Carpenter was a Gift to this World
Oh, you sweet, adorable young lady -- I've been watching your Carpenters reactions and now this 57 year old lady has just subscribed. You are a breath of fresh air. I'm going to check out your Billy Joel and others soon. I love seeing intelligent young people discover the great music of my life from the 70's and 80's. 😊
That was a very popular wedding song back in the day.
We had a local sing it at our wedding in 1975.
It still is.
Please react to "Only Yesterday" Its my favorite Carpenters song, the video is a real gem as well :)
The wedding song of a generation.
Of all the reactions I’ve watched, yours is so genuine and heartfelt. Karen’s voice is incomparable. And there are millions of us who can still only say, “Wow.”
Listen to her rendition of Leon Russel's ‘Masquerade'. It’s as if the song was written for her.
When they sing "So much of life ahead", knowing what happened to Karen, always make my lip quiver.
The song is "I Need To Be In Love"
@@ivarwinter3049 Her favorite too.
I had an opportunity to see them in concert at the Hollywood Bowl the year before she passed. This was in 1982 Navy Days
THAT VOICE!!!!
I like this gals reactions, she’s sincere. Much of what’s she’s listening to requires having a good soul and a kind heart. On another note, you notice how much strength Karen can get out of her voice while sitting down.
It's been fun watching you discover the Carpenters. It warms an old mans heart to see the next generation fall in love with the things of our generation. Before the dawn of auto tune there was talent.
Her voice is achingly beautiful.
Listening to the Carpenters now is devastatingly bittersweet. Brings back memories of me as a child in the 90s listening to their music on repeat when I went sailing with my dad. He’s the one who introduced me to them and it reminds me of a time I once loved him and of a time we were a happy family. Thinking of him as I listen to this and finding forgiveness for myself for becoming so estranged from him.
Thank you for the reaction.
I get that same feeling when I hear We've Only Just Begun. That's because I know that her marriage didn't work out, and it must have crushed her some.
Yes, wedding song. This was my Aunt and Uncle's wedding song. Don't you wish we could attend a Carpenter's concert? I sure do. By the time my mom introduced me to this, in the late 80s, she was gone.
your smile and your tears are so real love love love your real reaction of the great Karen Carpenter new subscriber to your channel
Karens' voice was magic.
That contralto voice she had could melt your heart.You should listen to Alan Jackson.."Remember When"...I think it will make you smile.