She was a beautiful lady, I got to say a quick “hello” to her at Hampton Roads Coliseum years ago when they put on a concert there. She died way too young, and in a way I’ll never really understand. What music have we missed since she passed ... I’ll always wonder.
Karen Carpenter was a fantastic musician and composer. In addition to her gifted senses of pitch, rhythm and dynamics, she was an passionate perfectionist musically, and in other ways as well.
She was also romantic and sensitive, and the mixture of these characteristics led to an outcome which was - in terms of her personal life - a tragedy on many levels.
Her songs of the early 1970s are among the most vivid musical memories I have of those years - along with the songs of Jimmy Webb. Years that were remarkable for the incredible breadth and richness of the music that was available for nothing on any kid’s transistor radio.
YouTube has opened a world I though had closed when my old LP’s got trashed.
Karen is the Tops!
s good friend of mine’s wife used to babysit the Carpenters where they were kids.
They were local.
Too bad she died so young
The Voice
Since this is an anonymous site. Yea, I like The Carpenters. Brings a tear to my eye that we lost her so early.
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People are taken aback when I list my musical preferences — Led Zeppelin, Boston, Pink Floyd...Carpenters, America, Bee Gees. I guess we all have a hard and soft side. Karen had such a clean beautiful voice that touches one’s soul.
She always makes me cry when I listen to her. She is singing to me, but she’s gone.
It’s yesterday, once more.
There is no current pop vocalist who can compare with Karen Carpenter. I hear her voice, even on those old, analog recordings, and I melt. The beginning of “Hurting Each Other” is simply amazing.
God I miss her. I had the blessing to attend a performance. It was I think 1975 in Harrah’s at Lake Tahoe. Their opening act was the Righteous Brother. I still remember the performance from both of these great talents. I remember Karen asking anyone in the audience if there was a child because she was going to sing SING A SONG. Me being shy and also sitting way in the back kept quiet though I knew the words. Looking back I regret it lol, but I can never forget Karen she looked fine on stage health wise. She is the only talent that is in my Heart and I will never forget the 1 and half hour of pure joy she gave me listening to this angelic gift from God.
She was a treasure.
My wife, from South America, tells me that part of her English education there was required listening to the Carpenters....clear and crisp....perfect pronunciation.
A few notes:
1) The tune was written by Neil Sedaka.
2) The song was not about the homeless. It was about a man so romantically dysfunctional that he couldn’t find a love relationship, probably terminally shy.
3) I consider Karen Carpenter the top female pop vocalist of all time. Just try hitting some of the low notes on this vocal. I can’t. Incidentally, I think Nat King Cole had the best voice of any male pop singer.
4) The Carpenters were a fledgling group in the late 1960s who had been signed by A&M Records (the A of A&M was trumpeter Herb Alpert of the Tijuana Brass). Burt Bacharach had penned a smash hit for Alpert called “This Guy’s In Love With You” and followed it up with a song so syrupy that Alpert refused to record it. He pushed it off on the Carpenters and it became their most successful single - “Close To You”.
They were great, a couple of their tunes just can’t be topped.
“Merry Christmas, Darling” is a lovely song.