Is Your Karen Carpenter Favorite Listed Here?

[arwalden]

If so... which one is it?

[ibegurpard]

1. No

"Bless the Beasts and the Children."

[arwalden]

2. Sorry... there are SO MANY Good Ones... Including...

... Sleigh Ride from the Christmas album.

"Just hear those sleigh bells ring-a-ling... ting-ting-ting-a ling too..."

-- Allen

[thom1102]

45. The whole Carpenters Christmas Album...

"Frooooooosteeeeed window panes...candles gleaming inside..." (That one is my favorite... Christmas Waltz, it think)

[arwalden]

4. I Just Didn't Have The Nerve To Include...

"Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft"

[ibegurpard]

6. ROFL!

I wouldn't pick that one.

[SaveABug]

11. aaarrrggghh

I don't know how I missed your post. Sorry. Humble, tired brain banging self on desk.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. Hey I liked that one! Seriously. It was their "comeback"

really. 1978 or so. long after their heyday. Nice variety of music in that one song. Kind of like Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

[Cheswick2.0]

3. I wont last a day without you

only because I used to sing it with this group I was part of in HS. Ye Gads

[lolly]

5. The Christmas Song

It's beautiful, w/or w/out voice.

But you gotta love that alto of hers . . .

[blackcat77]

7. "Ticket to Ride" nt

[soleft]

8. I sang Only Yesterday in Karaoke Saturday

Had trouble with the low notes

[mitchum]

9. Yes! "Superstar" is there.

[SaveABug]

10. Calling Occupants

of Interplanetary Craft

(they really did it, I didn't make it up!)

[blondeatlast]

12. She could invoke more emotion in a single bar than the present

day divas could in entire song. "Superstar" and "Rainy Days" just always put me in a mellow mood.

What a tragic loss at so young an age. How sad is it that she felt she needed to fit into such a narrow stereotype that she starved herself to death.

[arwalden]

24. Karen Could FIND THE NOTE and HOLD IT STEADY... Unlike...

... some of these "acrobatic" note-juggling warblers who bounce all over the scale trying to find a note (thinking they they are showing off their range... but only sounding like they can't sing. Which they can't.)

Today's singers are like Star-Search and American Idol winners. Marginal at best.

-- Allen

(Too harsh?)

[blondeatlast]

25. Nope, Karen was one of a kind. Thank God her gift is recorded.

And, she was a damn nice person, too, I hear.

[donco6]

32. Yes - she could sing anything well.

And it's just her voice - not a lot of electro juggling to make it sound better, ala Madonna, Aguilera etc.

I still listen to Carpenters when hubby is away. He can't take it!

You know who is actually talented tho - Pink! I've got her Mizundastood album and it's really quite good.

[regnaD kciN]

48. The downhill slide...

What a tragic loss at so young an age. How sad is it that she felt she needed to fit into such a narrow stereotype that she starved herself to death.

After marrying a leading Raygun fundraiser, there was nowhere to go but down...

[1monster]

13. "You forgot to include"

Merry Christmas Darling from their Christmas album.

Merry Christmas Darling
Frank Poole / Richard Carpenter

Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one more wish to make
A special one for you

Merry Christmas darling
We're apart that's true
But I can dream and in my dreams
I'm Christmas-ing with you

Holidays are joyful
There's always something new
But every day's a holiday
When I'm near to you
The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
The logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say

That I wish you a Merry Christmas
Happy New Year, too
I've just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you

[blondeatlast]

14. What a great song--a must on my holiday list.

[Lindsey]

15. Karen Carpenters version of Superstar

is one of the most beautiful of all time - imho

[Booberdawg]

20. Awww, that's a purty song

:loveya:

[arwalden]

22. Another Favorite Of Mine From The Christmas Album

... I may just pull out that album right now and listen to it (just because).

-- Allen

P.S. I have it on both VINYL and CD.

[thom1102]

46. Okay , if you can do it, so can I:

Christmas Waltz:
Frosted window panes
candles gleaming inside,
painted candy canes on the tree,
Santa's on his way,
he's filled his sleigh with things
things for you and for me,

It's that time of year
when the world falls in love
every song you hear seems to say,
Merry Christmas, may your New Year Dreams come true,
And this song of mine, in three quarter time,
Wishes you and yours the same thing, too.

My dad was a huge Karen Carpenter fan, and whenever I do the Christmas lights (dad's big Christmas time job), I listen to this album, and once she starts to sing (this is the first song with vocals on the album) I just break down and cry. It has become a Christmas tradition.

[Buns_of_Fire]

16. ...No one ever cared if I should live or die

Time and time again the chance for love has passed me by
And all I know of love is how to live without it...

(What would you expect from the resident Barry Manilow freak? But back when I played guitar, I had the solo down perfecto. I tell ya, lions would purr, wolves would curl at my feet, and young girls would cry when my magic fingers wove their hypnotic spell. Just please don't play the BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA close to you..... BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA close to you..... song... please... please...)

[blondeatlast]

26. She really nails that part--wistful and longing.

[donco6]

51. That's my fav too.

I never get tired of the BWAAAAA part!

[SOteric]

17. "Close to You"

[Laughing Mirror]

18. It's a dirty old shame

All You Get From Love Is An Old Love Song

[Jim Sagle]

19. I didn't vote...I just couldn't decide...so much great music.

[corarose]

21. My 8th grade graduation song was We've only just begun

After we graduated all of us kids went outside and broke our temper paints on the side of the bldg. It was a tradition at our grade school in Chicago and we had one side of the school with a bit of splash artwork on it.

[arwalden]

23. Sing. Sing A Song. Sing Out Loud. Sing Out Strong.

LA la-la LA-la
La-LA LA-la LA-la
La LA la LA-la-la-la!

[peekaloo]

27. Top of The World!

I love the Shonen Knife cover version.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

28. You forget the ultimate campy gay song..top of the world

[arwalden]

29. Everything Is Great About That Song EXCEPT..

... Richard Carpenter's TIRED and UNIMAGINATIVE and HACKNEYED and SELF-CLONED "giddy organ arrangements".

I can spot a Richard Carpenter arrangement a mile away.

I think he held her back. I think her eating disorder was in part a rebellion against her controlling brother. It was something that SHE was in control of. Even though it was self-destructive, she was indeed in control of it.

-- Allen

[RecoveringAsshole]

36. THAT was a GAY song???

Oh fuck oh dear!!!!

[regnaD kciN]

49. Which raises a key question...

...do any straight males like their music?

Personally, I detested their whole squeaky-clean image (a "wholesome" alternative to all that filthy rock music for Nixon's silent majority) and found most of their songs bland, bland, bland.

However, I'd make an exception for Superstar. I couldn't believe that was coming from the same band that recorded Close To You with the Smarmiest Lyrics Of All Time.

And I certainly had no beef with Karen as a representative of the female gender...especially after my first semi-relationship with a girl who looked almost exactly like a 13-year-old version of her (in her early, pre-perm days)...

[arwalden]

30. Gloria Estefan's Voice Reminds Me A Lot Of Karen Carpenter's

Does anyone else see (hear) the similarities?

-- Allen

[regnaD kciN]

50. No [NT]

;-)

[donco6]

31. Close to You - My mom broke my record.

God am I a fag or what.

I used to play this song over and over again on my little portable record player - the single, not the album (couldn't afford it.)

My mom finally took my record away and it got broken. Sigh.

BTW, yes, I am a fag. That wasn't an insult. Honest.

[arwalden]

33. Oh, It's Been YEARS Since I've Thought Of "Close-N-Plays"

Karen is the Judy of the mid-late 70's.

Someone bring me up to speed on pop music... who is the tell-tale coming out diva for young queers in the aughts?

-- Allen

[grasswire]

34. agh

Compare Karen Carpenter with Kelly the American Idol. Agh! How have music teachers and vocal coaches allowed the slide in quality??

Most vocalists that I hear today in pop music do everything they can to avoid clear, pure notes.

[arwalden]

39. Vocal Acrobatics. Vocal Gymnasts. They Warble All Over The Place...

... searching for a single note to light on. They are like houseflies: they never stay one place for more than 2 seconds... never hold a pure note... EVER.

Who started it? Whitney? Mariah? Lauryn Hill?

I wish SOMEONE would end it! It's NOT singing!

-- Allen (Who also thinks that "screamer-crooners" aren't really singing either. Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart... are you listening?)

[mitchum]

37. I noticed that it was Tori Amos in the 90s, but I don't know about the aug

[NightTrain]

35. Touch Me When We're Dancing

It was their last major chart single, in 1981.

[pfitz59]

38. Got that rainy day feeling again.

Karen is resting in the same mausoleum as my dad. Pass her crypt every time I visit. Drop a few petals in passing. So sad........

[BritishHuman]

40. calling occupants...

of interplanetary craft.

[MissMillie]

41. Such a clear, rich tone to her voice

Truly right up there among the best, but of course, just shy of the very best: Patsy Cline.

[Aristus]

42. My parents were big Carpenters fans.

I used to sit by the stereo while the records played, just worshipping that voice! She was amazing. I didn't know she was a gay icon. Beats the hell out of the JudyLizaBarbraBette four-headed monster.

[Turbulence]

44. great alto

[cosmicdot]

47. Bless the beasts and the children

Bless the beasts and the children
For in this world they have no voice
They have no choice

Bless the beasts and the children
For the world can never be
The world they see

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from a storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

Light their way
When the darkness surrounds them
Give them love
Let it shine all around them

Bless the beasts and the children
Give them shelter from a storm
Keep them safe
Keep them warm

The children
The children