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Post by cam83 on Mar 12, 2005 15:08:12 GMT -5
What a nice intro song by Karen and her lilting voice. There is a nice quality there. Then the chorus comes in...YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE ME...it's a delightful song. This would have been nice to hear in concert.
Cameron
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 12, 2005 16:47:46 GMT -5
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Post by smoothie2 on Mar 13, 2005 0:23:39 GMT -5
;DIndeed! Karen's voice matches perfectly ....since it does have those highs and lows that she does so well with. Her voice is so unique, clear, and the lyrics seem to fit in also with a love found/love lost...kind of song.  |
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Post by enigma on Mar 13, 2005 7:37:31 GMT -5
I agree Karen as usual makes a somewhat difficult song seem so effortless. For me this si one of the most lyrically thought provoking songs the Carpenters have. I love it almost as much for its lyric as I do for Karens singing and Richards arranging.
&^ *%
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 13, 2005 12:35:07 GMT -5
I agree Karen as usual makes a somewhat difficult song seem so effortless. For me this si one of the most lyrically thought provoking songs the Carpenters have. I love it almost as much for its lyric as I do for Karens singing and Richards arranging.   I'm with you all the way on that one Enigma. This is in my mind one of the very strongest message songs by the Carpenters. To me it says stand up, be strong, and let yourself be loved for who you are.  |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Mar 15, 2005 10:22:48 GMT -5
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Post by enigma on Mar 15, 2005 13:37:46 GMT -5
I'm with you all the way on that one Enigma. This is in my mind one of the very strongest message songs by the Carpenters. To me it says stand up, be strong, and let yourself be loved for who you are. My interpretation of this song is a little different I see it as forget about fantasy love, the ideal person to love, real love, loving someone for who they really are flaws and all, is what is the best love, and let a person be who they are do not try to mold them into something you want them to be or control them. Again just a great song on all levels I so love it!! &^ *% |
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Post by Rick Henry on Mar 16, 2005 0:30:23 GMT -5
Hey I like your idea Dave about audience participation. Eveybody yelling out LOVE ME FOR WHAT I AM. Karen's singing about herself here. That she doesn't want to let someone mold her into what they think is ideal. In this song she's taking her stand (intimately as she does so beautifully) and saying "you've got to love me for what I am for simply being me" And then as I think of the song the music goes through my mind. Richard outdid himself with this arrangement. all the way outstanding. |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Mar 16, 2005 9:45:11 GMT -5
Hey I like your idea Dave about audience participation. Eveybody yelling out LOVE ME FOR WHAT I AM. Karen's singing about herself here. That she doesn't want to let someone mold her into what they think is ideal. In this song she's taking her stand (intimately as she does so beautifully) and saying "you've got to love me for what I am for simply being me" And then as I think of the song the music goes through my mind. Richard outdid himself with this arrangement. all the way outstanding. $% You've hit the nail on the head, Rick. Of course, Karen was singing about herself. She'd gone through several "loves" before she recorded this song - and she wanted everyone to know that the most important thing in the world to her was to be loved for who she was, .."for simply being ME - don't love me for what you INTEND or HOPE that I will be.." I think that happened too many times. Take me warts and all, as Dave so aptly put it - for my weaknesses as well as my successes. God knows she had both. She so wanted to be loved, but certainly not for her fame or her status or her money - for "simply being me." A chilling rendering when one stops to think about it.  |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Mar 20, 2005 15:20:55 GMT -5
$% Dave, I just finished re-reading Ray Coleman's The Untold Story. HOW SAD for Karen that every single love interest in her life, especially Terry Ellis, was thwarted by one member of her close knit group or the other. Yes, you're absolutely correct - she loved many men. It was particularly interesting for me to remember, having read this so long ago, and having forgotten it, that Itchy had convinced Karen to call Terry Ellis after her year in New York to let him know she'd gotten help, and that she wanted to see him. He told her "You're too late - I've met someone and we're getting married." Karen, naturally, was devestated. This might have really been the true love of her life. Can we say for certain what the recipe for disaster in her love life was? No, of course not. But one thing sure comes to mind - she knew what she wanted, and she wasn't going to settle for less. It would also be a requirement for requited love that the man in her life met her criteria. Her criteria was rather tough to meet in all forms, but Terry seemed to fit it. He was financially secure - a biggie for Karen. And so it comes back to the lyric of the song "Love me for WHAT I AM, for simply being me..don't love me for what you intend or HOPE that I will be - and if you're only using me to feed your fantasy (this is where I see the "star" image appear and how desperately she did not want someone to love her merely for her fame, but to love her only for her SELF) you're really not in love, so let me go, I must be free.." And in every case, she was set free - even by her husband who "tossed" his wedding ring inside her casket. What a cad! @@ |
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Post by Moe on Mar 21, 2005 1:44:03 GMT -5
As a quiet and shy child, I always related to this song and sang it quite often. I never thought I would find someone who would love me for me, but somehow I did. When I hear these songs today, I still revert back in time to the shy kid who didn't quite fit in. I am always sad that Karen never found it for herself.  |
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Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Mar 21, 2005 12:44:01 GMT -5
Something we have to remember, Tim, is that the sentiment of loving someone for what they are works both ways. It cannot be a one-way street. As we know, Karen went "shopping" with a "specification sheet" of what a prospective love interest must be. That is also a classic recipe for disaster, or worse, not allowing nature to take its course and ending up alone. It happens most often to guys, and is expressed in the "she's out of my league" sentiment. Women usually have a "range" they operate in. I thought that my wife was way out of my league, but here we are 25 years later. Mary Chapin Carpenter is arguably wealthy and famous, yet she has made a home with a construction company foreman. Why would Karen expect Terry to remain "stationary" in time and life? He knew what to expect from a prior encounter, and knew that nothing would change. He moved on. Anyone who had more than two functioning brain cells knew by then that a relationship with Karen was doomed from the get-go. So Tom shows up, when she was on the rebound from having her album shelved, and, because of big money and big egos, "lasts" a whole 14 months before imploding at Harold's birthday party. Karen knew it was all wrong, that sentiment was the genesis for the wedding song. Weddings and funerals have a lot of emotion attached to them. I cannot imagine what inspired Tom to chuck his wedding band as you've described. But I'll wager a good chunk of change that Tom and Richard don't exchange Christmas cards. A "cad"? A cadmium-plated cad, at that! Thinking of my story, I would have been extremely suspicious as to why someone like her was writing me, and would have stopped responding after one or two letters. There are some gulfs that are too wide for bridges to be built across. It's time to go watch "Space Cowboys". $% Sure Dave, couldn't agree with you more in that Karen, herself, had a very stringent list of what she "wanted" or "thought was necessary" and yeah, that works both ways. I think she was just beginning to see the flaw in that plan, but as Terry so aptly put it back to her "You're too late." That's what I meant by sad about them - of course no one should have expected him to wait on her, but when KC realized that she really did have a love of her life there only to discover it was "too late" was truly a sad thing for her. I didn't get to watch Star Wars this weekend, but you've inspired me to get it into the CD player soon! Best, Tim |
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