(Want You) Back In My Life Again

[Rick Henry]

I really like the song "(Want You) Back In My Life Again". It's definitely not in the same league as "Rainy Days And Mondays" or "Only Yesterday", but it's a really good song. I actually play this one quite a bit these days. It's really does have a great rhythm to it. I think this song could have possibly been inspired by Karen's solo work. Although the lyric is much more subdued than what Karen recorded on her solo album. The song doesn't quite have the edge as say "My Body Keeps Changing My Mind" has but definitely both have an 80's dance pop feel. I feel had Karen lived she certainly (Karen solo and Karen with Carpenters) would have explored the dance pop genre. I really feel Karen had a yearning to do something more upbeat and uplifting. I think Karen really wanted to reinvent her persona, just as Olivia Newton-John had done in 1978. Though, Karen would not have been as overt about it as Olivia was - after all Karen has always naturally had this sense of being a clean cut classy young lady. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, back to the song at hand. On it's own (not comparing it to any other songs) I just love "(Want you) Back In My Life Again", I love the sunshiny feeling I get from it. I really like the lyric also. The song was written by Chris Christian, who is a popular Christian music artist. He's recorded several Christian albums dating as far back as 1978 (maybe even earlier). Chris Christian is a guitarist so electric and acoustic guitars are featured prominently on all his albums. He's a pretty good singer. Several of his Christian pop-rock gems would have fit well with Carpenters fans. He has that great easy going sound with wonderful harmonies.

So, what do the rest of you think of this song? Or any of the other thoughts brought up in the course of this post.

[enigma]

I Love The Song Its sounds alot like Karens friend ONJs later work and I also feel that it was Richards way of adding some of the solo albums style of music to a Carpenters album but also it appears to be a way of keeping the Carpenters music in tune with what was happening in the 1980's. Richard did mention an attempt to start something new or attempt to create a different Carpenter sound as the 1980s decade rolled in and this is an attempt to try something different. To me its catchy upbeat and different than any other Carpenters songs and at first I had to get used to the new direction on this song but I ended up loving it. True its not Rainy Days but I like it all the same.

[cam83]

Chris Christian's wife, was also a victim of Anorexia Nervosa but managed to beat it. She said she saw Karen just before she passed at Big Bob's Restaurant...in 1983. Chris also knew and was friends with Boone girls...Cherry Boone O'Neill...also another famous anorexia survivor...

Cam

[Carps1000]

Me never liked the song & fraid its 1 of the rare Cs songs I dont rate much. Ken

[YesterdayOnceMore]

;D ;D

I HAVE always loved the tune - I like the way the tingling sounds are used especially at the end as a segue to "When You've Got What It Takes." It's a fun number, and to me it sounds as if the duo had fun doing it. No, it's not edgy in terms of the lyrics, but it is just a catchy little number that has a nice, feel-good lyric to it. I like the way the chorus ends with "here with, here with me,eee,eeee------aaaa oooo. I like the harmony parts there. I just like the fact that Karen is singing about how "(she's) lived long enough with (your) memory and I know that (I) want cha, know that (I) need ya....back in my life" and she's sure of herself that this is going to be so.

Listening to it with a new ear, now knowing that it was written by a Christian artist, makes me understand how, for all these years, I've always thought it was a perfect contemporary Christian type of song, and have sung it many times as such. It works very well. (I sing "Now" in that manner, too....because if you think about it, and substitute "God" for a "love", and think of the song in that vein.....then it works as a contemporary Christian sort of tune....both of them do. In "Now" one must tweak the lyrics a bit more, but it truly does work well.

So, thanks for that bit of info, Rick. I guess my ears have been better to me all these years than I even knew.

(Want You) Back In My Life is a great little ditty - I always enjoy a listen to this one.

Tim

;D ;D