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Post by Rick Henry on Oct 26, 2006 1:26:05 GMT -5
 Now that all has been said and done in our voting of Top 15 favorite Carpenters song let's discuss the Top Ten of the cumulative votes.
This is what ended up in the Top Ten:11. Desperado (Horizon)
10. Goodbye To Love (A Song For You)
9. Crescent Noon (Close To You)
8. Close To You (Close To You)
7. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again (Interpretations: A 25th Aniversary Celebration - an outtake from the album "Horizon")
6. Superstar (Carpenters)
5. Road Ode (A Song For You)
4. We've Only Just Begun (Close To You)
3. This Masquerade (Now And Then)
2. Rainy Days And Mondays (Carpenters)
1. Only Yesterday (Horizon)One observation I've made is that Carpenters fans for the most part prefer the dark soulful songs such as "This Masquerade", "Rainy Days And Mondays", "Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again" and "Desperado". Seven of the songs in the Top Ten are dark tunes. |
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Post by wisejester7 on Oct 26, 2006 8:36:39 GMT -5
It is interesting that we chose 7 of 10 darker songs to be our tops. Interesting, but not surprising. Karen's voice had a built in longing to it. She often carried the emotion of unfulfilled desire in her voice...whether the desire was to go home, as in Road Ode, or to be loved, as in Goodbye To Love. If you study each of our songs you can see the desire built into the lyrics...so it was a 'natural' song for Karen to sing.
These songs were particularly fit for Karen's gorgeous, warm lower register.
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Post by enigma on Oct 26, 2006 11:54:44 GMT -5
The majority of the soings being dark is no surprise Karen was the master at conveying strong emotions in her songs and because she often had dark times in her life alot of pain and personal issues she would naturally excell with song that refelected how she felt seemingly alot of the time in her life. It seems easier for an artist to come off as honest if they are truely feeling what they sing few if any can fake that type of thing. Because I feel Karen really related to dark songs I as the listener am sold by her vocal performance its not a put on or and act to entertain me its a genuine feeling that Karen communicates through her vocals under Richards direction. Richard can tell Karen everything but he can't feel or convey a feeling that comes from Karen whether its within Karen herself or from somewhere else as many close to her have said. The short of this is in order to spin pain or dark songs into gold and do it so well an artist must experiance and feel the darkeness and pain. I think many people I feel recognise this ability Karen has and relate best to these type of songs I know I do. Also it does not hurt that these are Karens finest vocal performances and Richards finest arrangements. Just my thoughys.   |
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Post by Rick Henry on Oct 26, 2006 22:23:31 GMT -5
You may have noticed I changed the title of this thread to "Let's Discuss The Top Eleven". I did that as I somehow forgot to list "Superstar" - which came in at #6.
I was going to keep it Top Ten and eliminate "Desperado" - but since the song was already mentioned and listed I just kept the it there and went with the Top Eleven - that gives us just one more song to discuss.
Speaking of "Desperado" - this song is just absolutely chilling and as near to perfect as a dark power ballad can get. Karen was truly in tip top vocal form at this point in time - although in reality Karen was in tip top vocal form from the very beginning to her very last days - she was a true singer. |
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Post by Rick Henry on Oct 26, 2006 22:42:59 GMT -5
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Post by smoothie2 on Oct 26, 2006 23:46:34 GMT -5
Everything well stated by all, these are truly the best of the best it seems to me as well as to many others.
>>>><<<< Karen's voice is very unique by itself, but the fact that she did pour out her true heart and feelings into every song,
is one big reason these songs are so superb.
>>>>>><<<< When I think of "Rainy Days..." I can't help but think of how very well that song (AND TRULY ESPECIALLY AT THAT PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME WHEN THE MOVIE CAME OUT) just really so very sadly seemed to be a summation of her life...not that she was such a "gloomy Gus" with every event in
her life,.....because truly we know she was outgoing, people pleaser, devoted to her work, and a wonderful friend...and much more..... 
>>>>>><<<<<BUT it truly fits, to me, with the way "The Karen
Carp. Story" starts out.....
it's chilling especially the lonely sound of that harmonica...
I can easily see why Only Yesterday would come in as first,
.......just looking at this list ....is almost
like looking through a dark tunnel and then there's a light...
At one point...Desperado...lost..and hard luck
and Cresc. Noon...has the feel of the earth crumbling
with each season.......
then On. Yest. is upbeat and hopeful...
**** JUST ANOTHER thought about Cres. Noon
**** I was listening to Cr. Noon, as I was getting ready to go somewhere, and I was a little further back away from the
stereo...just enough so that the words were a bit muffled,
but I could hear the background vocals and music..
Hearing what I did, I realized that throughout the song are
the vocals/music/...had kind of an "ebb and flow"
to it...just about after each line of words, were those vocals
it also reminded me of a lonesome sound of a train in the distance
>>>>>><<<<<<<>>>>>>><<<<<<>>>>
just some of my freshly scrambled RamBLinGS!!!  
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Post by ps11932 on Oct 28, 2006 15:34:29 GMT -5
This is a great observation about the ebb and flow of the words and music in"Crecent Noon"- the arrangement of the (at times) haunting instrumentation and the wide range and depth of the vocals makes for a complex and thought provoking piece- I am pleased to see it in the top 10. I recall some months ago we had a long discussion here of some of the lyrics, including a debate of whether there was reference to "mountain bird" or "mountain birth" (a veil of tears to earth- morning breaks and no one sees a quiet......) I always felt that it ws bird, but listening today I thought it clearly sounded like birth. But still- who knows for sure? I don't want to stir up a hornets nest again.
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Post by Rick Henry on Oct 28, 2006 20:32:51 GMT -5
This is a great observation about the ebb and flow of the words and music in"Crecent Noon"- the arrangement of the (at times) haunting instrumentation and the wide range and depth of the vocals makes for a complex and thought provoking piece- I am pleased to see it in the top 10. I recall some months ago we had a long discussion here of some of the lyrics, including a debate of whether there was reference to "mountain bird" or "mountain birth" (a veil of tears to earth- morning breaks and no one sees a quiet......) I always felt that it ws bird, but listening today I thought it clearly sounded like birth. But still- who knows for sure? I don't want to stir up a hornets nest again. Hi O.E. While we had this discussion going on someone posed the question to Becky in turn she sent it to Richard and he answered that the actual lyric in "Crescent Noon" is "Mountain Bird".
I've been thinking of bringing that conversation back up as I really wanted to dissect every word in it and see what further conversations and debates we have on the song. |
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Post by Carps1000 on Nov 1, 2006 15:52:12 GMT -5
Only Yesterday had 2 b No1 in the chart as has already been said..its a dark sad song yearning of hope & happiness & is rewarded as the beat goes from the slow to upbeat. It is a classic The Cs at their best & Karen wrenches the heart outta the listner with her interpetation of the song. No wonder it was 4 & 7 in the USA & UK charts. As for Cres Noon. I always thought it was Mountain Birth..not Bird & I must say I do prefer the original assumption...Quiet Mountain Birth sounds more dramatic than bird which in my view dont have the same impact on a fab song..( I know!! me Grammar). Ken carps1000
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