The Affect

[Rick Henry]

Different things affect different people in different ways.

How does Karen's voice affect you?

[ps11932]

For me, Karen's voice (which is, for all the other many strengths of the group the main element of attraction and distinction in The Carpenters music) affects me by giving expression and accurate reflection of various emotions; be it the weary peace of "Eventide", the joy of "You", the frantic search of "Trying To Get The Feeling", the lonliness of "I Need To Be In Love", the laid back tranquility of "Sailing On The Tide"- almost every song has a mood and Karen's voice makes it relevant.

[wisejester7]

May 31, 2009 12:43:16 GMT -5 ps11932 said:

Karen's voice ... almost every song has a mood and Karen's voice makes it relevant.

This pretty much sums it up for me. Karen had a way of niggling under any sort of line or radar and managed to hit the emotional nail on the head every time.

[Rick Henry]

To me Karen's voice signifies a range of emotions... not so much my own emotions but the emotions of this human being known as Karen Carpenter. She was so very good at expressing herself and her feelings as she sings. When I hear her sing I have always felt like I am listening to a friend.

Her emotions covered all areas so well... as O.E. said in his post... from joy (which one can hear so well as she so ticklishly sings "Guess I Just Lost My Head") to sadness and loneliness (which she conveys with complete power and strength in "Desperado").

Overall, Karen's voice affects me in a way of awe and inspiration in that one person can so effectively convey such a broad range of emotions and convey many of the same emotions in different ways and multi-levels.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

Some most interesting comments in this thread.

As for me - I, too, have seemingly always "felt" the emotions that Karen is displaying quite clearly as she interprets the lyric, combining it with a beautiful melody, and the story unfolds beautifully, one note at a time. It's the combination of that unmatchable voice, the strong emotions that she portrayed so well, and the beautiful melody lines that cause me to get chills during some of her more intimate readings of select tunes.

As KC Musician knows (cause he was my college roommate), during those "difficult" times in ones life that can be encountered at that (or, frankly, any) age - there would be many nights that I would fall asleep on the floor of our living room, with my head literally between the two speakers, which were moved up very close to my head - so I could hear the affect and feel the emotions, but not disturb the neighbors. I was so broke that headphones weren't an option for me at that point.

That voice and the wonderful person behind that voice got me through many a trying time. I could always count on Karen to see me through both the good times and the bad. She never faltered.

I can get that chill factor just "thinking" about her voice.

[enigma]

Karens voice affects me on an almost outworldly level. its a connection that few other artists give me its unique its different its moody its dark its beautiful and near flawless and most of all its natural depending on the song any numbers of these emotions can be conveyed to me from listening to Karen its a connection that i really cannot fully explain but only Karen can affect me in this way and no matter how much i listen to Karen the way her voice affects me never seems to change. most of all it seems to have a calming soothing affect on me overall. that is one of the reasons i love Karens voice.