What did the real Mr. Guder think...?

[Mariah Andrews]

One of my all-time favorite Carpenters tunes is Mr. Guder, from the "Close To You" album. I loved its melody and arrangement. Considering that it was an attack song, written about Richard Carpenter's Disney boss, I stop and wonder what would have the real life Mr. Guder thought of the song? Did he laugh at it or was he p-ssed off?

Out of experimentation, I was messing around and attempted a fast punk-rock version of this same song and I thought it sounded good.

I did read something in the Gold booklet that Richard did have some regrets writing it.

Just a thought, because I admit that in my recent book, I did write a few characters named after teachers I hated back in grade and high school. But thank Spirit that they didn't remember me as Mariah Andrews back then!

[beaner]

Hi Mariah,

I've often wondered about the real Mr. Guder also.

Have you been to my Carpenterville site on picturetrail? I've posted it here a couple times. Well, anyway, in my layout I have a really neat and large area that I call "Mr. Guder's estate" because I have a heliport there as well as a memorial garden, pool, many cars.......kind of ironic cause Mr. Guder is about someone they didn't like much and I ended up making him the rich person....hehehe.

Anyway, maybe someone knows more about him.

[Rick Henry]

@@

Of late I have wondered about Mr. Guder also. I thought to myself - this was pretty gutsy of Richard to include this song on an album that was destined to receive such major acclaim as it did. He had to know Vic Guder would have heard of the song at one point or another.

[smoothie2]

^^ Interesting topic Mariah...Looks like most of us have wondered the same thing. I also wonder why he fired the C's.
Guess he wanted something a certain way and it didn't go like he wanted. It's true the C's were destined to be much more than Mr. Guder would have ever dreamed.
and you are one clever individual Mariah..(one clever gal..?)
about how you can write about those teachers cuz they don't know you're Mariah now...I wish you success with the book

[Stephen]

*) I attended at Carpenters meet a few years ago in San Antonio Texas and had the privilege to talk with lots of interesting Carpenter fans. I remember talking to two girls that had looked up the name "Vic Guder" in several phone books around Downy, CA. They called around until they found Vic Guder's widow. Vic's wife remembered that Richard Carpenter had worked for her late husband, Vic, at Coke corner playing the piano, but had no clue about the "Mr. Guder" song. Evidently, Vic and the wife were not Carpenter fans and had never listened to any of their albums. They said Mrs. Guder was pleasantly surprised to hear about a song that had been written and named after her late husband. I'm not sure if she is still living, this has been about 8 years ago.
My question: Has anyone else been to a Carpenters' meet or convention? Would like to hear about your experiences.

[Rick Henry]

:(That's pretty interesting Stephen that the Guder's never knew about the song. You'd think that as popular as K&R have been that somehow somewhere somebody may have told them about the song.

[Mariah Andrews]

Due to some setbacks, my book won't be available until after the new year. The book was available a few weeks ago, but due to some legal threats from one person who I had named a character after, the book is now delayed until sometime in January. My boss and I came to a compromise about one issue, but suddenly, another whammy hurled at me, a former roommate who I had bitterness for, I created a character based on him and he has threatened to sue me if I don't change it.

I wonder if Mr. Guder could have sued Richard and John for writing that song?

Well, if Guder has never known about the song, then I wonder if Richard Carpenter would ever learn of my book's existance. No, I refuse to remove the Carpenters' mentions in this book, as Richie Dawson, the lead character, glorifies Karen and loves her music, but there is NO deffamation of the duo in it.