“Merry Christmas Darling” is a Christmas song by the Carpenters (music by Richard Carpenter, lyrics by Frank Pooler), and originally recorded in 1970. It was first available on a 7-inch single that year (A&M Records 1236), and was later re-issued in 1974 (A&M 1648) and again in 1977 (A&M 1991). The single went to number one on Billboard’s Christmas singles chart in 1970 (and did so again in 1971 and 1973) and peaked at number 41 in Cashbox. In 1978, the Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new version of “Merry Christmas Darling”. The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between the 1970 and 1978 versions is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter, which was done at her request. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister’s very best.
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(Source: Wikipedia)
— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —
SEVENTEEN WEEKS on the singles chart, “(They Long To Be) Close To You” by The Carpenters peaked at #1 this month (4 weeks) on the Billboard Hot 100. Week ending July 19 through August 21, 1970. (Source: Billboard)
For our previous Billboard Number One U.S.A. Hits goHERE
“Merry Christmas Darling” is a Christmas song by the Carpenters (music by Richard Carpenter, lyrics by Frank Pooler), and originally recorded in 1970. It was first available on a 7-inch single that year (A&M Records 1236), and was later re-issued in 1974 (A&M 1648) and again in 1977 (A&M 1991). The single went to number one on Billboard’s Christmas singles chart in 1970 (and did so again in 1971 and 1973) and peaked at number 41 in Cashbox. In 1978, the Carpenters issued their Christmas Portrait album, which contained a new version of “Merry Christmas Darling”. The original 1970 mix continued to be used for all single releases, however. The major difference between the 1970 and 1978 versions is a newly recorded vocal by Karen Carpenter on the latter, which was done at her request. Richard Carpenter himself calls the original recording one of his sister’s very best.
(Source: WiKipedia)
— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —
— Christmas Memories From the Soundtrack of Your Life —
“THE CARPENTERS CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT“
Guests: Gene Kelly, Kristy and Jimmy McNichol, Georgia Engel and comedian Peter Pitt. Aired 12-19-78 Detroit ABC WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), 9:00 p.m., 41 years ago, today.
CARPENTERS A CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT * ABC-TV * SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1978
’70s POP MUSIC ICON FOUND UNRESPONSIVE; DIES OF CARDIAC ARREST
Karen Carpenter(click image 2x for largest view)
LOS ANGELES — Karen Carpenter, one-half of the Carpenters, the top-pop duo of the 1970s, died Friday (February 4) of full cardiac arrest at Downey Community Hospital near here. Carpenter, 32, was taken to the hospital at 9:23 a.m. by her parents and brother Richard, and was pronounced dead at 9:51 a.m.
An autopsy is pending though it is known that Carpenter suffered from anorexia nervosa for which she was first hospitalized several years ago.
The Carpenters signed with A&M in 1969 and went on to cut 11 albums for the label, of which eight went gold. They also reached Billboard’s Hot 100 with all 28 of their singles releases, of which 10 went gold.
(Information and news source: Billboard; February 12, 1983).
LOS ANGELES — The wondrous instrument that was Karen Carpenter’s voice was perhaps described by writer Tom Nolan in a 1974 Rolling Stone cover story: “Hers is a voice of fascinating contrasts, combining youth with wisdom; chilling perfection with much warmth.”
The Carpenters
It was that warmth and heart and emotion that set Carpenter apart. There was a conversational intimacy and matter-of-fact naturalness in her style that made her thoroughly unpretentious and appealing.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times after Carpenter’s death of heart failure Friday, February 4, A&M co-founder Herb Alpert remembered the first time he heard a demo tape of Karen’s voice in early 1969: (her voice) “It just jumped right out at me,” he said, “it felt like she was in the room with me.”
In a mid-70s interview, Alpert also touched on this vocal intimacy. “Some people think they’re (the Carpenters) corny,” he acknowledged at the time, “but I’ve always thought of Karen as the type of singer who would sit on your lap and sing in your ear.”
That ease and subtlety in Karen’s style caused her to be dismissed by critics as tame and bland. But if there was a surface serenity to Karen’s vocals, there were also layers of of often contrasting emotions just below. Olivia Newton-John, one of the few artists to escape “the easy-listening pigeonhole and gain broader pop acceptance, told the L.A. Times after Carpenter’s death: “I think she was underestimated by many people. Her recordings were beautiful. She had a lovely voice and such wonderful control and feeling.”
Newton-John’s tribute were one of many in the wake of the singer’s death at age 32. Burt Bacharach, who wrote the Carpenter’s breakthrough hit, “Close To You,” noted: “When we first appeared together in concert, all that I could think of was that she had a heaven-sent voice, like no one before her and no one since.”
And John Bettis, lyricist of such Carpenters hits as “Yesterday Once More” and “Only Yesterday,” said simply: “My words have lost the best voice they ever had.”
In her last major print interview in 1981, with this writer, Carpenter downplayed dissection of her vocal technique. “I’m not that complicated,” she demurred. “I’m just a real easy-going singer. I don’t push. Even if I screamed I couldn’t sing as loud as some people. I just open my mouth and thank God it’s there.”
It’s sad that image considerations came to overshadow Carpenter’s vocal talent, and that she didn’t live to take her rightful place alongside Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick as one of the preeminent female vocalist of her generation. But the joy is that Carpenter’s expressive, beguiling is there to behold on 11 A&M albums.
The intimacy and personal connection in Carpenter’s voice render all the more poignant these closing lines (as written by Leon Russell) from the duo’s fourth album:
“And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
You were alone and I was singing this song
For you.”
PAUL GREIN
(Information and news source: Billboard; February 19, 1983).
