Only Yesterday: The Carpenters' Story Page #3

---

"Yes, it does."

# We start our walking and learn to run... #

I mean, "Oh, I can't wait to get this out. This is a hit."

# We've only just begun

# To live

# White lace and promises

# A kiss for luck and we're on our way

# We've only begun

# Before the rising sun we fly... #

That was the sky-diving moment for Richard.

That was like, when he got... When he caught that, it was like, "Great!"

Because that was a gift from the gods to have We've Only Just Begun laying there.

# And yes we've just begun... #

Well, as soon as Close To You was on its way down,

Begun... And that became the wedding song for a generation.

As the records continued to sell, A&M struggled with marketing the wholesome brother-and-sister duo.

Richard always said he liked the phrase, "Goody-four-shoes!"

Not goody-two-shoes,

even though it was indeed making fun of how squeaky clean their image was.

They did wear sweaters, they did have schoolboy haircuts,

they did sing nice songs.

And she did do needle-point, you know!

It ain't very rock'n'roll.

And A&M records, not to their credit, played that up even more with the artwork and the album covers.

They just didn't know how to package us.

I really put up a fuss over the Close To You one,

because it was a rush-job.

And management said nothing about it and to this day,

that thing is still in print, thankfully,

because it's a good album but it is one crappy cover.

Their image on the album covers was not the only problem.

They realised Karen's own presentation needed some work.

# Love, look at the two of us

# Strangers in many ways... #

Richard and I tried desperately to get her away from the drums.

And that's something, early on, we had to work on,

because she wanted to drum and sing.

People did not want to see her behind the drums.

She was only 5'4", she had this huge drum kit

and it was tough to see her.

# Aaaaahhhhhh... #

She was very, very happy being Richard's sister

and not being the star of the group.

She had no desire to stand up and be out in front.

Very shy

and she found her ground, literally, behind that drum set.

And when they finally said,

"You're gonna go out front and hold that microphone,"

I think she was terrified the first few times.

# ..I knew you well

# For only time... #

So I made a deal with her.

For the ballads, she would stand up.

# ..And love may grow for all we know... #

You sat at the drums all the time, now you're standing more.

Do you miss sitting back?

Yeah, they finally got the message across to me

that they wanted me to get up.

I was the only girl in the group so they were looking at me.

I've never felt it was a coincidence that Karen played the drums.

So when she was forced out from behind the drums to the front,

she didn't enjoy it at all.

But it was a must.

She couldn't... she HAD to be out front,

that's where people wanted to see her.

This was the voice.

# Talking to myself and feeling old

# Sometimes I'd like to quit... #

There's so many singers that you turn to one another and say,

"Was that so and so?"

Karen Carpenter sang two notes and you knew exactly who it was.

# ..Rainy days and Mondays always get me down... #

She'd be rehearsing a song in the car

and you could barely hear her voice.

# ..What I've got they used to call the blues... #

But then you'd do into the studio

and you'd hear her sing it on a microphone

and the microphone loved Karen Carpenter's voice.

It was like velvet.

It was like something I've never, ever heard before.

# ..Rainy days and Mondays always get me down... #

She had an incredible tone in her voice,

it was rich and full and it was barely a whisper

but it sounded really strong.

# Long ago

# And oh so far away... #

You cannot touch that emotion today. There's no way. There's nobody.

There's nobody out there that's touching that.

Patsy Cline was the closest. To me, both of them shared the same emotion.

And it was struggle and depression.

# Your guitar... #

You saw this fabulous girl out front singing the songs with such emotion,

but, again, through her vulnerability,

she really felt those lyrics.

And so to watch The Carpenters, that's what you were getting -

the most incredible interpretation of wonderful songs.

# Don't you remember you told me you loved me, baby

# You said you'd be coming back this way again, baby

# Baby, baby, baby, baby Oh, baby

# I love you

# I really do

I can't sit here after all these years

and tell you she actually lost herself in it.

Karen could walk in and sing a lot of these things just in one take.

I feel that there was something bigger going on,

that we probably will never know what was going on

because that voice had too much soul, too much heartbreak, too much pain in it

to be just an insecurity.

# Loneliness

# Is such a sad affair... #

Karen and I were at a restaurant in Los Angeles

and Karen and I were walking out having had dinner

and John Lennon was walking in

and as he drew up to us, he stopped

and just looked at her and said, "I wanna tell you, love, you've got a fabulous voice,"

and just walked on.

She was absolutely incredulous about it.

She couldn't believe it. "He couldn't have meant it. Did he mean it?"

I said, "Well, of course he meant it.

"This was Lennon. Why on Earth would he stop to tell you you've got a great voice if he didn't think so?"

But she had a problem believing it, she really did.

We would ask her to come and sing at a charity event a cappella.

She was never comfortable doing that

and that's because she wanted Richard's arrangements and Richard there

and I feel like I don't think she knew just what a raw, beautiful, melodic voice she possessed.

She wanted to have it surrounded by the expertise of her brother.

For all the beauty of Karen's voice,

ultimately Richard was the key behind The Carpenters' unique sound.

# After long enough of being alone... #

There are many songs that they did that I thought were quite amazing.

I think it comes down to the way they were arranged.

Richard had a lot to do with the way the orchestration worked.

# The pain I was going through... #

Richard was and is an astonishing instrumentalist.

A great tune-writer.

Richard had this magic gift of not only WRITING great songs,

but knowing where to find great songs and how to pick them out.

# Maybe you can't see how much you mean to me... #

Richard kind of ranks right up there with Brian Wilson to me.

He had the same kind of perfectionism

and really did some interesting things with the productions and the arrangements he put together.

# And when I hold you

# baby, baby, feels like maybe things will be all right... #

Are the songs technically... Can I sit down and play them?

Yes, they are easy-breezy.

But could you match it and beat them? Absolutely not.

# Only yesterday when I was sad and I was lonely... #

As the hits kept coming, the demand for new material was high

and Richard asked A&M Records to find his old college friend and music partner,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes