Carpenters - Change the record (Lyric)!

[Simon KC1950]

I have been listening to other versions / originals of songs well popularised by the Carpenters recently, and a few lyric alterations jumped out at me. Having listened to the Carpenters versions so long, these differences in the lyrics really pop out.

I thought it would be fun for us to compile these differences.

I'll start off with the obvious example of Superstar (Groupie) whereby the lyric was changed from "sleep with you again" to "be with you again"...

But that's not all! On the original version, Bonnie Bramlett sings "but its just a radio, yeah, and you're not really here". The Carpenters (and Rita Coolidge) flipped that around.

Also note, the original chorus:
"Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby? (I remember you told me). You said you'd be coming back this way again baby (I've been waiting for you baby)."

Speaking on the Carpenters version in 2016 for the UK's "Nations Favourite Carpenters Songs", Bonnie Bramlett said "The first thing I thought when I first heard it was that they changed the words... and it hurt my feelings". She went on to say "and everyone looked at me and said 'are you nuts?! Karen Carpenter, the Carpenters just cut your song'".

What other examples are there in the Carpenters catalogue?

 

[Simon KC1950]

This Masquerade

On the original Leon Russell (and other well known versions, George Benson etc.) the song opens:

"Are we really happy with this lonely game we play? Looking for words to say"

The Carpenters version is expanded (to better effect IMO) to:

"Are we really happy with this lonely game we play? Looking for the right words to say"

 

[JohnFB]

...



Speaking on the Carpenters version in 2016 for the UK's "Nations Favourite Carpenters Songs", Bonnie Bramlett said "The first thing I thought when I first heard it was that they changed the words... and it hurt my feelings". She went on to say "and everyone looked at me and said 'are you nuts?! Karen Carpenter, the Carpenters just cut your song'".

That moment when you realize that the gods of music are smiling on you...

 

[Nemily]

On the MIA track Somebody's Been Lyin' the title was changed from the original Somebody's Been Lying (Bacharach/Carole Bayer Sager).

Both the Lyricist Carole Bayer Sager and Karen Carpenter perform this song in a piano/soft dynamic. Karen’s interpretation on this track is so elegantly restrained and unfeigned. And on the arrangement, Richard knocks it out of the park compared to the original arrangement.

Carole Bayer Sager’s coda:

It seems so funny letting go of what we had
And I'm much too afraid
And I'm much too alone
Was I just too much in love?

Karen’s coda:

It seems so funny letting go of yesterday
Guess we're much too afraid
And we're much too alone
Were we just too much in love?

 

[newvillefan]

Don't even get me started on 'Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again' . The lyric on the Pomeranz demo that found its way to Richard and Karen is a bit of a mess, grammatically speaking.

Second verse comparison below:

Carpenters

When did it leave me
How did I come to misuse
Such a beautiful burnin' (< ?!)
But baby believe me
I've done everything I can do
But somehow it's not returnin'
I've been up down tryin' to get the feeling again
Like a bloodhound searching for a long lost friend
Could you help me rediscover
The way to re-be (< ?!) his lover once again

Barry Manilow

Where did it run to?
I thought I'd done all that I could
Just to keep the love light burnin'
But whatever I've done
I guess I just haven't done it too good
'Cause all that's left is yearning
I've been up down tryin' to get the feeling again
All around tryin' to get the feeling again
The one that made me shiver
Made my knees start to quiver every time she walked in

 

[Bartog739]

Simon KC1950 posted this in his David Pomerantz interview thread:

Q: Moving on now to “Tryin To Get The Feeling Again”, when did you first write the song? And what was the meaning behind it?

A: Well, I first wrote it in 1974. And the assignment from my Publisher, Warner Bros. Music was to write a song for the Carpenters. I was living in San Francisco at the time and I sat down at my upright piano and worked at creating something that Karen could wrap her beautiful sound around. The subject matter had to do with my rocky first marriage. Even though it was an “assignment”, as a writer you still have to look inside for something that’s true, so I looked at this situation with my wife and the sadness we both felt and decided to pour my emotions into this. So, I submitted my piano/voice demo to them and waited but never heard anything back. Oh well, I thought, I guess they didn’t like it. So, I took the opportunity to re-write some of the lyrics in the beginning and middle of the song that I thought could be better and demo’d a second version. Bette Midler heard it and shared it with Barry Manilow who was her Producer at the time. I had just gotten signed to Arista Records myself and Clive Davis, the President of the company, agreed that it could be a hit for Barry. I was thrilled about this, but I was still bothered by those damn opening and middle lines. So I wrote yet a third version and contacted Barry before his vocal session and I told him I’d improved the lyric. He said “no, no, no it’s great, leave it alone, you’ve gone past it. Don’t be crazy”. He recorded it and had a hit but despite that, I kept working on those infernal lyrics and recorded yet a “THIRD version” on my own album. So, all three recordings have spots with different lyrics.

 

[Bartog739]

You started this thread too I see so I guess it's not news, just trying to give credit where it's due!

 

[Bartog739]

Newvillefan, didn't mean to get you started, you posted while I was typing!

 

[Harry]

"Can't Smile Without You" has two different sets of opening lyrics by Carpenters.

 

[Jack A.]

Ticket to Ride:

Original: "She oughta think twice, she oughta do right by me."

Carpenters: "He oughta do right, he oughta do right by me."

Why exactly was this changed? Did they not want to say "think twice" for some reason?

 

[Harry]

^^ I don't believe there's any deep, dark conspiracy or a great effort to suppress lyrics. Sometimes song interpreters just go with what feels right.

 

[Simon KC1950]

Don't even get me started on 'Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again' . The lyric on the Pomeranz demo that found its way to Richard and Karen is a bit of a mess, grammatically speaking.

Second verse comparison below:

Carpenters

When did it leave me
How did I come to misuse
Such a beautiful burnin' (< ?!)
But baby believe me
I've done everything I can do
But somehow it's not returnin'
I've been up down tryin' to get the feeling again
Like a bloodhound searching for a long lost friend
Could you help me rediscover
The way to re-be (< ?!) his lover once again

Barry Manilow

Where did it run to?
I thought I'd done all that I could
Just to keep the love light burnin'
But whatever I've done
I guess I just haven't done it too good
'Cause all that's left is yearning
I've been up down tryin' to get the feeling again
All around tryin' to get the feeling again
The one that made me shiver
Made my knees start to quiver every time she walked in

Echoing what Harry said, "Can't Smile Without You" was recorded twice by the Carpenters, so lets compare the second version with Barry's version - there's a pattern here

Carpenters

You know I can't smile without you
I can't smile without you
I can't laugh, and I can't sleep
I don't even to talk to people I meet
And I feel sad when you're sad
I feel glad when you're glad
And you must know what I'm going though
I just can't smile, without you

Barry Manilow

You know I can't smile without you
I can't smile without you
I can't laugh and I can't sing
I'm finding it hard to do anything
You see, I feel sad when you're sad
I feel glad when you're glad
If you only knew what I'm going through
I just can't smile without you

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

What about Tumtimes changed to Sometimes, would that fit here?

 

[JohnFB]

Ticket to Ride:

Original: "She oughta think twice, she oughta do right by me."

Carpenters: "He oughta do right, he oughta do right by me."

Why exactly was this changed? Did they not want to say "think twice" for some reason?

Maybe because "think twice" means to "do right" in this context, so they went directly to it...and a phrase repeated 2 times in a row is more effective than two different phrases, one of which implies the other...

Then again, maybe it was unintentional - she just got confused and mis-remembered the lyrics...

 

[Bartog739]

I think they were both too perfectionist about things to mis-remember the lyric, especially when Ticket To Ride got a completely new recording - I think when they re-released Offering as Ticket

 

[Bartog739]

^^ I don't believe there's any deep, dark conspiracy or a great effort to suppress lyrics. Sometimes song interpreters just go with what feels right.

I think Harry is wrong about this, there is always a deep, dark conspiracy - and it is our solemn responsibility to find it! It's up to us!

 

[Jack A.]

I think Harry is wrong about this, there is always a deep, dark conspiracy - and it is our solemn responsibility to find it!

As we often do as Carpenters “superfans” - spend a really long time going on about the most minute details and overthinking, in-depth, about things that outsiders hardly notice…

…and that’s why I love it here - cause it’s fun to do just that.

 

[byline]

This doesn't have to do with a lyric change, but since we're talking about grammar peeves, there's one that has always bugged me:

I know I need to be in love
I know I've wasted too much time
I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world
And fool enough to think that's what I'll find

"And I'm fool enough to think that's what I'll find." There, I got that out of my system.

 

[Bartog739]

This reminds me of the Chris May John Bettis interview, which was fantastic, but Bettis criticizes himself with regards to Goodbye to Love, "No one can predict the wheel of fortune as it falls." He says, "a wheel doesn't fall."

I never, ever, ever noticed that - in decades, just as I never noticed the above. Now it's going to distract me. So my argument is that fool enough wheels do in fact fall, and I don't care what anybody including Bettis says. The songs are part one and part two after all.

 

[newvillefan]

I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world
And fool enough to think that's what I'll find

"And I'm fool enough to think that's what I'll find." There, I got that out of my system.

Always bugged me this one!

 

[Harry]

And fool enough

I don't find that one strange at all. I'm pretty sure that I've heard that word construction growing up.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

This doesn't have to do with a lyric change, but since we're talking about grammar peeves, there's one that has always bugged me:

I know I need to be in love
I know I've wasted too much time
I know I ask perfection of a quite imperfect world
And fool enough to think that's what I'll find

"And I'm fool enough to think that's what I'll find." There, I got that out of my system.

I've always noticed it and it's always very slightly bothered me too. It's grammatically incorrect. However, with "I'm", it just doesn't "meter" as well. That's likely why it was left out.

Ed

 

[JohnFB]

I've always noticed it and it's always very slightly bothered me too. It's grammatically incorrect. However, with "I'm", it just doesn't "meter" as well. That's likely why it was left out.

Ed

Slightly, yes. Ever since I first heard it. No, it doesn't meter quite as well, but it does meter....

I always thought it would be cool if the 4th line started with "I know..." like the 1st 3, but can't figure out how to do that and keep the thought and keep it balanced...

 

[JohnFB]

How's this:
...
I know I ask perfection of a quite inperfect world.
I know it's foolish to expect to find.

Or:

I know I'm a fool to expect to find.

Each with 10 syllables like the original...

 

[Mike Blakesley]

I know I ask perfection of a quite inperfect world.
I know it's foolish to expect to find.

Or:

I know I'm a fool to expect to find.

Uh, how do I say this kindly? I guess there's no way....those are terrible! The number of syllables in the words is not the most important part of a lyric. Singers can stretch syllables out to cover more than one "beat," or they can contract words like "heav'n" into fewer syllables to make them fit.

I've always noticed it and it's always very slightly bothered me too. It's grammatically incorrect. However, with "I'm", it just doesn't "meter" as well. That's likely why it was left out.

They could have just left out the "And" at the front of that line. "I'm fool enough to think that's what I'll find." Then it would have the right number of syllables and make sense lyrically. But, it wouldn't flow as well with the line ahead of it.