Leave Yesterday Behind and For All We Know

[Jack A.]

I just listened to the former for the first time, and was shocked at how similar some parts of these two songs are:

1. First of all, the very beginning of both songs are exactly the same. Same oboe note and everything.

2. Then the oboe is double-tracked in the second part of the intro.

3. The drummer just plays a hi-hat rhythm throughout the whole song, with no kick or snare (just a bit of toms on LYB).

4. The oboe riff repeats partway through the song.

5. Both songs include orchestral swells after certain lines.

6. Certain parts of the vocal melodies sound reminiscent of each other to me, as well. I could be the only one who hears that.

7. Richard’s backing vocals only appear twice in both songs - right in the middle, and towards the end.

I wonder if Richard had FAWK in mind when he was arranging LYB. Especially with that first oboe note - it almost seems too similar to be a coincidence.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Agreed. "Leave Yesterday Behind" is basically "For All We Know" sideways. He just repeated the arranging devices he used on one for the other. They're all here.

Ed

 

[JohnFB]

Fred Karlin is another important link between these two beautiful songs - he composed the music for FAWK and the music & lyrics for LYB.

What LYB doesn't have that FAWK does is perhaps bassist Joe Osborn's finest recorded performance - he is all over this song, as a near perfect compliment to Karen's breathtaking vocal - for much of it's length their interplay could easily be considered a duet...

What LYB does have that FAWK doesn't is a logical and balanced lyrical structure, with separate, distinct verses and a chorus. FAWK has one long verse that is partially repeated in the second half of the recording - and no chorus or bridge. As gorgeous as it is, it would have benefited from a full, distinct second verse with a short, contrasting bridge between the verses.

What both have - and by far the most important factor - is Karen's phenomenal voice in its strongest and most compelling state.

 

[Harry]

In the liner notes for AS TIME GOES BY, Richard writes:

"This song was written for a made-for-television movie of the same name. It was composed by Fred Karlin, who wrote the music to 1970's "For All We Know," of which it is reminiscent. Recorded in 1978, the same year as the film, Karen's vocal is a work lead, sung so bassman and drummer could react to the melody and not just read a rhythm chart. The recording was not completed until 1999, when I added the orchestration and backing vocals."

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

I always liked LYB better than FAWK. I’m probably in the minority though. LYB doesn’t get enough credit for Richard finding it and completing it.

 

[Jack A.]

Fred Karlin is another important link between these two beautiful songs - he composed the music for FAWK and the music & lyrics for LYB.

Ah - I was wondering if there was a common writer between the two - that also explains some of it.

 

[JohnFB]

...

... Karen's vocal is a work lead, sung so bassman and drummer could react to the melody and not just read a rhythm chart...

I would love to have heard what her final take would have sounded like, given the superior quality of her "work lead" - actually most of the work leads we've heard from her sound like final takes, which explains to a large degree why Richard decided to complete the orchestration for them.

 

[JohnFB]

I always liked LYB better than FAWK. I’m probably in the minority though. LYB doesn’t get enough credit for Richard finding it and completing it.

Always one of my favorites - wish there were more like it...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Since Karen passed how many work leads have been released and finished by Richard.

Now
Leave Yesterday Behind
Try’in To Get The Feeling Again

I know there must be others?

 

[Jack A.]

Since Karen passed how many work leads have been released and finished by Richard.

Now
Leave Yesterday Behind
Try’in To Get The Feeling Again

I know there must be others?

Just about everything on VOTH and Lovelines was a work lead. If memory serves me correctly, “Sailing On The Tide” was the only track on VOTH that wasn’t.

 

[A&M Retro]

'Two Lives', 'You're Enough', 'At The End Of A Song', 'Prime Time Love', 'Make Believe It's Your First Time', 'Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore', 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' and 'The Rainbow Connection' were also work leads (in addition to those you listed). I'm probably missing a few here.

 

[JohnFB]

Since Karen passed how many work leads have been released and finished by Richard.

Now
Leave Yesterday Behind
Try’in To Get The Feeling Again

I know there must be others?

Wasn't Rainbow Connection a work lead? Some have criticized her vocal here but it's sounds great to me...

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

If Karen wasn’t so good at recoding a first take we wouldn’t have nearly the songs released since she passed away.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Wasn't Rainbow Connection a work lead? Some have criticized her vocal here but it's sounds great to me...

The criticism of "Rainbow Connection" kinda lands on both. Richard and Karen seemingly don't understand the tune and what made it work so they both blow it. Richard's arrangement is...much...and Karen's vocal totally misses. She just doesn't connect with the lyric and seemingly doesn't know what it means. Apparently, people over the years really wanted to hear it and Richard finally obliged but, IMHO, I can see quite clearly why it was left on the shelf. I've heard it maybe twice and it was two times too many.

To be fair, it's not really a tune meant to be covered. It was specifically written for Kermit 's phrasing and personality. I've only ever heard one cover of "Rainbow" that works and it's Sarah McLachlan's. It's not really my thing either but, IMHO, she does find something new in it.



Ed

 

[JohnFB]

The criticism of "Rainbow Connection" kinda lands on both...and Karen's vocal totally misses. She just doesn't connect with the lyric and seemingly doesn't know what it means...

To be fair, it's not really a tune meant to be covered. It was specifically written for Kermit 's phrasing and personality.

Some people have criticized her vocal but I think it's great...oh, wait, I said that before...she hits, she connects, she knows...she owns it.

Kermit the freakin' frog couldn't carry a tune in a U-haul rental truck...to even mention his name in the same sentence as Karen's is a blasphemy, a sacrilege - heretics have been burned at the stake for crimes far less than this...

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Some people have criticized her vocal but I think it's great...oh, wait, I said that before...she hits, she connects, she knows...she owns it.

Kermit the freakin' frog couldn't carry a tune in a U-haul rental truck...to even mention his name in the same sentence as Karen's is a blasphemy, a sacrilege - heretics have been burned at the stake for crimes far less than this...

I just wish I knew exactly how you felt. This is all so ambiguous...

Ed

 

[ullalume]

Yeah, Rainbow Connection seems to divide us. We know Karen wasn't a fan and some feel she phones it in but I think it's one of her best performances.
I'm not crazy about the arrangement and, surprise, surprise, I hate the choir, but I always enjoy listening to it.

 

[newvillefan]

'Two Lives', 'You're Enough', 'At The End Of A Song', 'Prime Time Love', 'Make Believe It's Your First Time', 'Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore', 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' and 'The Rainbow Connection' were also work leads (in addition to those you listed).

Add to that the following work leads:

Ordinary Fool
Honolulu City Lights
Slow Dance

 

[JohnFB]

Yeah, Rainbow Connection seems to divide us. We know Karen wasn't a fan and some feel she phones it in but I think it's one of her best performances.
...

One of the most frequent comments about Karen's singing by people on YouTube is that - among many other things - she made it seem so easy, that it was effortless - we know this to be true and many of us have said the same thing. This is the result of the soft, easy nature of many of the songs she sang, Richard's arrangements and most importantly the vocal range or register she predominately sang in, i.e., she was "singing within herself".

This can be heard in songs as diverse as "This Masquerade", "One More Time", "Sandy" and others, including FAWK & LYB - and "Rainbow Connection". She wasn't "phoning it in" - as a complete professional she was singing these songs as they required, and as the composer intended. Perfectly.

 

[ullalume]

Back LYB, it's a nice track but her vocals sounded brilliant on it. It's a shame we never got a 1974 album or the planned '79 one because she sounded soooo good at these times.

 

[Murray]

Kermit the freakin' frog couldn't carry a tune in a U-haul rental truck...to even mention his name in the same sentence as Karen's is a blasphemy, a sacrilege - heretics have been burned at the stake for crimes far less than this...

Me and my little "friend" would like to have a talk with youse... word on the street is that you've been disrespecting my godfather, Don Frogleoni . I would advise youse to choose your words more carefully from now on... it would a shame if your dear sainted mother had an accident, capiche?

 

[A&M Retro]

'The Rainbow Connection' doesn't have the best arrangement, but Karen NAILS it vocally! And, for anyone that thinks Karen in 1981 had lost her old luster, all one has to do is listen to that lead vocal to hear otherwise. She sounds amazing.

 

[JohnFB]

Back LYB, it's a nice track but her vocals sounded brilliant on it...

Exactly! Love to listen to her on this - it has the same sonic appeal as her work on "A Place to Hideaway" or "One More Time" or "Where Do I Go From Here" - these are perfect examples of how very good she sounded just by herself, without any vocal or technical "augmentation".

 

[Simon KC1950]

Leave Yesterday Behind is one of my favourites.

Her vocal here has many of the facets that make me love her sound. Its conversational, effortless, breezy almost, has depth and connects with the listener on an individual level.

For fun, many years ago, I put the song on the back of For All We Know (as a make-believe digital single of sorts) and they make quite a nice concept when paired.

 

[JohnFB]

What LYB does have that FAWK doesn't is a logical and balanced lyrical structure, with separate, distinct verses and a chorus. FAWK has one long verse that is partially repeated in the second half of the recording - and no chorus or bridge. As gorgeous as it is, it would have benefited from a full, distinct second verse with a short, contrasting bridge between the verses...

I tried this before - at least partially - in a post some time back. This is my imagination "running wild" about how the above alterations to the structure and lyrical content of FAWK could have been achieved.

Here's the song as recorded, with the time frame of the lyrics in the present looking into the future:

Love, look at the two of us
Strangers in many ways
We've got a lifetime to share
So much to say and as we go from day to day
I'll feel you close to me
But time alone will tell
Let's take a lifetime to say
I knew you well
For only time will tell us so
And love may grow for all we know

[partial repeat of lyrics in 2nd half of recording - notice 4 lines of initial lyrics eliminated]

Love, look at the two of us
Strangers in many ways
Let's take a lifetime to say
I knew you well
For only time will tell us so
And love may grow for all we know.

[Now, instead of this partial repeat of the original lyrics in the 2nd half, I propose the insertion of a brief 4 line bridge at this point, with a contrasting melody, such as:]

Now, so much time has gone,
Our enduring love lives on.
At start unsure, but now instead
This alone needs to be said.

[ And then this bridge followed by a new, complete 2nd verse, patterned after the first but now looking back into the past after a lifetime together.]

Love looked at the two of us,
Friends now in many ways.
We've had a lifetime to share,
So much was said, and as we went from day to day,
I felt you close to me
And time alone did tell.
We took a lifetime to say
I knew you well.
And only time did tell us so,
For love did grow, and now we know.

[The original recording was so tightly constructed and seems so self-contained and complete in itself that an extension and alteration like I propose here would only diminish its great appeal - more than likely. But, it was fun to play with the possibilities, and a nice little exercise in amateur lyrics writing. Another challenge would have been to get Richard to compose the melody for the new bridge!].

Tell me what you think - good, bad or (not too) ugly...