Touch Me When We're Dancing

[goodjeans]

I just heard Touch Me When We're Dancing and remember the first time that I had heard it...on a warm Summers Evening driving very fast down a highway. I had moved out at an early age so was no longer receiving the newsletters. It was surprising and unexpected magic to my ears but I have always wished for a half note, or whole note modulation at the end of the song. I don't know why I am posting this. I just felt the need to.

 

[newvillefan]

I have always wished for a half note, or whole note modulation at the end of the song. I don't know why I am posting this. I just felt the need to.

My favourite Carpenters song . The key change idea is a great one, and something that’s never occurred to me before. They would have needed to start the song in a lower key though, because it’s already way too high for Karen to begin with. There’s no “money in the basement” with this track.

 

[AM Matt]

'Bama (original version) Peaked at # 86 (Billboard Hot 100) & # 42 (Adult Contemporary) in October of 1979. (audio only)

 

[AM Matt]

Alabama music video from 1986:

 

[AM Matt]

Also Charly McClain & the late Mickey Gilley from 1984 BUT wasn't released as a 45 single. (audio only)

 

[AM Matt]

Alabama's version went to # 1 (1 week on Billboard Top Country Singles) on November 29, 1986.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Also Charly McClain & the late Mickey Gilley from 1984 BUT wasn't released as a 45 single. (audio only)

This is a very awkward duet. Charly and Mickey have zero chemistry and their blend isn't really a blend at all; it's just two people singing together. They don't believe what they're singing and I can't either. Easily the worst version of this tune I've heard so far. Yikes...

Ed

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

I just heard Touch Me When We're Dancing and remember the first time that I had heard it...on a warm Summers Evening driving very fast down a highway. I had moved out at an early age so was no longer receiving the newsletters. It was surprising and unexpected magic to my ears but I have always wished for a half note, or whole note modulation at the end of the song. I don't know why I am posting this. I just felt the need to.

Okay, so I did a quick and dirty version of what you were thinking about. I kinda get what you're "hearing," tho I'm not sure it's needed. Here you go:



Ed

 

[newvillefan]

Okay, so I did a quick and dirty version of what you were thinking about. I kinda get what you're "hearing," tho I'm not sure it's needed. Here you go:

Ed I absolutely LOVE this! It’s a subtle change but adds a whole new dimension to the song after the sax solo. Genius!

 

[JohnFB]

Okay, so I did a quick and dirty version of what you were thinking about. I kinda get what you're "hearing," tho I'm not sure it's needed. Here you go:

...

Ed

I'm sure - it's not needed.

 

[JohnFB]

The best Carpenter version - as one would suspect - is the RPO version, enhanced with additional orchestral accompaniment (especially strings) and most importantly of all with Karen up front and center and prominent, as she always should have been - the "choral effect" of their multi-layered background vocals is as gorgeous as always, although Karen's double-tracking of her lead vocal heading into the choruses is as unnecessary and as grating as always...

 

[theninjarabbit]

The RPO version of this song is magical. I just played it several times here, and it will likely be in my head the rest of the day. Thanks guys!

 

[Harry]

Okay, so I did a quick and dirty version of what you were thinking about. I kinda get what you're "hearing," tho I'm not sure it's needed. Here you go:



Ed

We had the same idea - I did exactly that yesterday, but the chipmunk-y vocals at the end sounded funny, so I gave up.

 

[Matthew S]

We had the same idea - I did exactly that yesterday, but the chipmunk-y vocals at the end sounded funny, so I gave up.

Exactly….it felt like it was moving into Minnie Ripperton territory.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

We had the same idea - I did exactly that yesterday, but the chipmunk-y vocals at the end sounded funny, so I gave up.

I spent all of three minutes in Adobe Audition doing this and another three doing the video. I gave no thought to Chipmunk"ness; just did it as proof of concept. The artifacts are annoying but the Chipmunk thing isn't too bad here.

Ed

 

[Harry]

Took me only a minute since I didn't bother with a video. I just wanted to mention that we had done exactly the same thing, raising the pitch at exactly the same spot.

 

[newvillefan]

We had the same idea - I did exactly that yesterday, but the chipmunk-y vocals at the end sounded funny, so I gave up.

Exactly….it felt like it was moving into Minnie Ripperton territory.

Back to my original point that the key was already too high in the first place.

 

[Matthew S]

Back to my original point that the key was already too high in the first place.

Yes agreed

 

[Harry]

Also agreed. In the past couple of minutes, I played with the track again, and instead of raising the pitch at the end, I lowered the major front part.

The funny thing about the resulting file is that although Karen sounds just a little "draggy" at the start, she STILL sounds chipmunk-y to me after it goes back to normal speed.

 

[Harry]

Here's that file:

 

[JohnFB]

Back to my original point that the key was already too high in the first place.

Apparently both Richard and Karen were in agreement that they had selected the correct key - and judging by Karen's intonation on the verses (where she is singing all by herself and is therefore the only place in the song that one can realistically determine suitability of key) it sounds like they were correct.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Back to my original point that the key was already too high in the first place.

Agreed. She could have and should have started lower IMHO. She sounds weaker in her higher register. Its not bad but she would have sounded richer lower.

Ed

 

[newvillefan]

The funny thing about the resulting file is that although Karen sounds just a little "draggy" at the start, she STILL sounds chipmunk-y to me after it goes back to normal speed.

Agree with you Harry on that. The earlier part sounds a bit weird artificially slowed down, but imagine if it had been recorded naturally? I’m thinking the same sort of timbre as we hear on the verses of ‘Lovelines’. It could have been a whole different song.

 

[David A]

If this song had been sung in Karen's much-beloved lower range, it would have - of course - sounded more like what we all adore about her singing.

But if they had chosen a lower key/register, would it have made the top 20, after 3 years off the charts? It's easy to say yes but, perhaps a higher key was chosen partly to sound a bit more '80's - or putting it another way, not sound as much like the Carpenters who, by this time, were defined by their work in the first half of the 70's.

PURE speculation of course, and it's probably more likely that they simply chose this key because it sounded best to them, but...just a thought.

 

[Brendon McMahon]

To me it sounded more 'disco'. Certainly in the early 80s in NZ, from my memory of the song then, it was the slow burner at the end of the night kinda song...it was in tune with the era.
One misapprehension I remember was that it sounded bit Beachboys or Begees in the harmonic effect, which was the Carpenters sound of course, but it was a new version of their sound. Perhaps Karen, fresh out of the solo project had more nous through that experience about what she wanted to achieve by stretching up, hence the higher register, but I agree the RPO version brings her so much forward in the mix.