⭐ Official Review [Single]: 27. "TOUCH ME WHEN WE'RE DANCING"/"BECAUSE WE ARE IN LOVE" (2344-S)

Which side is your favorite?

  • Side A: "Touch Me When We're Dancing"

    Votes: 49 89.1%
  • Side B: "Because We Are In Love"

    Votes: 6 10.9%

  • Total voters
    55
It's interesting to think that "I Believe You" was really the last taste the public got of a "regular" Carpenters song before the 80s, not including the Christmas stuff. Not that anyone really paid attention to the single and it charted low, but it was their final pop output from the decade they helped make iconic music.
 
I loved that song at the time. It was thrashed to death on my local radio station when it was released. It featured some of the features that made Carpenters exceptional - great harmonies, rich, resonant vocals, great arrangement - almost semi-orchestral - drama....and very sentimental lyrics. (I mean dramatic in terms of the delivery, the arrangement, the production..and maybe the lyrics, when you consider the scene being sung about). The song really did seem majestic and a cut above the rest, in comparison to other records being played at the time.
 
It's interesting to think that "I Believe You" was really the last taste the public got of a "regular" Carpenters song before the 80s, not including the Christmas stuff. Not that anyone really paid attention to the single and it charted low, but it was their final pop output from the decade they helped make iconic music.

Imagine too if "Christmas Portrait" would of been scrapped because the Carpenters just decided to call it quits!
 
The scary thing is that what happened to her in 83’ Los Angeles could have easily happened to her in Brazil or any of the other countries they were on tour for in 1981...her condition was worse than anyone knew in 81....
 
The scary thing is that what happened to her in 83’ Los Angeles could have easily happened to her in Brazil or any of the other countries they were on tour for in 1981...her condition was worse than anyone knew in 81....

I’ve never considered that before. It’s very sad. Randy describes this fear in his book when it came to Karen’s frail health, including episodes that her close family weren’t even aware of.

“This would be the first of several hospital stays. Most were concealed, some even from her family. ‘There were so many hospitalizations’, Frenda Franklin recalls. “There were so many near misses”.

As strange as this may sound, I’m glad that when it eventually happened, she was at her parents’ home.
 
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I'll never gasp the concept of this on-location video: Karen touring the area (in that hideous yellow jumper she wore at every chance in this era) while Richard gazes endlessly into the air, looking as though he's posing for a constipation commercial. It's sad and hilarious at once.


Ewww and yes, he looks very uncomfortable. I think they were trying for a reflective, introspective mood - especially given the weather - but it just didn't work. Richard looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. Add the fact that Karen looks frail here, and it's a sad video to watch for me. Much prefer the one done in a studio or sound stage, in her red blouse (even though I don't care for the superimposed tiny dancers).
 
As to the above-referenced video (the one showing the band on what appears to be a sound stage), who is that drumming? It doesn't look like Cubby.
 
I’ve never considered that before. It’s very sad. Randy describes this fear in his book when it came to Karen’s frail health, including episodes that her close family weren’t even aware of.

“This would be the first of several hospital stays. Most were concealed, some even from her family. ‘There were so many hospitalizations’, Frenda Franklin recalls. “There were so many near misses”.

As strange as this may sound, I’m glad that when it eventually happened, she was at her parents’ home.
I have always thought that too. It gave a dignified end which otherwise may not have been possible .
 
I have always thought that too. It gave a dignified end which otherwise may not have been possible .

I just wish it happened in her sleep. It's something many don't think about (it is quite morbid) but the thought that someone knows they are dying as its happening is a frightening thing, especially when you aren't expecting it to happen to you. It's horrible to think what, if anything, was passing through her mind in the moment she fell to the floor.

Again, sorry for the morbid detour.
 
It's horrible to think what, if anything, was passing through her mind in the moment she fell to the floor.

Richard himself has spoken his own thoughts on this moment, in the Coleman book. I won’t labour the point by quoting him but it’s there if people want to look it up.

I just wish things had been different for her and she was still around. Forget the music for a second, I mean as a person. 32 is way, way too young to go. As Frenda has said, “I feel very, very robbed. We all do”.
 
Can we get back to the music please?
Agreed I will say I stick with my vote for " Touch me when we're dancing " it sounds more like a Carpenters record than it's Flip side In My opinion Because We are in love Really seemed out of place on the Album just my opinion they could have used another non album single to put on it ( my choice would have been Honolulu City Lights) but again to each their own
 
I will say I stick with my vote for " Touch me when we're dancing " it sounds more like a Carpenters record than it's Flip side In My opinion Because We are in love Really seemed out of place on the Album just my opinion they could have used another non album single

I think Because We Are In Love should have been a non-album B-side. A nice nod to Karen’s ill -fated wedding, but nothing more. They could have replaced it on the album with something more contemporary.
 
I think Because We Are In Love should have been a non-album B-side. A nice nod to Karen’s ill -fated wedding, but nothing more. They could have replaced it on the album with something more contemporary.

You could say that about much of the rest of the album too though(!).

I do think that having both 'Because We Are in Love' and the similarly opulent 'Somebody's Been Lyin' on a 10 track album was too much - one 'show tune' style song was quite enough. But I'd imagine that Richard was proud of what he'd achieved on 'Because We Are in Love' musically, so it was never going to be relegated to being just a non-album B side (which they'd ever really done before in any case).
 
I do think that having both 'Because We Are in Love' and the similarly opulent 'Somebody's Been Lyin' on a 10 track album was too much - one 'show tune' style song was quite enough.

Yeah, it really should have been one or the other. I have to say that for a Bacharach tune, Somebody’s Been Lyin’ is a pretty forgettable song.
 
Yeah, it really should have been one or the other. I have to say that for a Bacharach tune, Somebody’s Been Lyin’ is a pretty forgettable song.

I don't know, I'm one of the few on here who actually likes it. It has an over the top creamy, lush, atmospheric sound to it and it's one time where Karen's hushed, higher tones really work.
 
I find it interesting that Mary Wells, the Motown star who had Top 10 hits with ‘My Guy’, ‘Two Lovers’, ‘The One Who Really Loves You’ and ‘You Beat Me To The Punch’ recorded ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’ the year after Karen and Richard released it. Mary Wells’ version uses an arrangement that sounds as if it’s pretty much based on K & R’s version, (right down to the strings and background vocals). Her album from which the song comes sort of follows the ‘....Sings the Hits of the Times’ format. Somehow, it didn’t seem like a good idea to post her version here, after reading about her financial, personal and health difficulties, including throat cancer. On the recording I heard, she seemed to have difficulty with the vocals. Never-the-less, she or someone in her support team seems to have thought that it would be a good idea to use Carpenters’ song as a template for her own version. I find it interesting that this song was chosen, because ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’ wasn’t a huge hit, whereas most of the other tracks on the album were smashes, in their original versions.
 
Somebody's Been Lying and Because We Are In Love
are two of my favorites off of the album.
To be sure, each song is replete with issues.
On the other hand, there are parts of each song that are incredibly interesting:
An example: SBL (at 1:59-2:15) "I'd be wiser to go...." is really great listening.
An example: BWAIL (at 2:12-3:10) "because you are in love..." is really great listening.

The gems are there, but you have to look (or, listen) for them !
 
I find it interesting that Mary Wells, the Motown star who had Top 10 hits with ‘My Guy’, ‘Two Lovers’, ‘The One Who Really Loves You’ and ‘You Beat Me To The Punch’ recorded ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’ the year after Karen and Richard released it. Mary Wells’ version uses an arrangement that sounds as if it’s pretty much based on K & R’s version, (right down to the strings and background vocals). Her album from which the song comes sort of follows the ‘....Sings the Hits of the Times’ format. Somehow, it didn’t seem like a good idea to post her version here, after reading about her financial, personal and health difficulties, including throat cancer. On the recording I heard, she seemed to have difficulty with the vocals. Never-the-less, she or someone in her support team seems to have thought that it would be a good idea to use Carpenters’ song as a template for her own version. I find it interesting that this song was chosen, because ‘Touch Me When We’re Dancing’ wasn’t a huge hit, whereas most of the other tracks on the album were smashes, in their original versions.

Thank you for posting this. I've never even heard of her version until reading your post, but I looked it up and found it on YouTube. I don't think there’s any harm in posting it on here as it’s available publicly anyway. I found it quite charming, although almost identical to Richard's arrangement. I hope you don't mind me posting it for those on here who were curious to hear the similarities. It's a fine version and I don't detect any imperfections in her vocals either, which sound quite lovely.

 
After listening to Mary’s version again and then going back to the original 1979 version by Bama, then Carpenters and onto the 1986 Alabama version, I have to say...nobody does arrangements better than Richard. He really knocked this out of the ballpark. Still, to this day, my favourite Carpenters recording. I’d take it with me to a desert island any day. Here, for your listening pleasure are those other three versions in chronological order.





 
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