Name your top 15 favorite songs!

Kristopher

Active Member
I’ve always wondered what other die-hard Carpenters fans think. Would be fun to compare.

1.Turn Away
2.Only Yesterday
3.I Kept On Loving You
4.Tryin’ to get the feeling again
5. When I Fall in love
6.I’m Still not Over You
7. Get Together
8. Yesterday Once More
9.Merry Christmas Darling
10. Reason To Believe
11.You
12. Calling occupants
13. Ticket To Ride
14. A song for you
15. I wont last a day without you
 
Mine would be (in chronological order, not order of favourites and Carpenters' tracks only, no solos):

1. Eve
2. We've Only Just Begun
3. Rainy Days And Mondays
4. A Song For You
5. Road Ode
6. Yesterday Once More
7. Only Yesterday
8. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
9. Boat To Sail
10. B'Wana She No Home
11. All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
12. Slow Dance
13. Touch Me When We're Dancing
14. When It's Gone
15. Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
 
As of today, here are my 15 (not in any particular order):

Solitaire
This Masquerade
Superstar
Rainy Days and Mondays
One More Time
Crescent Noon
You're The One
We've Only Just Begun
One Love
I Just Fall In Love Again
I'll Be Home For Christmas
I Won't Last A Day Without You
All Of My Life
Yesterday Once More
Bless The Beasts...
 
Welcome to the site. I'm fairly new myself.

My top three in order are:
  1. Yesterday Once More
  2. We've Only Just Begun
  3. Rainey Days and Mondays
The rest in no particular order:
  • Only Yesterday
  • Let Me Be the One
  • Hurting Eachother
  • It's Going to Take Some Time This Time
  • Masquerade
  • I Can Dream, Can't I
  • One More Time
  • All You Get from Love is a Love Song
  • Top of the World
  • Song for You
  • Close to You
  • The Bacharach/David Medley from the Anthology Box Set
 
All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
Daddy's Home
Shuboom
Say Yeah!
Who Do You Love?
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (From The Top version)
Baby It's You
Prime Time Love
Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
If I Had You (Lovelines version)
An Old-Fashioned Christmas
Do You Hear What I Hear?
Deadman's Curve
The Uninvited Guest

Honorable Mention:
Home For The Holiday's
Sailing On The Tide
Dancing In The Street
The Rainbow Connection
Leave Yesterday Behind
Nowhere Man
Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Slow Dance
 
when I see peoples list of favourite carpenters tracks, one always seems to be omitted and it surprises me ........ `somebody`s been lyin`!
the more I listen to this track, the more I love it, what a beautiful piece of music :)
anyway, in no particular order;


SOMEBODYS BEEN LYIN`
LOVELINES
YOU`RE THE ONE
NOW
MAKE BELIEVE IT`S YOUR FIRST TIME
LOOK TO YOUR DREAMS
ONE MORE TIME
SOLITAIRE
LOVE ME FOR WHAT I AM
CRYSTAL LULLABY
SOMETIMES
MAYBE IT`S YOU
IF I HAD YOU
ORDINARY FOOL
TWO LIVES
 
I feel the same “Somebody’s Been Lyin’ Is the WORST track on the album, and worse then Goofus. I get up and dance to Goofus when I play the 45 and it’s a bad song as it is. (One of those it’s so bad it’s good.. like Xanadu lol)

However I wouldn’t tell somebody that it’s not a good song because it just doesn’t catch my fancy but if it make someone else happy who cares.

Carpenters-collector
It is a beautiful song that I listen to I never skip the song my mother loved it by the way but it’s not a song that I really enjoy compared to the rest. Beautiful list of yours though.

Oh crap I forgot the title track to lovelines.
 
I'll add my opinions to the discussion about 'Somebody's Been Lying' and 'Goofus'. I like both of them a lot. What I like most about 'Somebody's Been Lying' is Karen's lead vocal, plus the arrangement for the background vocals and the general musical arrangement. I also like the lyrics - they're a bit different - and the melody is nice. So that pretty much makes the whole song and recording. :)

My favourite Carpenters songs mainly feature Karen's lower register. I had a short list of 36 songs and narrowed down to a Top 20. A Top 15 is impossible.

Solitaire.
Little Altar Boy.
Honolulu City Lights.
Yesterday Once More.
Look To Your Dreams.
Eve.
He Came Here for Me.
Crescent Noon.
Only Yesterday.
For All We Know.
Those Good Old Dreams.
The End of the World.
This Masquerade.
Our Day Will Come.
I Need to Be In Love.
At The End of a Song.
Where Do I Go From Here.
Ave Maria.
I Can't Make Music.
Trying to Get the Feeling.

Eight of my favourites were co-written by Richard. Six of them were not released during Karen's lifetime. Three of them are from Christmas albums.
 
This is my 15 favorite, in the first position I put Road Ode (Gary Sims and Dan Woodhams), I think they made this song for Karen and her voice, and managed to put together the words and emotions of the first tour of the carpenters and I do not know why I always imagine that the song is part of Karen's life and what she always thought of her trips ......

1. Road Ode
2. A Song For You
3. Let Me Be the One
4. Only Yesterday
5. Superstar
6. Do You Hear What I Hear?
7. Rainy Days and Mondays
8. Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again
9. The Rainbow Connection
10.Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
11.I Need to Be In Love
12.Honolulu City Lights
13.I Won't Last A Day Without You
14.For All We Know
15.All You Get From Love Is A Love Song
 
Well, this is going to be tough, but here goes:

1. Ticket to Ride ("The Singles" version)
2. Crescent Noon
3. Another Song
4. Road Ode
5. Goodbye to Love
6. I Can't Make Music
7. Yesterday Once More
8. One More Time
9. Rainy Days and Mondays
10. Superstar
11. Someday
12. Sometimes
13. Close to You
14. We've Only Just Begun
15. B'wana She No Home
 
This is so difficult. There's not a single song that I actually hate, of course, there are some which aren't as good as others.

And another problem is that my favourites are always changing. Some weeks I seem to gain an appreciation of certain songs or they "relight my fire" :laugh:

So anyway I'll give it a crack.

Out of the hits these are my top 3:
-Yesterday Once More
-Superstar
-Close To You

Here's my 15
...as of this exact minute (in no order)

-Hurting Each Other (RPO)
-B'Wanna She No Home
-Please Mr. Postman
-The Uninvited Guest
-Prime Time Love
-Two Lives
-Sing (I've really got into the overdubs behind the children's choir, listen to it a cappella)
-At The End Of A Song
-The Rainbow Connection
-It's Going To Take Some Time
-Touch Me When We're Dancing (also really got into the overdubbs)
-Ordinary Fool
-Where Do I Go From Her
-Tryin To Get That Feeling Again
-My Body Keeps Changing My Mind
 
It just doesn’t work. And for the 80’s and a comeback album it is dull and really slow. It felt too much like “I Believe You”, which was also a song that should’ve been left in the vaults.

There were much better tracks that were left in the vaults that should’ve been completed for Made In America.

As you can see in this post in the https://forum.amcorner.com/threads/your-mia.15939/

thread:

If I was producing Made In America in 1981 I would have this line up for the album:

Side 1

Prime Time Love
Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore
Don't Try To Win Me Back
The Uninvited Guest
If I Had You (but remix it so that it ended cold)
Leave Yesterday Behind
(Want You) Back In My Life Again
Remember When Loving Took All Night
The Rainbow Connection

Side 2

My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (aside from keeping Karen's lead track, and the opening drum line (but with added reverb and more stereo separation), I'd re-record the instruments and backing vocals, so that this was a very upbeat dance track, kind of like what Richard did in 1991, but eliminating the disco entirely)
Lovelines
Beechwood 4-5789
Looking For Love* (again a re-record, possible a Richard lead)
I've Got Rhythm
You're Just In Love (just as it appears on As Time Goes By, with Richard dueting with Karen)
Touch Me When We're Dancing
Slow Dance


*if it was written I might even consider Something In Your Eyes with Richard on lead.

Single Releases:

Single #1 If I Had You/Don't Try To Win Me Back (this would be issued shortly after starting the project, as aside from some light editing, they are already ready to go)
Single #2 I've Got Rhythm/Leave Yesterday Behind (to tie-into the Carpenters 1980 TV special)
Single #3 My Body Keeps Changing My Mind/You're Just In Love (this would be released within the month prior to the album's release)
Single #4 The Rainbow Connection/Kiss Me The Way You Did Last Night
Single #5 Touch Me When We're Dancing/Making Love In The Afternoon
Single #6 Prime Time Love/Lovelines
Single #7 Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore/The Uninvited Guest
Single #8 (non-album single) Do You Hear What I Hear? (duet with Richard)/I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (keep Karen's vocal track from 78, but re-record the instruments, including adding bells to the track)

With Singles 5 & 8, the three tracks that were not on MIA would just be single-only tracks, with a possibility of hinting at what might come in the future, with the Christmas tracks being released somewhere around October/November 1980.
What about it didn't you like much at all?


Quite frankly, most of what was released on MIA should’ve been kept in the vault. Aside from a few tracks (such as “Little Girl Blue”), “Lovelines” is the album that should’ve been released in 1981.
 
It just doesn’t work. And for the 80’s and a comeback album it is dull and really slow. It felt too much like “I Believe You”, which was also a song that should’ve been left in the vaults.

There were much better tracks that were left in the vaults that should’ve been completed for Made In America.

As you can see in this post in the https://forum.amcorner.com/threads/your-mia.15939/

thread:





Quite frankly, most of what was released on MIA should’ve been kept in the vault. Aside from a few tracks (such as “Little Girl Blue”), “Lovelines” is the album that should’ve been released in 1981.

I understand why someone wouldn't like it, but I just love the musicality of arrangement. It has this throwback sweeping 50s sound with a gentle darker shading in the vocals and music that roots it in a more modern era. I like the languid feel of it. Maybe it doesn't fit on an 80s album but MIA would have been a commercial failure anyways and hearing the songs as standalone tracks today it sounds better.
 
My top 15 would be, not in any specific order:

Touch Me When We’re Dancing
All You Get From Love is a Love Song
You
We’ve Only Just Begun
Hurting Each Other
Rainy Days and Mondays
Only Yesterday
Those Good Old Dreams
Merry Christmas Darling
Two Lives
Your Baby Doesn’t Love You Anymore
My Body Keeps Changing My Mind (FTT)
Don’t Be Afraid
Kiss Me the Way You Did Last Night
Sweet Sweet Smile

Conversely...the only two that make me cringe are:

Goofus (because in my mind I always see Edna Babish singing it and playing the ukulele from a Laverne and Shirley episode)

Man Smart, Woman Smarter (when I was a kid I tried to run really fast to the record player and skip over this one before it even started to play)
 
I made a list of my favorites and it was 27 tracks. Making the cuts was painful. I left some good ones off the list (TTR [I like the 1969 version as much as the 1973 version], Happy, Solitaire, RDAM, HEO, Road Ode, I Can't Make Music, etc.). Anyway, as others have said, these are my favorites right at this moment.

Someday
Baby It's You
Mr. Guder (TBH, I prefer their live performances of this song to the album version)
For All We Know
Superstar
A Song For You
Only Yesterday
(I'm Caught Between) Goodbye And I Love You
One More Time
Two Lives (I had to include this one; this provides my custom title)
Look To Your Dreams
The Uninvited Guest
If I Had You
Little Altar Boy
Tryin' To Get The Feeling Again

I shall make no comments about other's lists. I have thick skin, so you can fire away at me if Mr. Guder offends anyone.:D
 
I understand why someone wouldn't like it, but I just love the musicality of arrangement. It has this throwback sweeping 50s sound with a gentle darker shading in the vocals and music that roots it in a more modern era. I like the languid feel of it. Maybe it doesn't fit on an 80s album but MIA would have been a commercial failure anyways and hearing the songs as standalone tracks today it sounds better.
I don’t hear any 50’s sound to it. Thing is, the Carpenters should’ve gone more in the direction of Touch Me, Beechwood & Want You. The early-80’s were full of ballads by Air Supply and other groups. And it was clear that in 78, “I Believe You” was not the way to go for success, so why they decided to populate MIA with similar songs four years later is a mystery.
 
I understand why someone wouldn't like it, but I just love the musicality of arrangement. It has this throwback sweeping 50s sound with a gentle darker shading in the vocals and music that roots it in a more modern era. I like the languid feel of it. Maybe it doesn't fit on an 80s album but MIA would have been a commercial failure anyways and hearing the songs as standalone tracks today it sounds better.
I agree with your sentiments, Jarred. I think that ‘Somebody’s Been Lying’ was actually more classy, or traditionally ‘musical’, maybe, than a lot of the music appearing on early 80s albums, which is perhaps why it might have given the impression of not belonging to the 80s.

Having said that, I love a lot of the music of that era, especially that which came out of the UK and Australia, and think that it has as great a value as Carpenters’ music - just in different ways. I love a lot of the new romantic, new wave, gothic rock, synth-pop and post-punk of the time, the beat, the ska and the blending of all those styles, and, of course, the Aussie pub rock. (I loved a lot of the soul music of the 60s and 70s but feel that soul music of the 80s, generally, wasn’t as deep). Nobody did Carpenters’ genre like they did it, though. And ‘Somebody’s Been Lying’, I feel, demonstrates their proficiency.
 
I looked at the lists of songs for all the albums and picked out my own personal standouts from each. That gave me a list of 18 songs which I trimmed down to these 15. The top 10 are pretty much in order, and the last 5 are sort of tied. It was really tough which ones to chop off the list. ("Eve," "I Won't Last a Day Without You," and "This Masquerade" were the casualties.)

"Goodbye to Love" and "Hurting Each Other" might be higher in the list if I hadn't heard them about 37,000 times.

Superstar
Close to You
Yesterday Once More
Road Ode
Bless the Beasts and Children
I Need to Be In Love
Ticket to Ride
A Song For You
Crystal Lullaby
Help
Hurting Each Other
Goodbye to Love
I Kept On Loving You
Crescent Noon
One Fine Day
 
I shall make no comments about other's lists. I have thick skin, so you can fire away at me if Mr. Guder offends anyone.:D

If the OP had asked for a top-20 list, I probably would have included "Mr. Guder." Both because I like it as a song, and also because I like the story behind it.
 
1. Solitaire
2. A Place to Hideaway
3. One Love
4. Eve
5. Someday
6. Crescent Noon
7. Superstar
8. Only Yesterday
9. One More Time
10. Boat To Sail
11. Because We Are In Love
12. I Can't Make Music
13. Ticket To Ride (1973 version)
14. Look To Your Dreams
15. Trying to Get The Feeling Again
 
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