song4u
Well-Known Member
Right on, man.Carpenters are good even when they are bad. (Relatively speaking ! )
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Right on, man.Carpenters are good even when they are bad. (Relatively speaking ! )
Even if Karen was singing "ahs" instead of words, the song would be for toddlers or Spike Jones' enthusiasts. The music is 1930's goofy in 1976 that was sandwiched between the breezy "Sandy" and the wistful "I Can't Smile..." It was almost like "Goofus" was supposed to have the magic of "Postman" in the line-up from Horizon. Richard's hindsight is dead-on about this song. Hee-Haw!!!Personally, I'm a little more like Herb Alpert. I like a song for its melodic structure, its harmonies and tempos. Words almost never occur to me as being important - they are simply mechanical syllables with which to sing the song.
Harry
It catered to a growing PR undermining of Karen and Richard. There seemed to be a deliberate intent by critics and broadcasters to find any excuse not to take them seriously ... and "Goofus" was just more fodder for that mentality.
They had set the bar high for themselves indeed. Karen's voice was always wonderful and recognizable, but people largely didn't recognize how much Richard contributed to their sound by his compositions and arrangements - until he didn't. For instance Richard has remarked that the main reason for the "Now and Then" oldies medley was that they didn't have time to come up with original material. Since 50's oldies were so popular in the 70's, and they loved them as well, it was a good way to fill that void. I think perhaps when a song seems out of place it isn't always a well thought out deliberate choice. It's maybe a "hey that's different and we need another song to complete the album" kind of choice. Also, K&R as we have read, sometimes differed on song choices, so some songs could have been included as a compromise. Who knows? I'm sure at this point it's not foremost in even Richard's mind.At the end of the day, the critics only react to what an artist puts out. This was included by the album's producer as an album track and then released as a single (who knows made that call). It was not the type of song they should have been releasing after 6 years of (pretty much) smash records.
Now we know it was Karen's choice of a song! I forget about that resource at times. Those interviews are about the only way to "hear" from Karen as well as Richard, aside from anecdotes told by others. Would be interesting to know her hindsight views like have those from Richard.Part of the reason I enjoy Randy's Yesterday Once More reader is because you can go back and pull out these little tidbits that give us a window into what they were thinking at the time.
In the 1976 Charlie Tuna interview, "Karen Carpenter: Nothing to Hide Behind," Karen is asked about the nostalgia craze: When we went with "[Please Mr.] Postman," we didn't do that to get into the nostalgia thing. That was something Richard always wanted to cut, for some strange reason. He said, "I love 'Please Mr. Postman'." And I said, "What?" And it's a great song! It has got four chord changes, but what you can do with them. I had more fun cutting that record. With "Goofus," that's forty years old, you know. Gus Kahn wrote it. I thought that might do something and it never really caught on. I was kind of disappointed because it's such a good song. It's a fun kinda thing, you know?
Charlie Tuna then observes: I think since I have known you the past couple of years, you've always had that urge to do "Goofus."
Karen replies: I really love it. Like "I Can Dream, Can't I?" or something like that. There are so many things you can do. (She then talks about the Now & Then album.)