As some of you know, I think the version of this song from Passage has got to be one of the worst renditions of this song in recorded history. But I may have figured out that they only covered this song based on someone else's poor rendition of it. I was at a store yesterday, and heard a version that sounded like typical mid 70's pop/rock, and it was just about identical to the Carpenters' version, including the way the original lyrics were rewritten.
Did some searching this morning, and discovered that this song was originally recorded in this arrangement by none other than the late Robert Palmer.
So I guess the short story here: I can't blame anyone in the Carpenters' camp for writing this arrangement and changing the lyrics...instead, they did almost a note-by-note copy of the Palmer version. (Which is questionable itself, but Palmer's recording of it is in such bad taste compared to the original... )
I still don't like this version no matter who records it. Hear Belafonte's two original versions if you want to hear how it should sound.
Here's a link to the album at Amazon (which has a sound clip of it):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001FV8
Did some searching this morning, and discovered that this song was originally recorded in this arrangement by none other than the late Robert Palmer.
So I guess the short story here: I can't blame anyone in the Carpenters' camp for writing this arrangement and changing the lyrics...instead, they did almost a note-by-note copy of the Palmer version. (Which is questionable itself, but Palmer's recording of it is in such bad taste compared to the original... )
I still don't like this version no matter who records it. Hear Belafonte's two original versions if you want to hear how it should sound.
Here's a link to the album at Amazon (which has a sound clip of it):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001FV8