⭐ Official Review [Single]: 14. "I WON'T LAST A DAY WITHOUT YOU"/"ONE LOVE" (1521-S)

Which side is your favorite?

  • Side A: "I Won't Last A Day Without You"

    Votes: 43 78.2%
  • Side B: "One Love"

    Votes: 12 21.8%

  • Total voters
    55
I actually prefer the live Palladium version over the studio one. That doesn't happen often.
 
Karen and Richard Carpenter,October 30, 1978,
I Won't Last A Day Without You:
Richard: "That again was out of a big pile of demos."
Karen: "We hadn't thought about it as a single.
Richard: "We were never totally happy with that record."
Karen: "We really did like it, but just not as much as some of the others."
(ref: Liner Notes, Reader's Digest).
 
Karen and Richard Carpenter,October 30, 1978,
I Won't Last A Day Without You:
Richard: "That again was out of a big pile of demos."
Karen: "We hadn't thought about it as a single.
Richard: "We were never totally happy with that record."
Karen: "We really did like it, but just not as much as some of the others."
(ref: Liner Notes, Reader's Digest).
It’s one of my favorites! It’s like eating a piece of chocolate on chocolate birthday cake!
 
Listening to the White Label Promo 45- of
I Won't Last A Day Without You,
the strings seem to come in with a stark difference (in arrangement) near the end of the song
compared to any other--especially from that which appears on the CD Singles 1969-1981.
Anyone hear this difference ? (or, any difference for that matter ).

On the occasion of Ed's mention of this song, I re-read a portion of this one and was drawn to GaryAlan's comment. I did a little investigation and it appears that when Richard tweaked this in 74 for its single mix, in addition to adding in Tony Peluso's guitar figures, he did indeed change the "attack" of the strings toward the end of the song. They come at the end of the stacked vocal "..won't last a day without you, without you" and are much more forceful in the single mix.

In the album mix, Karen and Richard's stacked vocals are separated into left/right stereo and the strings seem to just fade in unobtrusively. In the single mix, the stacked vocals are anchored in the center of the mix, while the strings are given a new forcefulness not evident in the album version.

The single mix is most easily found on the CLASSICS VOLUME 2 or the ice-blue YESTERDAY ONCE MORE 85 in its slower version. The album mix is found on THE SINGLES 1974-1978 or the Remastered Classic version of A SONG FOR YOU (but NOT the old A&M CD from the 80s. That one's got the single version!)
 
Karen and Richard Carpenter,October 30, 1978,
I Won't Last A Day Without You:
Richard: "That again was out of a big pile of demos."
Karen: "We hadn't thought about it as a single.
Richard: "We were never totally happy with that record."
Karen: "We really did like it, but just not as much as some of the others."
(ref: Liner Notes, Reader's Digest).

I'm just seeing this now. Completely frightening. In my humble (admittedly revisionist) POV, it may be their very best song.

Ed
 
This song is one of their best from the opening piano intro, that incredible hook delivered beautifully by Karen, great lyrics, and a wonderful piano closing. Just a great pop song. I never get tired of listening to it. Ranks up there with Superstar/Rainy Days...
 
I Won't Last a Day Without You is a great song, one of my favorites! It gets tons of play on all my devices.

It's interesting that they used the sped-up version of the album mix of I Won't Last a Day Without You for THE SINGLES 1974-1978 compilation and not the actual single mix, since this was a collection of their singles.
 
By the way, not one mention of this Single in (any of) the Official Fan Club Newsletters for 1974.
In fact, we only read that.....
"March will be devoted to recording a new single, but no information pertaining
to same is available to-date.
" (Newsletter #35, March 1974).
 
I Won't Last a Day Without You is a great song, one of my favorites! It gets tons of play on all my devices.

It's interesting that they used the sped-up version of the album mix of I Won't Last a Day Without You for THE SINGLES 1974-1978 compilation and not the actual single mix, since this was a collection of their singles.

The single version was used on the original vinyl release of The Singles 1974-1978, but was inexplicably replaced by the album version when it was issued on CD in the 1980s.
 
Here's an odd one - Sometime back in 99 or so, Japan issued the single version on a 3" CD in conjunction with some kind of Toyota promotion.

The Japanese are the best for coming up with oddities and rarities like that. They usually become real collectors’ items. The Japanese Singles Box - although not as rare as this - is one of my most prized possessions.
 
This may have been discussed here, but it seems that Karen's 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh', which opens the song, isn't as full in CD mixes as it was on the vinyl. It's as if a couple of layers of the multi-tracked harmony have been taken out.
 
This may have been discussed here, but it seems that Karen's 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh', which opens the song, isn't as full in CD mixes as it was on the vinyl. It's as if a couple of layers of the multi-tracked harmony have been taken out.

Richard changed and remixed the multi-tracked harmonies on the intro every time he remixed the song, which is what drives me crazy whenever I listen to it.
 
Richard changed and remixed the multi-tracked harmonies on the intro every time he remixed the song, which is what drives me crazy whenever I listen to it.

I agree. I LOVED that original harmony that opened the song.

I think he took something out of 'All the oldies but goodies' in 'Yesterday Once More', too. (The background harmony line). The CD versions never sound as good in that part as my original 44-year-old vinyl.
 
Richard changed and remixed the multi-tracked harmonies on the intro every time he remixed the song, which is what drives me crazy whenever I listen to it.

Yeah, I have no idea why he did that. I only ever listen to the "A Song For You" mix. The remixes are terrible for this reason.

Ed
 
I vote for the Single 1974 mix, but I enjoy the stereo vocal stack separation on the album version. The SACD version is nice, too!
 
This may have been discussed here, but it seems that Karen's 'Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh', which opens the song, isn't as full in CD mixes as it was on the vinyl. It's as if a couple of layers of the multi-tracked harmony have been taken out.
Richard changed and remixed the multi-tracked harmonies on the intro every time he remixed the song, which is what drives me crazy whenever I listen to it.
This is one of the factors I really dislike about most of the remixes (and why I've moved towards the catalog as it was originally presented). Some of the harmonies seem missing or drowned out.
 
This is one of the factors I really dislike about most of the remixes (and why I've moved towards the catalog as it was originally presented). Some of the harmonies seem missing or drowned out.

I’ve been doing that over time as well, going back to the original albums instead of the remixes. On the later remixes of this song, he altered the mix of the intro harmonies to such a degree that the original nuances aren’t even there any more.

The single mix - complete with the additional guitar work - is the definitive version of this song and it bugs me that this is now virtually unavailable anywhere on official releases. There’s one particular vocal part - ironically his own - that’s buried on the later remixes that really bugs me. On the fourth “ooh”, Richard’s cascading harmony creates a lovely clash with the main harmony (similar to the line “you will surrender if you ca-a-a-an”). That’s wiped on the remixes.
 
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I wont last a day without you. chart facts.

Canada.7
Hong kong.1
Israel.4
Japan.40
Thailand.27
UK.32
USA.11
 
I really love to remix of WOLADWY - it sounds richer and I love the wistful piano ending that wasn't on either mix before.
 
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