People today have 20/20 hindsight when they dismiss "Goofus" as an awful choice for a single - it turned out to be true - it WAS an awful choice since it stiffed on the charts, and they were looking for hit singles.
Carpenters had, at that time, recently come off of having a monster hit with an oldie, "Please Mr. Postman". Then they had a #4 hit with their own song "Only Yesterday", still riding high in the hit parade. A bit of a fall-off occurred with "Solitaire" clocking it at #17, but still top 20. Next came "There's A Kind Of Hush" which got them a little higher at #12 - so it appeared that the oldies were still popular. Then in this string, they release "I Need To Be In Love", another slower plodding song like "Solitaire" and again the public didn't grab onto it as well, as it only got to #25, their first ever single out of the top 20 (besides the initial "Ticket To Ride").
So, the Carpenters and the label are faced with what to choose for the third single from HUSH. The choices are:
You
Sandy
Goofus
Can't Smile Without You
One More Time
Boat To Sail
I Have You
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
The probably logical choice for the next single from this bunch might've been "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do". It's uptempo, the oldies thing had been working for them, but it's got the Neil Sedaka connection and after their falling out with him, it's out.
Then there's "Can't Smile Without You" or "Goofus" that have any semblance of uptempo-ness about them. The safer choice was probably "Can't Smile Without You" but they picked "Goofus". It was probably a gut choice - the song had been around forever but was largely forgotten - Carpenters had butted against the tide before and had big hits - it was a song they likely both liked from Dad's eclectic record collection, sort of in the Spike Jones vain. So they went with it. Yes, it turned out to be a mistake as the public didn't go for it at all, but then again, it probably also didn't see much radio airplay. I can't recall ever hearing it on my softer stations, and the big hit stations didn't touch it.
Would the record have gotten more airplay if it didn't have such a silly title? I'm pretty sure that "Can't Smile Without You" would have fared a bit better, and we know that that record DID get a single remix and then was relegated to a b-side later on, after Barry Manilow had a hit with it.
So I feel that "Goofus" was a bold, gut choice, and it failed. It's still a fun track in my book.
Carpenters had, at that time, recently come off of having a monster hit with an oldie, "Please Mr. Postman". Then they had a #4 hit with their own song "Only Yesterday", still riding high in the hit parade. A bit of a fall-off occurred with "Solitaire" clocking it at #17, but still top 20. Next came "There's A Kind Of Hush" which got them a little higher at #12 - so it appeared that the oldies were still popular. Then in this string, they release "I Need To Be In Love", another slower plodding song like "Solitaire" and again the public didn't grab onto it as well, as it only got to #25, their first ever single out of the top 20 (besides the initial "Ticket To Ride").
So, the Carpenters and the label are faced with what to choose for the third single from HUSH. The choices are:
You
Sandy
Goofus
Can't Smile Without You
One More Time
Boat To Sail
I Have You
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
The probably logical choice for the next single from this bunch might've been "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do". It's uptempo, the oldies thing had been working for them, but it's got the Neil Sedaka connection and after their falling out with him, it's out.
Then there's "Can't Smile Without You" or "Goofus" that have any semblance of uptempo-ness about them. The safer choice was probably "Can't Smile Without You" but they picked "Goofus". It was probably a gut choice - the song had been around forever but was largely forgotten - Carpenters had butted against the tide before and had big hits - it was a song they likely both liked from Dad's eclectic record collection, sort of in the Spike Jones vain. So they went with it. Yes, it turned out to be a mistake as the public didn't go for it at all, but then again, it probably also didn't see much radio airplay. I can't recall ever hearing it on my softer stations, and the big hit stations didn't touch it.
Would the record have gotten more airplay if it didn't have such a silly title? I'm pretty sure that "Can't Smile Without You" would have fared a bit better, and we know that that record DID get a single remix and then was relegated to a b-side later on, after Barry Manilow had a hit with it.
So I feel that "Goofus" was a bold, gut choice, and it failed. It's still a fun track in my book.