⭐ Official Review [Single]: 27. "TOUCH ME WHEN WE'RE DANCING"/"BECAUSE WE ARE IN LOVE" (2344-S)

Which side is your favorite?

  • Side A: "Touch Me When We're Dancing"

    Votes: 49 89.1%
  • Side B: "Because We Are In Love"

    Votes: 6 10.9%

  • Total voters
    55
The last song on Made in America should have been something more contemporary and compelling.

By 1981, “contemporary and compelling” were as far removed from Richard’s radar as Carpenters producer as they could be. As nice as it is, that’s the biggest problem with the album. It didn’t recreate their halcyon days and it didn’t look forward either. It was over-produced, anachronistic and stuck between the two.
 
By 1981, “contemporary and compelling” were as far removed from Richard’s radar as Carpenters producer as they could be. As nice as it is, that’s the biggest problem with the album. It didn’t recreate their halcyon days and it didn’t look forward either. It was over-produced, anachronistic and stuck between the two.
Agreed. I actually don't mind 'Because We Are in Love' as a song - taken on its own terms, it's quite effective as an elaborate and ostentatious 'show tune', although for me the disparity between its lyrics and what reportedly happened in real life (both in general terms and specifically the 'Mom I'm afraid...' section) casts a definite shadow over enjoying it simply as a song nowadays.

However, on a 10-track album, it was very questionable to include both this and 'Somebody's Been Lyin' in the final tracklist. One 'show tune' was more than enough and would have been sufficient to demonstrate their range of styles. Two was overkill and, as some have already commented, made the album less contemporary-sounding as a result. Apparently Richard had discounted releasing 'Look to Your Dreams' during Karen's lifetime because it sounded too old-fashioned - if so, I'm not sure why he then decided to have 'show tunes' comprise 20% of Made in America. It wasn't as if they were short of material to include on the album.

If they were planning on relaunching themselves in the 1980s with a bang, 'Touch Me When We're Dancing' and 'Back in My Life Again' (which was only tentatively contemporary-sounding) weren't going to be enough to show listeners that they could move with the times.
 
A few days ago, while driving, a certain single from early 1982 played over the radio....it had reached #3, released February 1982.
Suffice it to say, it is a schmaltzy, old-fashioned, terribly arranged, terribly sung (female vocalist), long, dragged-out, mess of a song.
I knew the song. Always hated it. But, it stayed at #3 for a good period of time in early 1982. A one-hit wonder type of single. Terrible song !
So, back to my favorite duo....and...Touch Me When We're Dancing, it reaches a peak of ONLY #16 in 1981 !
What a travesty. The superb song holds up well, even today. A top-notch production if ever there was one.
Do I ever hear it on the station where I heard that other single ? ( "80s on 8" ). No !
So, no matter what songs had been released on Made In America, 1981, I still contend...
it would have made absolutely no difference.
So, I am glad Richard tried, or attempted, other things....
I'll take Because We Are In Love any day over
that #3 one-hit wonder song (which had already failed as a previous single release in 1977) !
 
A few days ago, while driving, a certain single from early 1982 played over the radio....it had reached #3, released February 1982.
Suffice it to say, it is a schmaltzy, old-fashioned, terribly arranged, terribly sung (female vocalist), long, dragged-out, mess of a song.
I knew the song. Always hated it. But, it stayed at #3 for a good period of time in early 1982. A one-hit wonder type of single. Terrible song !
So, back to my favorite duo....and...Touch Me When We're Dancing, it reaches a peak of ONLY #16 in 1981 !
What a travesty. The superb song holds up well, even today. A top-notch production if ever there was one.
Do I ever hear it on the station where I heard that other single ? ( "80s on 8" ). No !
So, no matter what songs had been released on Made In America, 1981, I still contend...
it would have made absolutely no difference.
So, I am glad Richard tried, or attempted, other things....
I'll take Because We Are In Love any day over
that #3 one-hit wonder song (which had already failed as a previous single release in 1977) !
I so absolutely agree with you! Not sure exactly which "one-hit-wonder" song you speak of (but I have my guess); however, a few days ago I actually heard "Touch Me..." on the radio and about drove off the freeway and flipped my pickup truck. But it did sound so good, even today. It's one of those "timeless" arrangements Richard is so good at. It sounded almost as fresh today as it did back in '81. So yes, peaking at ONLY #16 was a travesty.
 
A few days ago, while driving, a certain single from early 1982 played over the radio....it had reached #3, released February 1982.
Suffice it to say, it is a schmaltzy, old-fashioned, terribly arranged, terribly sung (female vocalist), long, dragged-out, mess of a song.
I knew the song. Always hated it. But, it stayed at #3 for a good period of time in early 1982. A one-hit wonder type of single. Terrible song !
So, back to my favorite duo....and...Touch Me When We're Dancing, it reaches a peak of ONLY #16 in 1981 !
What a travesty. The superb song holds up well, even today. A top-notch production if ever there was one.
Do I ever hear it on the station where I heard that other single ? ( "80s on 8" ). No !
So, no matter what songs had been released on Made In America, 1981, I still contend...
it would have made absolutely no difference.
So, I am glad Richard tried, or attempted, other things....
I'll take Because We Are In Love any day over
that #3 one-hit wonder song (which had already failed as a previous single release in 1977) !
Ah! "(I've Been to Paradise but) I've Never Been to Me" by Charlene! I have completely forgot about that song. I DID like it back in the day; however, you are right, "Touch Me..." is such an infinitely better song in every aspect.
 
By the way, reading the UMG site for The Carpenters, we find this statement regards Touch Me When We're Dancing:
"Ironically it may be the weakest track on the album." Who writes this stuff up ?

Read it here:
 
In addition to BWAIL, I would have left I Believe You off the album. Or made it a B Side to Touch Me.
And me. Replaced it with You're Baby. I'd also swap Strength of a Woman with Uninvited guest and Somebody with At the end of a song.
 
I’m reminded of the “Your MIA” thread from 2017 (Your MIA) and really, if I had been the producer on MIA, only 30% of what actually made it, would’ve been on the album (that would’ve been TMWWD, Beechwood & WYBIMLA). As it stands, MIA feels like other artists posthumous albums where you can see why those tracks were left in the vault. But in this case, we got the posthumous album before the artist died. Really, Karen’s solo should’ve been released in 1980-81, and then something like “Lovelines”.

It would’ve been interesting to have seen “If I Had You” and “Prime Time Love” as singles. “Making Love In The Afternoon” would’ve been a better “B-Side” to TMWWD or billed as a double A side single.
 
A few days ago, while driving, a certain single from early 1982 played over the radio....it had reached #3, released February 1982.
Suffice it to say, it is a schmaltzy, old-fashioned, terribly arranged, terribly sung (female vocalist), long, dragged-out, mess of a song.
I knew the song. Always hated it. But, it stayed at #3 for a good period of time in early 1982. A one-hit wonder type of single. Terrible song !
So, back to my favorite duo....and...Touch Me When We're Dancing, it reaches a peak of ONLY #16 in 1981 !
What a travesty. The superb song holds up well, even today. A top-notch production if ever there was one.
Do I ever hear it on the station where I heard that other single ? ( "80s on 8" ). No !
So, no matter what songs had been released on Made In America, 1981, I still contend...
it would have made absolutely no difference.
So, I am glad Richard tried, or attempted, other things....
I'll take Because We Are In Love any day over
that #3 one-hit wonder song (which had already failed as a previous single release in 1977) !
I know what song you're talking about from early '82. LOL>>>> I couldn't agree with you more!!!! It's truly painful.
 
I can surely remember the music scene in 1981...
Touch Me When We're Dancing did get a decent amount of air-play. Still, it should have easily gone Top 10.
But, the industry was in a slump. And, image problems played a large role in keeping the duo off the air-waves at that time.
I know I reiterate, but it would not have mattered which songs had gone into that album, Made In America, it was still going nowhere.
So, in 2021, we would have instead been discussing how a great album of great songs sold no copies !
I was there in 1981, it would not have mattered, to sales or the charts, which songs had been placed on Made In America !
Lovelines, the album, sold very few copies. And, that after the phenomenal success of the high-profile CBS- TV movie.
A great album of great songs sold nearly nothing.
 
I was there in 1981, it would not have mattered, to sales or the charts, which songs had been placed on Made In America ! Lovelines, the album, sold very few copies. And, that after the phenomenal success of the high-profile CBS- TV movie. A great album of great songs sold nearly nothing.

^^^ Impossible to tell, when we don’t know what the other material might have been or how strong. I do wonder though how long A&M would have gone on funding a duo who were not selling albums and were no longer commercial. That’s certainly the direction they were heading in by 1982, judging by the available material. I can almost hear Jerry Moss saying “Karen, maybe it’s time for another solo album, but this time let’s call Barry Gibb”.

Record labels won’t stay with the status quo forever, no matter how loyal the act is. They are in it to make money.
 
I can surely remember the music scene in 1981...
Touch Me When We're Dancing did get a decent amount of air-play. Still, it should have easily gone Top 10.
But, the industry was in a slump. And, image problems played a large role in keeping the duo off the air-waves at that time.
I know I reiterate, but it would not have mattered which songs had gone into that album, Made In America, it was still going nowhere.
So, in 2021, we would have instead been discussing how a great album of great songs sold no copies !
I was there in 1981, it would not have mattered, to sales or the charts, which songs had been placed on Made In America !
Lovelines, the album, sold very few copies. And, that after the phenomenal success of the high-profile CBS- TV movie.
A great album of great songs sold nearly nothing.
“Lovelines” was also released 11 months after the movie, so there wasn’t much tie-in between either. Had there been a VHS/Laserdisc release of the movie around the same time, maybe, but most had probably forgotten the movie in October 89.
 
Regards Made In America:
It is of some interest to note that, as of November 1981, in the recently unearthed Dutch interview,
both Karen and Richard state that Because We Are In Love is their favorite song off the album (8m27s).
Regards Lovelines:
It is interesting to note that the Entertainment Tonight segment which announces the release of the
Lovelines album devotes the majority of the time speaking of Karen's solo album.
 
...

Record labels won’t stay with the status quo forever, no matter how loyal the act is. They are in it to make money.
Understandable, normally - and yet, the Cs were unique and very special - in a class by themselves - nobody had the talent they did or could make the music they created - even in the early 80s and after all they had been through physically and emotionally - A&M was to a large extent responsible for their personal and professional exhaustion, having push them to tour so extensively in the early/middle years, making tons of money off of their popularity and appeal - they owed the Cs big time and should have been both eager and willing to stand by them for a very long period even if only breaking even...and who knows that if the Cs had then concentrated on finding/writing good songs and being almost exclusively a studio band the old magic might have had a good chance of being rekindled - this would have required that rare commodity called ethical principles and a spirit of generous gratitude on the company's part...

Be that as it may I just re-listened to the MIA album 3 times & here's my brief, personal, summary estimate:

Good Songs: THOSE GOOD OLD DREAMS, WHEN YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES, I BELIEVE YOU, TOUCH ME WHILE WE'RE DANCING.

Just OK songs: SOMEONE'S BEEN LYIN', (WHEN IT'S GONE) IT'S JUST GONE AND BECAUSE WE ARE IN LOVE.

Bummers: STRENGTH OF A WOMAN, (WANT YOU) BACK IN MY LIFE AGAIN AND BEECHWOOD...

Overall album rating: 7/10
 
Notes on the above lists:

Love the "feel" and arrangements of DREAMS and TOUCH ME...
WHEN YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES could have been Karen's theme song...
Don't quite know what to make of the extended ending of LYIN'...would like to like this song...
Want also to like WHEN IT'S GONE - may take a few more hearings...
BECAUSE would be better shortened, eliminating the long intro and starting with the uptempo "Because..."...
STRENGTH has absurd lyrics about a woman who is a total glutton for punishment...kick the bum out on his miserable ass!
WANT YOU is a total waste of time, energy and space and has the sin of Karen double-tracking all the way thru!
BEECHWOOD might appeal to me if I were 10 again...
 
waittt i actually used to hate 'because we are in love' and always skipped that whenever i was listening to MIA album.. and i was about to write that BWAIL is a $#!^ty song and i hate it blah blah. but i just listened to it again.. and i kinda like it lmaoooo tbh it really sounds like some disney princess songs but i just discovered that i really like it. but it still reminds me of that #%@*$ up marriage.. ugh

wow, they automatically censored some of my words! lolll
 
Understandable, normally - and yet, the Cs were unique and very special - in a class by themselves - nobody had the talent they did or could make the music they created - even in the early 80s and after all they had been through physically and emotionally - A&M was to a large extent responsible for their personal and professional exhaustion, having push them to tour so extensively in the early/middle years, making tons of money off of their popularity and appeal - they owed the Cs big time and should have been both eager and willing to stand by them for a very long period even if only breaking even...and who knows that if the Cs had then concentrated on finding/writing good songs and being almost exclusively a studio band the old magic might have had a good chance of being rekindled - this would have required that rare commodity called ethical principles and a spirit of generous gratitude on the company's part...

Be that as it may I just re-listened to the MIA album 3 times & here's my brief, personal, summary estimate:

Good Songs: THOSE GOOD OLD DREAMS, WHEN YOU'VE GOT WHAT IT TAKES, I BELIEVE YOU, TOUCH ME WHILE WE'RE DANCING.

Just OK songs: SOMEONE'S BEEN LYIN', (WHEN IT'S GONE) IT'S JUST GONE AND BECAUSE WE ARE IN LOVE.

Bummers: STRENGTH OF A WOMAN, (WANT YOU) BACK IN MY LIFE AGAIN AND BEECHWOOD...

Overall album rating: 7/10

uhh.. my favorite songs in MIA are 'strength~' 'want you back in my life again' 'those good~' and 'beechwood'.. lmaooo
 
"National Music Survey" was on 93.5 FM WRCI in Midland, Michigan (1981 - 1983) as an soft rock station. Since then, WKQZ (93.3 FM) is a hard rock, heavy metal & alternative rock station since February of 1986.
 
I so absolutely agree with you! Not sure exactly which "one-hit-wonder" song you speak of (but I have my guess); however, a few days ago I actually heard "Touch Me..." on the radio and about drove off the freeway and flipped my pickup truck. But it did sound so good, even today. It's one of those "timeless" arrangements Richard is so good at. It sounded almost as fresh today as it did back in '81. So yes, peaking at ONLY #16 was a travesty.
Me too. It was Route 202, the song came on and I nearly lost control. LOL.
 
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