Close To You (The Carpenters Album) - Song Information

Song Information

"We've Only Just Begun" started out as a commercial for Crocker Citizen's Bank in 1970, composed by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. The commercial showed a couple getting married and starting their life together. The Carpenters' recording is one of only two tracks on the album on which Richard Carpenter performs lead vocals, and the only one on which both Carpenters perform lead vocals. In August 1970, it became the Carpenters' second RIAA-certified Gold single. Richard regards this as the duo's signature song.

Originally written by Ralph Carmichael for the early contemporary Christian musical "Tell It Like It Is", "Love Is Surrender" was a song Richard and Karen heard during their teen years. Several of the overtly Christian lyrics were changed for this version, notably from "Without Him, love is not to be found" to "Without love you are not to be found" and "Love is surrender to His will" to "Love is surrender if you care." The arrangement is based on one recorded by Carmichael on his album, "I Looked for Love". The original Carmichael recording was mid-tempo, but Richard recorded it up-tempo with extra percussion.

"Maybe It's You" is a song written by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis for their previous band, Spectrum. It's a very low-key song, with an oboe solo by Doug Strawn.

"Reason to Believe" is a song composed by Tim Hardin in the 1960s. Rod Stewart made a hit with it in 1971. Karen claimed in a live concert that the reason why they love the song is because it was one of the first songs they performed together as a group.

"Help!" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in early 1965. Carpenters produced three Beatles covers ("Ticket to Ride", "Help", and "Can't Buy Me Love", the last from Your Navy Presents).

"(They Long to Be) Close to You" was the first Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition the Carpenters covered. The song was recorded time and time again during the sixties, but didn't do well at all until the Carpenters version. It became Richard and Karen Carpenter's first RIAA-certified Gold single, as well as their first Billboard Hot 100 single that reached the Top 10. It stayed at #1 for 4 weeks, and became the Carpenters' iconic song.

"Baby It's You" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach, Barney Williams, and Mack David. It was sung by Richard and Karen in 1970, and performed on their TV show, Make Your Own Kind of Music.

"I'll Never Fall in Love Again" is the third consecutive Burt Bacharach composition on the album. It was included on their medley the following year, on the album Carpenters. According to Tom Riddle of "Your Navy Presents", there was a 29 vocal harmony on the song. Originally part of the score for Bacharach and David's 1968 musical "Promises, Promises", the song had provided a top-ten hit for Dionne Warwick in January 1970.

Originally performed by Karen and Richard in the California State University Long Beach choir in 1969, "Crescent Noon" is a song composed by Richard Carpenter and John Bettis.

"Mr. Guder" was dedicated to Richard Carpenter and John Bettis's boss at Disneyland, Vic Guder. It was a bit of a last tease to the man who fired the duo. They were hired to play old-time music on piano and banjo at the park's "Coke Corner" on Main Street U.S.A., but they persisted in playing contemporary tunes that the patrons requested. The lyrics say:

You're everything a robot lives for: walk in at nine and roll out the door at five. You reflect the company image; you maintain their rules to live by. Shine your shoes, let's keep a neat haircut now that you're wearing a coat and tie.

Many of their later recordings that were composed in the late 1960s were written during their Disneyland career.

"I Kept on Loving You", a song written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, features Richard on lead vocal.

"Another Song" was another Carpenter/Bettis creation that was very different from the typical Carpenters song and is essentially a suite in three movements: a pop section (0:00–1:45), a medieval-influenced section (1:45–2:28), and a jazz section (2:28–4:22). The song opens with a short prelude based on the harmony and melodic contour of the accompanied recitative "And, lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them" from Part I of George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah (1742).