Beechwood 4-5789 - The Carpenters' Version

The Carpenters' Version

A remake of "Beechwood 4-5789" was featured on Made in America, a 1981 album by the Carpenters whose 1975 remake of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" had reached #1.

Although Richard Carpenter typically exercised control over the Carpenters' song choice, the idea to remake "Beechwood 4-5789" was evidently Karen Carpenter's. Mike Curb recalls Karen Carpenter playing him the original over the phone after telling him: "I've gotta play a song for you! You'll get a kick out of it! It is really fun! It'll bring back memories." When the record ended Karen Carpenter asked Curb; "So, what do you think of this as a single?" Although Curb saw no hit potential in a remake of "Beechwood 4-5789" he responded positively to Karen Carpenter's question, not having the heart to dampen her enthusiasm.

In fact "Beechwood 4-5789" would be issued as the fourth single from Made in America1 on 2 March 1982, Karen Carpenter's thirty-second birthday. The track debuted on the A/C chart in Billboard dated 27 March 1982 and entered the Billboard Hot 100 dated 24 April 1982 at #83 becoming the twenty-seventh single by the Carpenters to reach the Hot 100, all the group's singles since their major label debut in 1969 having appeared on the chart.

A 1960s' nostalgia-themed video for the Carpenters' "Beechwood 4-5789" was shot on A&M's Chaplin Stage. The video's setting was divided between a soda shop and a young woman's bedroom with a pink Princess telephone prominently displayed.

The last single release by the Carpenters prior to Karen Carpenter's 4 February 1983 death, "Beechwood 4-5789" did not become a major hit rising no higher than #74 on the Hot 100; the track's A/C chart peak was #18. "Beechwood 4-5789" did reach #10 in New Zealand in March 1982 – the single having been released there that February prior to its US issue – making the track the last evident Top Ten hit by the Carpenters on a major national chart.

• 1Made in America also included the track "I Believe You" which had been a 1978 single release.