The Carpenters (They Long to Be) Close to You | Less is more

You know that feeling when you haven’t listened to a song you love for a long time, the melody suddenly comes to your head and you have to listen to it running, going crazy for it again. Well, that’s what happens to me with this ballad, a beautiful song that triumphed because of its simple and subtle voice and arrangements.

‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’ is a song recorded by the American duo The Carpenters for their second studio album, ‘Close to You’ in 1970.

The Carpenters consisted of two brothers Karen and Richard Carpenter. They were leaders in sales in the so-called soft rock, nothing more and nothing less than 12 Top 10 singles, which led them to sell more than 150 million records being one of the most important groups of all time.

During their fourteen-year career (1969-1983), The Carpenters recorded eleven albums, thirty-one singles, five television specials, toured the United States, Japan, Australia, and several European countries, and even had a television series called ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music‘.

Contrary to what it might seem, ‘Close to You’ is not an original song by The Carpenter. It was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and offered to singer Herb Alpert in 1968. Alpert recorded the song, but didn’t like it and didn’t release it. After The Carpenters scored their first hit with ‘Ticket to Ride’ in 1969, Alpert convinced them to record his version of the song, believing it was right for them.

• The song was very good, but it lacked one thing, something Karen and Richard Carpenter gave it, perfect vocals and arrangements.

Karen’s voice is one of those that is beautiful to the breath and Richard Carpenter had a gift for arranging. You know that a song is nothing without a good arrangement, it can be the best melody and voice in the world, but a bad arrangement spoils it.

The Carpenters recorded ‘Close to you’ with the instrumental backing of Los Angeles studio musicians ‘The Wrecking Crew’, and it became an absolute hit.

• It topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts for four weeks.
• It reached the top of the Canadian and Australian charts, and number six on both the UK and Irish charts.

More than 50 years have passed since that wonderful moment when someone turned on the radio in 1970 and heard ‘Close to You’ for the first time, but every time anyone turns on the radio, puts on iTunes, Spotify or YouTube and Karen Carpenter’s voice comes on, “Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near? Just like me, they long to be close to you”, you still feel exactly the same emotion, and there are songs that are timeless.