Superstar (Song for Karen)

The Carpenters, a monument of American pop culture, have had a worldwide hit in the 70s.

Both beautiful and smooth as photographs, they hit right in the heart of America then in full social unrest, embroiled in Vietnam, by abstracting it: no rock'n'roll, no broken guitar, not of protest, not feminism, family just smiles and sweet music.

Richard is a gifted musician, pianist and arranger none. Karen, 3 years his junior, learns the battery before discovering that her voice will make her famous: a wonderful voice that offer the greatest songs, such as Burt Bacharach Carpenters to suggest that to interpret the tube ( Theys Long to Be) Close to you, their first number one in Billboard in 1970.

Others will follow, as well as countless concerts and gold records. Karen sadly died in February 1983 to 32 years following a heart attack, after years of struggle against anorexia.

His voice remains beautiful. Of melancholia is hidden there, which can be detected in certain securities as of Carpenters Superstar, released as a single in 1971, I suggest you listen.

Richard discovered that song seeing Bette Midler sing on television (see this article in Blender), and Karen was initially reluctant to interpret, yet beyond this superb song arrangements successful, brass and strings, there are these words mirror the fan to the idol, "you're not really here Goal, It's just the radio" and especially to one that no one can recite it better, "Loneliness Is A Such A sad affair ".

Behind the veneer of success, one may wonder about the complex relationship between his illness, his position hidden behind the battery, media pressure, social and family, the image flickers and seamless group. What causes what, to whom does she please Karen?

New Yorkers Sonic Youth have grasped the sad side of Karen Carpenter and ambivalent, to whom they have made an explicit homage on the album Goo in 1990 with the song Tunic (Song for Karen). According to Kim Gordon, compared to Mariah Carey in an interview with VH1:

[Mariah] and Karen Carpenter Both are about the body. Karen WAS Trying to get rid of hers. [...] I'm sure they 're similar A-type personalities - driven Perfectionists Who just want to please people so much. Karen's voice Showed a lot of vulnerability - more so Than Mariah. She made the words singing She Was Her Own. That's a scary thing to do when you're standing in a media spotlight. You lose a sense of your identity. It's a narcissist thing.

In Tunic, Karen Kim becomes after his death, evokes the pressure, and the contradiction between his shyness that makes it miniscule, and the eyes of others in which it feels huge. Finally alone with Elvis, Dennis Wilson and Janis Joplin, she formed a group there, his, in which it is threshing. I propose the demo version of Tunic found on the reissue of Goo released in 2005. During the noisy-bridge is defined in the distance and J. Kim Mascis singing oldies and Carpenter.

There is a rather so-so biopic on the life of Karen Carpenter, made for American television under the supervision of Richard in 1989 and reissued each year in February, sad anniversary. But I guess the film's most interesting is also the least easy to watch: Todd Haynes (Velvet Goldmine, Far from Heaven) conducted in 1987 Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a short film about the band, toured with Barbie and Ken dolls. Did not obtain the licenses of songs, this film was banned by Richard Carpenter, of which he would offer an unflattering portrait. It can apparently be had and even download it with a little help from Google.

To complete the circle, note that Sonic Youth have participated (in the good company of Shonen Knife, American Music Club or Grant Lee Buffalo, among others) the compilation If I Were a Carpenter released in 1994 on which they resume Superstar. We can find a MP3 hidden somewhere in the maximum page.