Your favourite The Carpenters song?
2017-04-07
When I was a little kid in the early 80s I used to have to drive around in the back of my parents car with them - like kids do - and my parents would often play music they liked on the cars cassette player. I am first born and my mother had me when she was 19 I think - she was young, and my father is a couple of years older than her, so they liked a lot of 70s type music. So on of my most traumatic childhood memories was having to listen to the Don McLean song 'American Pie'. For some reason I seriously hated that song when I was a little kid - about 3-6 especially. I dont even think my parents like Don McLean particularly, and I am pretty sure they had the song on some kind of 70s mix tape they would listen to on car trips, but my parents decided that it was hilarious that I hated 'American Pie' so when it would come on they would turn it up and my dad would sing along with it to annoy me.
I hated American Pie so much, and probably also the fact that my parents were messing with me, so I would often cry when it came on - because my parents would turn it up and sing along to annoy me - especially my Dad. It is kind of funny now I guess ( not really ) but the song American Pie probably made me cry more times than most things when I was a kid. My parents are serious jerks.
So when I think of being stuck in the backseat of the family car on a car trip as a little kid and having to listen to the music of my parents, the first song I think of is Don McLeans 'American Pie' and how much I hated it. But my parents wouldnt overdo it - they wanted to keep the hilarity going as long as possible I guess - so American Pie trauma was staggered with the last time they made me cry with it being when I was probably about 10 or something ( I would yell and scream at my dad to shut up and tell him to turn it off but it just made him sing louder and with more gusto. The music that I most associate with car trips in the family car as a little kid is the music of the sibling duo The Carpenters.
Unlike Don McLeans 'American Pie' I used to actually kind of like The Carpenters music and I do not associate it with trauma but with feeling happy and secure. The The Carpenters songs are really nice in my opinion and there seems to be so many of them that are well known and that you might still hear being played today someplace. I know them all because the The Carpenters was my parents' go-to car trip music - they must have bought a greatest hits tape after Karen Carpenter died I guess.
It seems as though the The Carpenters song 'Close to You' may be the most replayed The Carpenters song. I have heard Close to You played in countless movies and everyone seems to know it. I think it is a pretty nice song but it is not my favourite. Another The Carpenters song that everyone seems to know is 'We've Only Just Begun'. Again, I like it but it is not my favourite. Other well known The Carpenters songs include 'Rainy Days and Mondays', 'Please Mr Postman' and 'Top of the World' and I really like all three. When I was a kid I think my favourite was 'Please Mr Postman'.
As an adult I have narrowed the best the The Carpenters songs down and I have decided that my favourite is a The Carpenters song called 'Sing'. I think that 'Sing' is a pretty well known The Carpenters song but not as well known as many of the others. I like 'Sing' because it must be the nicest most positive and encouraging song in the world. I used to be a childcare worker and 'Sing' is the kind of song that you could sing with a group of preschoolers. It is just such a nice song. Apart from traumatic childhood experiences like my father singing - "DROVE MY CHEVY TO THE LEVEE BUT THE LEVEE WAS DRY! AND GOOD OLD BOYS WERE DRINKING WHISKEY AND RYE! SINGIN _ THISL BE THE DAY THAT I DIE _ THISL BE THE DAY THAT I DIIIIE!!!" ( with a stupid exaggerated American accent ) - a good theme song for my childhood would be the music from the The Carpenters song 'Sing' - 'La La La La La, La La La La La, La La La La La, La La La La La!'
Did you know that the Don McClean song 'American Pie' lasts for over eight minutes? God I hated 'American Pie' ( what is it about you guys? ) when I was a kid. I would always feel as though I was going to cry as soon as I would hear it begin. I would instantly think - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
A few years ago I bought my mother a The Carpenters greatest hits CD for her birthday. If I thought that my father liked Don McLean I would buy him a Don McLean album maybe but I know that he doesnt particularly like Don McClean at all - he was just being a jerk.
Anyway, so what is your favourite The Carpenters song? There are just so many to choose from hey. The Carpenters were a great duo.
Sing/The Carpenters
Sing, sing a song
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad
Sing out loud
Sing out strong
Sing of good things not bad
Sing of happy not sad
Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear
Just sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear
Just sing, sing a song
Sing, sing a song
Let the world sing along
Sing of love there could be
Sing for you and for me
Let the world sing along
Sing of love there could be
Sing for you and for me
Sing, sing a song
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear
Just sing, sing a song
(Just sing, sing a song)
Just sing, sing a song
And what music did your parents make you listen to as a kid in the family car?
Make it simple to last
Your whole life long
Don't worry that it's not
Good enough for anyone
Else to hear
Just sing, sing a song
(Just sing, sing a song)
Just sing, sing a song
And what music did your parents make you listen to as a kid in the family car?
My mother is a big Abba fan too but I dont remember my parents listening to Abba in the family car.
In the town I live in - Trundle - we have an Abba Festival. It started a few years ago and it gets bigger every year. Last year over 4000 people came to Trundle for the Abba Festival. They get an Abba tribute band that is called Bjorn Again and they are very good apparently. Our Abba Festival is in May so it is coming up again. I couldnt believe how many people came to the one last year - it seemed like a lot more than 4,000. Trundle is a very small town.
A lot of people like Abba dont they. I watched a doco about them and it was interesting that the Australian market was so important to Abba. The old Australian pop music show Count Down helped Abba a lot. In many ways Abba are like honourary Australians. I think Abba is pretty cool. I like the song Waterloo.
The Carpenters and Abba are on the same musical level, rooted in our memories
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