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Karen Carpenter - Only Yesterday

Posted by Miss Ess, April 15, 2009 05:28pm | Comments (2)
karen carpenter

Been thinking about Karen Carpenter today. Isn't this just the best?


Poor Karen, the submissive misfit in a controlling, perfectionistic family. Here's a frail looking Karen playing a huge drum solo on the Carpenters' 1976 TV special:


In the typically dull world of easy listening, Karen Carpenter really stands out as someonClose To You: Remembering the Carpenterse with great talent and passion for music, inserting both pathos and intensity into her singing and playing. She also appears to have been someone who never quite fit into that rigid, clean cut and repressed world and who was emotionally damaged in part by that realization. The sadness and the difficulties she faced seem to have been channeled into her creative endeavors, which no doubt added to her capability and appeal, but anorexia withered her away to the bone and she finally passed away due to its complications in 1983.

There's an interesting documentary about the Carpenters that's available on DVD, Close To You: Remembering the Carpenters, which in my memory is notable for Richard Carpenters' closed-offedness, constantSuperstar: The Karen Carpenter Story creepy smiling and refusal to admit or recognize much of anything that might have been tragic or difficult throughout the career he and his sister had.

In 1987, Todd Haynes directed a short film about Karen Carpenter called Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, in which her story is portrayed entirely with Barbies and stop-motion. I've still never watched it myself, but copies float through Amoeba occasionally, though it is out of print.

The Carpenters live in the pop vocals section here at Amoeba.

Relevant Tags

The Carpenters (3), Karen Carpenter (5), Todd Haynes (5), 1970s (40)

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Comments

Thank you for that well written piece that makes note of Karen's talent. Back in the day, the Carpenter's were a target of derision among music critics who could not get past the "easy listening" aspect of this duo. The milieu of that time did have far more serious musicians, so I can see why they would be paned. Still, they sold millions of records, made many fans happy, and yes....talent was there which is plain to see in 2009.

Posted by Robert S. on April 16, 2009 at 07:26am

Are you an idiot? Karen lived no life as you describe.

Posted by Tim Crenshaw on July 24, 2011 at 12:39pm

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