The No. 1 Song On July 25, 1970 Sounds Even More Heartfelt Today
On July 25, 1970, the Carpenters had moved into the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 with the easy listening standard "(They Long to Be) Close to You." One of the biggest No. 1 hits of 1970, the song was a breakout hit from their LP "Close to You," a classic album that defines soft rock. At its core, the Carpenters were a duo, made up of pianist and arranger Richard Carpenter and his sister, Karen Carpenter, a drummer and a singer of unparalleled emotional intensity. Precisely produced and extraordinarily smooth, the restrained musical stylings of "(They Long to Be) Close to You" belie the emotionally explosive lyrics— a flowery, poetic ode to an ideal lover with moon-dust-sprinkled hair and starlight-blue eyes, whose mere presence causes birds to appear and stars to fall.
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" wasn't the Carpenters' first chart hit, nor their last No. 1. However, the song is closely linked to the discovery of the sibling act and subsequent development into one of the dominant musical groups of the early 1970s.
(They Long to Be) Close to You was a cover of an obscure song
Before they were the lightly rocking Carpenters, Richard and Karen Carpenter were two-thirds of the Carpenter Trio, a jazz act with a tuba player. After winning a showcase in Hollywood in 1966 and securing a deal with RCA Records, their first four singles went unissued and the Carpenter Trio was cut loose. After regrouping as a duo, with Karen Carpenter giving singing a try, the Carpenters' demo impressed instrumental hitmaker and A&M Records co-boss Herb Alpert.
Their relaxing cover of the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" so impressed A&M's other lead, Jerry Moss, that he recommended them to prolific songwriter Burt Bacharach, who enlisted the Carpenters to open a show and commissioned Richard Carpenter to prepare a medley of his tracks. Wanting to focus on little-known compositions, Carpenter considered a 1963 song by Bacharach and lyricist Hal David, but neglected to place the song in the medley. However, he kept thinking about it for so long that he just recorded the song in full with Karen Carpenter. He also retitled the song slightly, adding parentheses.
Released as a single in 1970, "(They Long to Be) Close to You" became the first of the Carpenters' three No. 1 pop hits and 15 No. 1 adult contemporary singles. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" headed the Hot 100 for four weeks, and the soft rock chart for six.