# Dammit, I LIKE the Carpenters!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 3, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861 "2005-09-03T05:11:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/1 "2005-09-03T05:11:59Z")
I like Punk, Metal, Industrial, Kraut Rock, and every obnoxious, unlistenable crap to come down the pike and was angry that nobody had told me that Stockhausen was not like Philip Glass but wrote stuff chock full of noise and bleeps. On the other hand, I have an appreciation for pure Pop for now people, the perfectly crafted three minutes that made radio great, and the most perfect are the works of the Carpenters. Great singles and Karen could really sing.
So there. Bleah! đ
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/2 "2005-09-03T05:15:41Z")
Liking the Carpenters has been [cool](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000005IL6/103-1910303-2680626) for at least ten years now. Where you been?
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### Author:  [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/3 "2005-09-03T05:35:41Z")
Long ago and oh, so far away
I fell in love with you before the second showâŚ
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### Author:  [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/4 "2005-09-03T05:37:48Z")
âIf I Were a Carpenterâ was kind of disappointing although âSuperstarâ was cool. Yeah I love em too. And I get all misty eyed thinking of Chris Farley and David Spade singing along to them in âTommy Boy.â
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### Author:  [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/5 "2005-09-03T05:40:29Z")
oh and nice Nick Lowe reference **dropzone**
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### Author:  [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/6 "2005-09-03T05:41:19Z")
I agree - Iâd put my music taste and knowledge up against _anybody_, and I love the Carpenters to death.âYesterday once moreâ is one of the more perfect songs ever crafted by mankindâs craven hand.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/7 "2005-09-03T06:24:58Z")
Yer on, punk.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/8 "2005-09-03T06:26:06Z")
> [@deevee](#):
>
> oh and nice Nick Lowe reference **dropzone**
I included it just for YOU! đ
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/9 "2005-09-03T06:28:28Z")
Their music puts me at the top of the world.
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### Author:  [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/10 "2005-09-03T11:50:15Z")
I heard that Richard Nixon really liked them, too.
I donât know what that means.
(Karen really did have a great voice)
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### Author:  [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/11 "2005-09-03T12:06:12Z")
Yeh sooner or later, I think we all hear something endearing in The Carpenters. I still keep them tucked with The Bee Gees and John Denver in my guilty pleasure file. But Iâve stopped pretending Karenâs voice doesnât turn me into a big olâ pussycat. I even picked up _The Carpentersâ Christmas_ on CD last year. Sweet Og, what a wuss. đ
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/12 "2005-09-03T15:18:14Z")
If I could pick a singing voice out of the great panoply of deep and resonant lovely womenâs voices, I might just chose hers.
And then Iâd use it to sing real songs. đ
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/13 "2005-09-03T17:37:21Z")
If lovinâ the Carpenters is wrong, I donât wanna be right.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/14 "2005-09-03T17:55:33Z")
Another Carpenters fan, although I wish they had turned their talents to something a little more challenging than the MOR stuff they did.
I wish Karen had lived and been healthy, because I think they might have gained a lot more depth and credibility had they continued to perform for the next 30 years.
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### Author:  [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/15 "2005-09-03T18:02:21Z")
âI Can Dream, Canât I?â from the 1938 musical âRight this Wayâ was so perfect for Karenâs voice.
\*I can see
No matter how near youâll be
Youâll never belong to me
But I can dream, canât I?
Canât I pretend that Iâm locked in the bend of your embrace?
For dreams are just like wine
And I am drunk with mine
\*
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### Author:  [@Watcher\_of\_the\_Skies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Watcher_of_the_Skies)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/16 "2005-09-03T19:46:18Z")
Her voice was pure pop perfection. Good enough in fact that it made the often sappy material listenable.
> [@koeeoaddi](#):
>
> If I could pick a singing voice out of the great panoply of deep and resonant lovely womenâs voices, I might just chose hers.
>
> And then Iâd use it to sing real songs. đ
Check [Swing Out Sister](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=ADFEAEE4791ADC48A57F20D3993E50CCA753FA06CA4EFB87126E495AD1A9365A880878E051F295C4AEF96AB679AFFA62A7500AD0C0EF5FECBC1B&sql=11:51u06j6h71r0~T1). Corrine Dreweryâs voice approaches Karen Carpenterâs (almost) and they filter a sixties/seventies pop/soul appreciation through a modern Brit/pop/jazz sensibility and have created a string of eight albums (not counting live and best-of) over the last eighteen years that are nothing short of wonderful.
âMerry Christmas Darlingâ still kills me every year - never fails.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [September 3, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/17 "2005-09-03T20:03:29Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#):
>
> Long ago and oh, so far away
> I fell in love with you before the second showâŚ
Karenâs voice on that song always sends chills down my spine.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2005, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/18 "2005-09-04T04:28:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Good enough in fact that it made the often sappy material listenable.
Sappy? Those lyrics drilled into your brain and fired explosive rock anchors. Given their number, whoever wrote them new exactly what they were doing too.
Itâs been 30 years, and they _still_ pop up and hang around for days at a time.
A week of involuntarily humming âwhy do birds suddenly appearâŚâ used to be torture, but Iâve come to accept them as the finely crafted bits bits of song that they are; right up there with Amazing grace, The bear went over the mountain and Letâs go ridin in the car car.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/19 "2005-09-04T04:30:11Z")
> [@Watcher of the Skies](#):
>
> Her voice was pure pop perfection. Good enough in fact that it made the often sappy material listenable.
>
> âMerry Christmas Darlingâ still kills me every year - never fails.
âLittle Altar Boyâ does it for me. Richard has said he thinks itâs her best vocal recording, ever.
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### Author:  [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)
#### Post date: [September 4, 2005, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dammit-i-like-the-carpenters/319861/20 "2005-09-04T07:12:31Z")
For me the song that convinced that Karen wasnât just another pop princess was _Rainy Days and Mondays_. M friends always sneered at the Carpenters but listening to her sing that song proved to me that they were were wrong. The darkness, the loneliness, the pain were there if only you were paying attention. I too wish Karen had lived longer so that she could have matured as a singer. She had a great gift but never got the chance to learn how to use it fully. That, to me, is a tragedy.
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