'(They Long to Be) Close to You' by Carpenters: The making of the duo's breakthrough hit

16 October 2024, 14:43

Richard and Karen Carpenter made this years-old song their own.

Carpenters had a stunning 14-year career, releasing ten studio albums before Karen's tragic death in 1983.

They kicked off at the end of the 1960s, but truly broke through at the start of the next decade with the hit '(They Long to Be) Close to You'.

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But do you know which classic songwriting team actually penned the track, or which big name artists failed to make it a hit before Karen and Richard got their hands on it?

And do you know which famous trumpeter convinced Carpetners to record the song?

Read on for everything you might ever want to know about '(They Long to Be) Close to You'.

Who wrote '(They Long to Be) Close to You'?

Richard Carpenter is one hell of a songwriter, penning plenty of tracks across the band's career alongside his writing partner John Bettis.

But plenty of the bands other songs – and their hits – were written by others.

That included '(They Long to Be) Close to You', which was written by the peerless Brill Building duo of Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics).

You'll recognise those names, as they're the people behind countless hit records from 'Alfie', 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head' and 'Do You Know the Way to San Jose', to 'Walk On By', 'I Say a Little Prayer' and 'Anyone Who Had a Heart' and many, many more.

What do the lyrics of '(They Long to Be) Close to You' mean?

The Carpenters - Close To You (1970) Official Video

Hal David wasn't generally one to overdo the oblique stuff in his lyrics, and '(They Long to Be) Close to You' is beautifully straightforward.

Our narrator looks at various natural phenomena that seem to always be around their beloved (birds, falling stars) and concludes that, just like all them, and just like all the girls in town, they long to be close to you.

Simple as that.

Who recorded '(They Long to Be) Close to You' before Carpenters?

[They Long to Be] Close to You (Remastered)

'(They Long to Be) Close to You' had a long history before it came across the desk of Richard and Karen at the start of the 1970s.

It was written at the start of the 1960s and first recorded and released as a single by Richard Chamberlain in 1963 under the name 'They Long to Be Close to You' (without the brackets).

Incredibly, it wasn't a hit, even as the single's flipside 'Blue Guitar' raced up the charts.

[They Long to Be] Close to You

Even bigger names put their spin on the song in the years that followed before the Carpenters gave it a go.

Dionne Warwick first demoed the song in 1963 and re-recorded it with an arrangement by its writer Burt Bacharach as an album track on 1964's Make Way for Dionne Warwick and a B-side of 1965 single 'Here I Am'.

Still the song wasn't a big hit, and even though Dusty Springfield recorded it in 1964, it didn't get a release till it appeared on 1967's Where Am I Going? album.

[They Long To Be] Close To You

Trumpeter Herb Alpert recorded a version at the end of the 1960s but was so unhappy with it that he didn't even release it.

Instead, he gave a shout to Richard and Karen Carpenter, who had just scored a hit with their cover of The Beatles' 'Ticket to Ride'.

When did Carpenters release their version of '(They Long to Be) Close to You'?

As Carpenters, Richard and Karen Carpenter released '(They Long to Be) Close to You' on May 15, 1970.

It was also the title track of their second album Close to You, released on August 21.

The song features lead vocals from Karen, with Richard offering piano, harpsichord and sorting out the orchestration, as well as singing backing vocals.

The rest of the instrumentation came from the all-conquering session superstars The Wrecking Crew, with Joe Osborn on bass, Hal Blaine on drums and Chuck Findley on trumpet.

"Man, this is just great!" Burt Bacharach said on hearing what Carpenters had done with his song.

"I completely blew it with Richard Chamberlain but now someone else has come along and made a record so much better than mine."

Where did Carpenters '(They Long to Be) Close to You' get in the charts?

After all those failed versions, Carpenters turned '(They Long to Be) Close to You' into an absolutely massive hit.

It went to number five in the UK and topped any US chart you can think of, including the Billboard Hot 100.

It went Gold on both sides of the Atlantic, too.

Who has covered'(They Long to Be) Close to You'?

[They Long To Be] Close To You

As discussed, Carpenters '(They Long to Be) Close to You' was already a cover of a song that had been recorded many times over before they got to it.

But after they rearranged it and made it such a hit, it's naturally been covered many times since.

Gwen Guthrie - (They Long To Be) Close To You

One of the earliest post-Carpenters versions was actually by the song's writer when Burt Bacharach released his own version as the second track of his self-titled Burt Bacharach album in 1971.

Among the hundreds of other covers since the Carpenters' version have been takes either live or in the studio by (deep breath):

Lady Gaga, Joaquin Phoenix - (They Long To Be) Close To You (Music From The Motion Picture)

Johnny Mathis, Diana Ross, BJ Thomas, Nancy Wilson, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Matt Monro, Cilla Black, Ken Dodd, Isaac Hayes, Bobby Womack, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, The Cranberries, Terry Hall, Petula Clark, Rick Astley, Barry Manilow, Michael Ball, Tina Arena, Smashing Pumpkins, Harry Connick Jr, the Cast of Glee, Rumer, and many, many more.

Versions worthy of special mention include Gwen Guthrie's cover, which got to number 25 in the UK charts in 1986, Barbra Streisand's duet with Burt Bacharach, and both Lady Gaga's 2024 solo version and her Joker 2 duet with Joaquin Phoenix.