"(They Long to Be) Close to You" | ||||
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Single by The Carpenters | ||||
from the album Close to You | ||||
B-side | "I Kept on Lovin' You" | |||
Released | May 14, 1970 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length |
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Label | A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | Jack Daugherty | |||
The Carpenters singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"[They Long To Be] Close To You" on YouTube |
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David with sections of the early version written by Cathy Steeves. The best-known version is that recorded by American duo The Carpenters for their second studio album Close to You (1970) and produced by Jack Daugherty. Released on May 14, 1970, the single topped both the US Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. It also reached the top of the Canadian and Australian charts and peaked at number six on the charts of both the UK and Ireland. The record was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August 1970.
The song was first recorded by Richard Chamberlain and released as a single in 1963 as "They Long to Be Close to You" (without parentheses). [4] However, while the single's other side, "Blue Guitar", became a hit, "They Long to Be Close to You" did not. [5] [6] The tune was also recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, was re-recorded with a Burt Bacharach arrangement for her album Make Way for Dionne Warwick (1964), and was released as the B-side of her 1965 single "Here I Am". Dusty Springfield recorded the song in August 1964, but her version was not released commercially until it appeared on her album Where Am I Going? (1967). Bacharach released his own version in 1971. But the version recorded by Carpenters with instrumental backing by L.A. studio musicians from the Wrecking Crew, [7] which became a hit in 1970, was the most successful. [8]
In 1970, "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was released by the Carpenters on their album Close to You (1970) and became their breakthrough hit. The song stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and eleven weeks in the Top 10. "(They Long to Be) Close to You" was named Billboard's Song of the Summer for 1970. [9]
Bacharach and David gave Herb Alpert the song after he scored a number one hit in 1968 with "This Guy's in Love with You", which the duo had also written. Alpert recorded the song, but he was displeased with the recording and did not release it. After the Carpenters achieved their first chart success with "Ticket to Ride" in 1969, Alpert convinced them to record their version of the song, believing it was well-suited for them. [10]
Carpenter and Alpert collaborated on the song, and the finished product was a 4-minute, 36-second long song. When A&M Records decided to remove the extended coda and release it as a 3-minute, 40-second long single in May 1970, it became A&M's biggest hit since Alpert's "This Guy's in Love with You" from 1968. Billboard ranked it as the number two song for 1970. [11]
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" earned the Carpenters a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus in 1971. It became the first of three Grammy Awards they would win during their careers. [12] The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 12, 1970. [13] Reaching number six on the UK Singles Chart in 1970, in a UK television special on ITV in 2016 it was voted fourth in "The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Song". [14]
Richard had originally written the flugelhorn solo part for Herb Alpert but when he was unavailable at the time of recording, Chuck Findley was hired in his stead. Richard later commented: "Chuck didn't play it that way at first, but I worked with him and he nailed it. A lot of people thought it was Herb – Bacharach thought so, too. But it's the way Findley is playing it." [15]
The arrangement was completely different from the version Bacharach cut with Richard Chamberlain, with one exception. When Richard Carpenter asked Bacharach for permission (as a courtesy) to redo the song, Bacharach requested that he keep the two "quintuplets" (five note groupings" (piano ornaments) at the end of the first bridge. Bacharach recalled his initial reaction on hearing the finished product: "Man, this is just great! I completely blew it with Richard Chamberlain but now someone else has come along and made a record so much better than mine." [16]
The song plays a key part throughout the animated television show The Simpsons , being used prominently during emotional moments between Homer and Marge Simpson over the course of the series. It is first used in the second season episode "The Way We Was", a flashback episode detailing how the couple met; Homer is first shown listening to the song in the car, and it later plays when he sees Marge for the first time in high school detention, and throughout the rest of the episode. It is also the tune of the doorbell that won't stop in the episode "Maximum Homerdrive". It later features in The Simpsons Movie (2007), as Homer tearfully watches a videotape left behind by Marge in Alaska containing the couple's first dance to the song, and subsequently collapses onto a broken heart-shaped iceberg in anguish. [17]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
All-time charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [32] | Gold | 35,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [33] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [34] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
"(They Long to Be) Close to You" | ||||
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Single by Gwen Guthrie | ||||
from the album Good to Go Lover | ||||
Released | September 13, 1986 | |||
Genre | R&B | |||
Length | 5:33 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
Producer(s) | Gwen Guthrie, David Conley, Jerome Gasper | |||
Gwen Guthrie singles chronology | ||||
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In 1986, Gwen Guthrie released her version of the song, which could only partially build on the success of her hit "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On but the Rent". Compared to the original, this version is very synthesizer-heavy and is adapted to the time.
In the music video, Gwen Guthrie sings the song on a stage while the crowd dances and papparazi crowd the stage. [35]
12" Maxi
Chart (1986–87) | Peak position |
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UK Singles (OCC) [36] | 25 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [37] | 9 |
Ireland (IRMA) | 19 |
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs ( Billboard ) [38] | 69 |
Marie Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress, and television host.
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Close to You is the second studio album by the American music duo the Carpenters, released on August 19, 1970. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 175 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list. The album contains the hit singles "(They Long to Be) Close to You" and "We've Only Just Begun". The success of the title track earned Carpenters an international reputation. The album topped the Canadian Albums Chart and peaked at #2 on the U.S. Billboard albums chart. It was also successful in the United Kingdom, entering the top 50 of the official chart for 76 weeks during the first half of the 1970s.
"Abraham, Martin and John" is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler. It was first recorded by Dion, in a version that was a substantial North American chart hit in 1968–1969. Near-simultaneous cover versions by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles and Moms Mabley also charted in the U.S. in 1969, and a version that same year by Marvin Gaye became the hit version in the UK. It was also a hit as part of a medley for Tom Clay in 1971, and has subsequently been recorded by many other artists.
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Richard Lynn Carpenter is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer, who formed half of the sibling duo the Carpenters alongside his younger sister Karen. He had numerous roles in the Carpenters, including record producer, arranger, pianist, keyboardist, and songwriter, as well as joining with Karen on harmony vocals.
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"Don't Make Me Over" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, originally recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick in August 1962 and released in October 1962 as her lead solo single from her debut album, Presenting Dionne Warwick (1963), issued under Sceptor Records. The song reached number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart.
"Make It Easy on Yourself" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which was initially a hit for Jerry Butler in 1962. The best-known version is the 1965 recording by the Walker Brothers, for whom it was a No. 1 UK and Canadian hit. Dionne Warwick, who made a demo of the song in early 1962, later had a hit with it in 1970.
"Blue Guitar" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. In 1963, Richard Chamberlain released it as the lead single from his album Twilight of Honor. It was a No. 12 hit on the Easy Listening chart and reached No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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