Karen Carpenter - voice extraordinaire

My other tivo'd a PBS documentary on the Carpenters for me, knowing that I'm a huge fan.

I watched it last night, remembering the sweet, crystal voice of Karen Carpenter. Around 1974, I found among my parents collection, a cassette tape of the Carpenters and from then onwards, I was in love with this voice. Such emotion it carried. You could tell when she was smiling when she was singing, when she was sad, when she was anguished, when she was fighting with her own emotions.

I remember hearing on the radio in 1983 that she died of a heart attack caused by anorexia and bulimia. It was her that brought those words to the national consciousness. Prior to her death, few had heard of this disorder. When I heard of her death, I pulled over and started crying.

This was the woman who kept me company all those lonely years of my childhood. Through her songs, I thought I understood human emotions. I sobbed.

I think now, that since that day, I refused to love a public figure as much as I cared for her. But I still carry a torch for her; I realized that when I started bawling at the sight of the skeletal thin Karen, singing her heart out for her audience.

My mother insisted in 1981 that we see them in Lake Tahoe. At that time, they were in decline, and thus reduced to performing in venues like Tahoe. This was one of the most precious presents my mother ever gave to me. I sat in rapture in the audience, hanging onto every nuance of her voice. Thank you Mother.

Watching this documentary, I hadn't realized what an innovator Richard Carpenter was. The over-dubbing that was so uniquely Carpenters were his doing. The solo guitar riff in the middle of Goodbye to Love was his doing as well. It amuses me that rockers probably don't realize that he was the one who did it first.

Karen, may you rest in peace. Realize that for one little girl, your voice carried her to places richly painted. Thank you.

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