THE SONG THAT SAVED THEM — RICHARD CARPENTER BREAKS SILENCE ON THE SECRET HISTORY OF ‘CLOSE TO YOU’
It was the song that changed everything — the one that carried Karen’s voice into eternity, and launched The Carpenters from struggling studio regulars to global sensations overnight. But behind the soft harmonies and feather-light melodies of “(They Long to Be) Close to You”, there was a deeper story — one filled with doubt, divine timing, and the kind of sibling love that endures even after death.
And now, in a rare and deeply emotional interview, Richard Carpenter is finally opening up about it.
Sitting at his grand piano — the same one where the earliest Carpenters arrangements were born — Richard pauses for a long moment before speaking. His voice is soft, but steady, as he recalls the moment that would change both of their lives forever.
“It wasn’t supposed to be ours,” he begins. “That song… it sat on a shelf for years. Nobody could figure out what to do with it. But something told me to keep coming back to it — again and again — until one day, I heard Karen sing it. And suddenly, everything made sense.”
Written by the legendary duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David, the song had been recorded several times before — even by Dionne Warwick — but none had found success. It was considered a B-side at best, a throwaway at worst. But when Richard reimagined the arrangement with a simple Wurlitzer electric piano, a delicate flugelhorn, and Karen’s impossibly pure vocal — the pieces finally clicked.
And yet, Richard admits, even then… he wasn’t sure.
“We were kids. And Karen—she didn’t believe her voice was special. Not really. She was shy, unsure. And when we recorded ‘Close to You,’ I think we both wondered if anyone would care.”
But when the song hit the airwaves in the summer of 1970, the world didn’t just care — it stopped.
“It was like someone pressed pause on the noise,” Richard says, blinking away tears. “And all of a sudden, it was just her voice. Just Karen. Gentle. Honest. Unafraid to be vulnerable.”
Within weeks, the song soared to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying there for four weeks and launching The Carpenters into a level of fame neither of them was prepared for. It would go on to define an era — and yet, beneath the polished performances and national TV specials, Richard remembers how fragile it all felt.
“Karen would always say, ‘I’m just singing what you wrote.’ But it was more than that. She sang like she knew something the rest of us had forgotten. Something about longing. About love. About being close to someone you might never truly reach.”
And now, more than four decades later, that voice — crystal-clear and untouched by time — still lingers.
In the documentary footage that accompanies the new anniversary release of Close to You: 50 Years Later, Richard returns to the studio where it all began. He sits at the same piano. The original sheet music rests beside him. And then, without introduction, he begins to play. The melody is familiar, but this time, it’s different.
This time, he plays it for her.
“I didn’t know it would be the song that saved us,” he says quietly. “But it did. It gave us everything. And it gave me one last chance to share her voice with the world.”
For millions, “Close to You” is a classic. A love song. A radio staple. But for Richard, it’s something else entirely.
It’s a memory wrapped in melody, a sister’s voice still echoing through time, and a reminder that some songs don’t fade — they stay close, forever.
And in that sense, Karen Carpenter never truly left.