Sailing On The Tide...and other thoughts

[newvillefan]

Some thoughts on this song...given Tony Peluso's untimely passing and also Richard's comments on the 'Sayonara Carpenters' 1983 special.

Richard said in the closing segment of that 1983 special that this (Tony Peluso) track was especially difficult to complete. I would love to know why. Has anyone actually ever asked Richard this through the website? Listening to it, it sounds like a fairly simple song, and all the vocals are intact and complete. No major key changes or anything. So what was difficult about completing it as a track?

This is where I think a book of the Carpenters recorded history would be an invaluable, indelible landmark on the book scene of popular recorded music forever captured. Surely now, enough time has passed that he could undertake such a microscopic project?

I can't stress this enough how valuable this would be to us fans. Richard is in his 60s now and has so much that he could draw upon from the entourage that surrounded them from their recording debut in 1966 to present.

Look at Benny and Bjorn from ABBA. They have entertained many, many hours with Carl Magnus Palm covering released and unreleased tracks, coupled with photographers' dates, recording dates etc. We have those anecdotes and recorded notes taken from vaults forever. We've not necessarily heard the outtakes, but at least it would be lovely for someone to capture all of this as a portfolio of an artist's career. Who were the photographers during the tours? What were their observations?

My question is: with his methodical approach to the conservation of their legacy, has Richard considered any of the above?

He participated in (but didn't particularly like) the Coleman Biography as an experience which I think we all respect him for, but he's always said her voice and stature as an artist should always take precedence over her personal situation.

He wants his sister's voice and legacy to live on. He's achieved that musically. Given that he's a factual, archival kind of person, why not a chronological, factual account of their A&M History to accompany that? A book documenting all of this would be amazing.

Or has no one suitably qualified approached him? Or have they done and he's said no?

 

[Song4uman]

GReat idea!!!

I would still love to have a US singles set with the original singles mixes....

Jonathan

 

[richard_sloat]

Sailing on the tide is one my favourite Carpenters songs...

 

[Chris May]

This song is definitely the one tune that ties together the "classic" Carpenters' sound in with the rest of the album, given the time period it was actually recorded, not to mention all of the 4-part vocal overdubs. One of my favorites as well!

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

I would think that Richard would LOVE to do a book like this. He loves to revisit that era and discuss those recordings.

 

[CarpentersToYou]

Ooooh Stephen, all of these things still make us think and think. We all, to an extent, feel like the legacy of the Carpenters has been thrown out to space. With the exception of the 40th anniversary cds, it's been a long time since we've had something to whet our appetites, and even then most of the fans cannot afford a $500 box set.

Richard is a wealth of knowledge, but I fear we will not get another thing out of him: be it a book, cd, or dvd, I fear his retirement is at 100%. I hope I'm wrong.

We can dream, can't we?

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

I don't think Richard will ever stop "perfecting" things. He's compulsive about it. The day he dies he'll be wiping off a coffee table, or color coding his ties, or remixing something that is 50 years old!

 

[Harry]

"Sailing On The Tide" is a bit of an odd recording to me. It uses the classic, happy Carpenters sound, yet somehow it failed to grab me. I think it's probably due to the overall sadness in which the VOICE OF THE HEART album always puts me.

I always enjoy the song when I hear it, but just never gravitate towards it.

Harry

 

[newvillefan]

I know what you mean Harry, I think it's partly because of the odd plinkety plonk sound of the whole song, with the odd drums fills, especially after the last chorus. It's a pretty song, but sounds a little disjointed, like it doesn't flow properly or something. And then it just fades out into nothing....

Maybe this is what Richard meant when he said it was a difficult song to record. Getting all those fills right.

 

[no1kandrfan]

"Sailing On The Tide" is a bit of an odd recording to me. It uses the classic, happy Carpenters sound, yet somehow it failed to grab me. I think it's probably due to the overall sadness in which the VOICE OF THE HEART album always puts me.

I always enjoy the song when I hear it, but just never gravitate towards it.

Harry

I agree Harry - VOTH is my least listend to album - because of what it represents - Karen's death. Coincidentally, I was playing it on the way in today, and realized that Sailing On The Tide also (now) reminds me of Tony's passing!

 

[Calvin R Murty]

Whenever I hear the lines "someone's gonna take my place, running in the human race", I somehow think she is talking about her passing (!) -maybe because this is the album that mentions, and was released shortly after, her untimely passing, and that makes me feel a bit upset. But then again, no one could actually take her place, being the singer with a one in a billion voice that she has

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

Calvin, that line always made me think that too. The track, At the End of a Song puts me in a place that while she is singing the lyrics are so true to life, her voice is the song and you feel that warmth, yet when the song is over, so is her voice and the finality of it is real again.

Another one that does that for me is the last one, Look to Your Dreams, I will forever think that this was Karen telling me, I'm gone but Look to your Dreams. It was erie in a way when the album first came out cause her death was still so fresh and then to hear these songs...but now as the years go by the songs are more comforting and endearing to me as I still miss her and the voice she left behind.

I play this album alot.

 

[richard_sloat]

Yes, Voice of the heart is a sad album (I really like it even so, it sounds more mature than the fakeness of Made in America joy, as thin as ice on a small frozen pond) and Sailing on the tide is the "happiest" song in it, however the lyrics strongly resembles an anticipation of Karen's faith. All in all, it means to me a goodbye song for her, even with it having been written years before her passing but I'm not bothered by that, it ties with Look to your dreams as a positive farewell.

The song also reminds me of an old disco song, Aa Aa Uu Aa Ee by Zack Ferguson, with the lyrics:

http://www.google.com.br/search?hl=...g2&aql=&oq=zack+fergu&gs_rfai=&rlz=1R2GGLL_en

http://www.vagalume.com.br/zack-ferguson/aa-aa-uu-aa-ee.html

One rainy day in december
The sky was cloudy and gray
I said farewell to the city of stone
They say there is an island
Where people sing this way
A-a u-a-e
E-e-u-a-a
A-a u-a-e
E-e-u-a-a

Sad to be lonely
Good to be free
Sad to be lonely
Good to be free
As a bird not a care in the world
Gonna fly here and fly there and everywhere

I stole away in a sail-boat
The wind blew heavy all night
But if you break off be very strong
I seemed too hear the sound of a far away voice, it
singing
A-a u-a-e
E-e-u-a-a
A-a u-a-e
E-e-u-a-a

A lonely tropical island
A paradise in the sun
As I was taking a breath of fresh air
Two thousand motor cars and the sound of a telephone
it ringing

I really dig this song and enjoied it much as a kid, though it doesn't end with quite the same sentiment as Sailing on the tide!! Sailing... could be a sequel to this song!

And, of course, there's Christopher Cross' Sailing in about the same sense and it's a great song too!

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

Ever since I read Randy Schmidt's book "Little Girl Blue", the song "Somebody's Been Lyin'" makes me think of that jerk, TB.

 

[CarpentersToYou]

"Voice of the Heart" is an album that I completely adore. "Sailin' On The Tide", "Now", "Make Believe It's Your First Time"----absolute gems. I can see where many fans think of Karen's passing when they listen to this lp, but I do honestly try to forget about that and think about the music itself, as Karen and Richard did when they decided to do it.

We're lucky to have all the after-thought recordings.

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

I agree that "Now" shows her voice to the best advantage. So sad that it was her last recording.

 

[aaflyer98]

I like Voice of the Heart, but it is a sad album for me, as well. The main thing I don't like about a lot of the tracks is the choir background vocals. I know Richard thought the album would have a first quarter release date instead of the 4th quarter release date it actually had, and rushed to complete the album. In hindsight I think it would have been better to have all RC vocals instead of the choir.

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

I hated the choir, too. It would have been MUCH better if Richard had done the backing vocals. Hey, how come he keeps "fixing" everything else they ever did, but not THIS one which really needs it?! Maybe it's just too painful to go back to this period. I dunno.

 

[richard_sloat]

I suppose he LIKES the OK Chorale, weren't they featured in the Music, music, music TV special? So...

 

[richard_sloat]

Ever since I read Randy Schmidt's book "Little Girl Blue", the song "Somebody's Been Lyin'" makes me think of that jerk, TB.

I guess that is the most INTERESTING song in that album, though it's not the one I like the most. And what you say reminds me of something I've read on Amazon.com plenty of time ago:

http://www.amazon.com/Made-America-...ageNumber=2&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

"Somebody's Lyin'" is coy when it should register that the character is suffering.

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

Her voice on the lyrics "and I still believe him, though I'd be wiser to go my own way" and "He's makin' fun of me and laughin' at my dreams" sound like she's really hurting, to me.

 

[Mark-T]

^^ But she also fools herself- and accepts responsibility for lying as well.

(Edit- understanding Harry's point, below).

 

[Harry]

You guys *do* realize that the lyrics Karen sang were not written by her. All she could infuse into a song is the way that she sang it based on Richard's arrangement.

She sang whatever the lyricists put in front of her, not anything that had to do what was going on in her own personal life.

Harry

 

[DowneyDiSampson]

Yes, we know she wasn't a songwriter. She was an empathetic soul, though,
and her voice conveyed a lot of emotion. I'm sure that she drew on the emotions in her life and the lives of people around her when she sang those lyrics. She stated that herself about "Superstar".

That is the mark of a true artist - It's not enough just to sing the notes on key. You have to BECOME the lyrics.

 

[Rick-An Ordinary Fool]

That is one of the reasons why its so hard to understand why solitaire was not her favorite song when she sounds like she is getting so into the song. I love how it builds and builds toward the middle and end.