In the spirit of all the Carpenters stuff I've put on my blog, I decided to try The Carpenters' version of "Solitaire" yesterday. I think it turned out relatively well.
The Carpenters sing "Solitaire"…
Oddly enough, one of my favorite versions of "Solitaire" is Sheryl Crow's cover of The Carpenters' cover…
The Carpenters were certainly not the only ones who sang this song. Neil Sedaka co-wrote it and sang it. Andy Williams sang it. So did Clay Aiken. I have always liked it, though it's not my favorite of the many songs Karen and Richard Carpenter performed. The lyrics are kind of depressing; what really attracts me to this song is probably the brooding melody. Actually, I kind of wonder what it would sound like if Alison Krauss sang it.
Neil Sedaka, by the way, used to open for The Carpenters. According to Ray Coleman's book, The Carpenters: The Untold Story, Richard Carpenter got pissed because people liked Neil Sedaka's opening show better than The Carpenters' show. I have visions of Richard Carpenter getting really angry and going off about being upstaged.
Anyway, here's what I did with it.
I am not a big fan of vocally embellishing a lot. Listening to this, I think maybe it's missing something… but hell, it's karaoke. You'll probably prefer Karen Carpenter… but it was fun trying this.
Alison Krauss would probably do the song very nicely.
ReplyDeletei like your version and The Carpenters' version better than Sheryl Crow's, though her isn't bad, either.
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice compliment, Alexis. I think I like Sheryl Crow's version a little less now than I did when I first heard it. But that's probably because since then, I've learned more about breath control.
DeleteI agree that Alison Krauss could do this… though it would be interesting what Union Station would do with it. The lyrics are a little too polished and uptown for bluegrass, or even "newgrass". But hell, if a bluegrass band can cover U2's "In God's Country", Alison Krauss could cover "Solitaire".