Remembering KAREN CARPENTER (Mar 2, 1950 – Feb 4, 1983)
YESTERDAY ONCE MORE (1973)
“The oldies were enjoying a resurgence in popularity during the early ’70s, much to Karen’s and my delight,” explained Richard Carpenter.
“I thought it would be nice to write a song about this, and use the piece to bookend the oldies medley we were planning to record for the second side of our first album release for 1973, Now and Then. The resulting ‘Yesterday Once More’ became our eighth domestic gold single, and one of our biggest hits worldwide.”
The house featured on the cover of the Now and Then album was bought by Karen and Richard Carpenter for their parents in 1970, with the earnings from their breakthrough hit “(They Long to Be) Close to You.”
ans of the Carpenters refer to this relatively modest 5-bedroom house in suburban Downey, California, as their Graceland. It was in a specially constructed annex at the Carpenters’ ‘Graceland,’ that the siblings recorded their songs. It was also here that tragedy struck, when in 1983, the anorexic Karen collapsed and died.
Session man Hal Blaine played drums on most Carpenters singles, but Karen Carpenter played drums on this one. Richard played keyboards, Joe Osborn was on bass, and Tony Peluso played guitar.