For another good example of Richard”s rearrangement genius, take This Masquerade. Think of (They Long To Be) Close To You, which despite legions of competing covers has become the Carpenters” signature song as much as Richard”s arrangement has become the best-known, indeed primary incarnation of that song.
It makes sense to start this series with the Carpenters, who made it a virtue of picking up relatively obscure songs, and re-arrange and appropriate them. (All original songs re-uploaded on March 31, 2009) Tell me which songs you were surprised to learn are in fact covers, and let me know whether you prefer the originals or later versions. And we”ll kick-off with a heavy-duty dose of 10 originals. In a very few cases, I will not present the original, but the earliest version available (I will note these instances accordingly). The real original of Lady Marmalade will feature later in this series. Until a day ago, I thought that was the original, but RH has disabused me of my error. But people of my generation will long have been familiar with LaBelle”s 1970s recording. There will be people who think that the version of Lady Marmalade perpetrated by Christina Aguilera and pals was the original. In some cases that reputation is entirely subjective. Any Major Notebook now includes two pages worth of almost 100 shortlisted songs that in their original form are lesser known than later versions.
Inspired by a propitious confluence of a long discussion about cover versions we didn”t know where covers and a generous correspondent whom we”ll know as RH e-mailing me a bunch of rare originals of better known covers, we are now at the cusp of what will be a longish series.