Morning Musically-Minded, Medically-Minded, Masticators!
(Today’s post is sponsored by the letter “M”)
Over the past 600+ episodes, The Simpsons has taken us on an amazing journey involving music, science, and food to name a few concepts.
And what better way to start your week, then by discussing some of these concepts Monday morning?
So let’s get started this week by talking about a billboard topping song from the 1970’s, ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’.
In the twenty fifth episode of The Simpsons, The Way We Was (Season 02, Episode 12), when the TV shorts out, Marge and Homer plan to tell their children a story. After refusing to tell the story of how they got married, they choose to tell the story of how Homer and Marge first met in high school. The story of course includes how Marge almost fell in love with a nerd named Artie Ziff.
But have you ever wondered where the song ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’ comes from?
(They Long to Be) Close to You
The American sibling duo The Carpenters recorder and released “(They Long To Be) Close To You” on May 14, 1970; as part of their album “Close to You” (1970). The song became their breakthrough hit and stayed at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. The song was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and produced by Jack Daugherty. The record was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August 1970.
Karen and Richard Carpenter
Richard Lynn Carpenter was born on October 15, 1946 and his sister Karen Anne Carpenter on March 2, 1950. Signing as Carpenters to A&M Records in 1969, they achieved major success the following year with this hit single. “(They Long to Be) Close to You” earned the Carpenters a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus in 1971. It became the first of three Grammy Awards they would win during their careers. The Carpenters had three number-one singles and five number-two singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen number-one hits on the Adult Contemporary chart, in addition to twelve top-10 singles.
Their career as a duo came to an abrupt end thirteen years later when Karen suddenly died on February 4, 1983. She died from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Her death raised a lot of awareness about eating disorders. Richard continues producing and recording albums following Karen’s death.
Why do birds suddenly appear
Every time you are near?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
Why do stars fall down from the sky
Every time you walk by?
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
On the day that you were born the angels got together
And decided to create a dream come true
So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold and starlight in your eyes of blue
That is why all the girls in town
Follow you all around
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
Just like me, they long to be
Close to you
Wa, close to you
Wa, close to you
Ha, close to you
La, close to you
Now that we’ve learned more about ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’, be sure to come back next week when we continue our Monday morning musings with the next episode of The Simpsons.
Were you familiar with ‘(They Long to Be) Close to You’? What about The Carpenters? What’s your favourite Simpsons musical reference? What about your favourite Simpsons episode where Homer and Marge tell the kids a story? How did you meet your significant other? Sound off in the comments below. You know we love hearing from you.
I’ve heard of the song, but only because Rick Moranis sang it in Parenthood nearly 20 years later.
One of my sister’s favourite shows.
Happy birthday u bastard!
Ramones!!!!🎶👍😎
Good 2 c u. How have u been?
Im doing ok! Hope u r too, on ur end! Im back on facebook …..the dark side. Lol
I still play all the time but get kicked off and cant ever visit neighbors! It sucks!!! 😞
Get kicked out? And why should you be any different?
I don’t do Facepage.
I am still waiting for you to do a musical content bracket.
For bands / singers, does the phrase “good night Springton, there will be no encores” come to mind? Let’s turn it up to 11 (it’s one louder) for Spinal Tap.
My favourite musical is the planet of the apes “Doctor Zeuss Doctor Zeuss, whoa, Doctor Zeuss” or who can forget the classic “I hate every monkey I see, from chimpan-a to chimpan-z” 🎵🎵🎶🎶🎶
There’s a backstory to the song “I Want Candy” sung by the Simpsons (though I liked Smithers’ “Whip It” and Jasper’s “Lollipop” better.)
In the 1963 Beach Party movie, starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, Candy Johnson is credited as the “perpetual motion dancer.”
Candy appeared at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, New York. After seeing her show, the New York rock group The Strangeloves were inspired to write their hit single “I Want Candy.”
Here’s Candy dancing in Beach Party (she did pretty much dance throughout the movie.)
Bart changing the lyrics of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to “In the Garden of Eden” by I. Ron Butterfly, is my favorite Simpsons music reference. The episode is one of my top favorites.
That is indeed a classic!
Cool post…love the randomness of it. I enjoyed reading the lyrics except the one line…all the girls in town, follow you around. The lyricist could have come up with something that was more focused on the individual flirtation like the previous 2 suggestions in the song.
Glad you enjoyed it.
If I remember right, the song was originally written for Neil Diamond, but he thought lines like “sprinkled moondust in your hair” was a little silly, and he offered it to The Carpenters instead.