26 replies to this topic

[NedNickerson]

I received an email from Jay Asher, who composed "Something's Missing (In My Life), on YouTube. What a surprise and a thrill! He had seen my video for the song and said he had never heard Karen's version of it before, and asked me to send him a copy of it. I sent him an MP3 of the song. I asked him to check the lyrics I had typed for the song and he responded:

The lyrics are correct. And I did indeed like the video very much.

This song had an interesting but somewhat frustrating history.

Paul Jabara originally recorded it himself. Donna Summer did a demo version of it that did not get on her album which Paul later got permission from her to incorporate into a duet recording of it which you can hear on my website www.jayasher.com.

It was recorded by American emmigree' to Australia Marcia Hines and was #2 in Australia and #1 in New Zealand but did not get released in the U.S.

It was recorded but not released by jazz pianist Ahmad Jamahl.

It was recorded (badly) by Freda Payne and another bad rendition by a singer named Lady Sylvia, which is the one on the "Inside Moves" soundtrack, along with another Jabara/Asher song called "Beautiful Dreamer."

Barbra Streisand went into the studio to record it but then decided to turn the album into a concept album called "Wet" so the song was abandoned as it did not fit that description.

But Karen's version, now that I have heard it thanks to you, is my favorite and its non-release really hurts as I believe it would have been very successful.

I did not know Karen personally so it would be presumptious of me to say how much she related to the lyrics but clearly she sang it as if she felt it, which is what made her such a great singer.

Here's the video:
Karen Carpenter - Something's Missing (In My Life)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeCPr9wYG4s

And if you click on this link, and scroll down, you can listen to the full recording of the song by Paul Jabara and Donna Summers:
http://www.jayasher.com/music.html

Edited by NedNickerson, 03 January 2008 - 06:47 PM.

[Marty]

Great experience, Robert!

I wonder why Richard just didn't release all of the tracks on the album? Maybe he plans to release them on future Carpenters releases if there are any.

[RxTechRN2b]

Wow, that's really something that he contacted you! And that he likes Karen's rendition of the song best. Of course, with Karen singing, there isn't any contest.

Somethings Missing is one of the more catchy tunes from the work Karen did with Ramone. Is this one of the songs that was not included when Richard finally released the solo album?

[NedNickerson]

Great experience, Robert!

I wonder why Richard just didn't release all of the tracks on the album? Maybe he plans to release them on future Carpenters releases if there are any.

Several of the unreleased tracks are better than what was finally released on "Karen Carpenter," particularly "Love Making Love To You," and "Something's Missing (In My Life)." My feeling is that Richard chose not to include those two songs because he didn't want a song about "making love" to be associated with his deceased sister, and as for "Something's Missing," he didn't want people theorizing about whether or not something might have been missing in Karen's life...

I believe that he finally released the album for two reasons: persistent fan pressure and the need to put out some new material to keep the Carpenters in the public eye. The last Carpenters album had been released in 1987, "Lovelines," which featured four of Karen's solo songs. This further whetted fans' curiosity as to what else was on her solo album, and finally, "Karen Carpenter" was released in 1996, nine years later...

[puppy]

Awesome, Robert! A fantastic video, and a neat story!

[Marty]

Several of the unreleased tracks are better than what was finally released on "Karen Carpenter," particularly "Love Making Love To You," and "Something's Missing (In My Life)." My feeling is that Richard chose not to include those two songs because he didn't want a song about "making love" to be associated with his deceased sister, and as for "Something's Missing," he didn't want people theorizing about whether or not something might have been missing in Karen's life...

I believe that he finally released the album for two reasons: persistent fan pressure and the need to put out some new material to keep the Carpenters in the public eye. The last Carpenters album had been released in 1987, "Lovelines," which featured four of Karen's solo songs. This further whetted fans' curiosity as to what else was on her solo album, and finally, "Karen Carpenter" was released in 1996, nine years later...

You're probably right!

If I were him, I would have released all of the songs because it was her album, but Richard may have felt differently, and he has every right to. I hope that someday we see these songs get released, but only time will tell in that.

[betossantana]

Several of the unreleased tracks are better than what was finally released on "Karen Carpenter," particularly "Love Making Love To You," and "Something's Missing (In My Life)." My feeling is that Richard chose not to include those two songs because he didn't want a song about "making love" to be associated with his deceased sister, and as for "Something's Missing," he didn't want people theorizing about whether or not something might have been missing in Karen's life...

It was my understanding that Richard's intention was just to release the album the way Karen planned it to be released, wasn't it?? She just left those songs out... Of course he could have chosen one of them instead of Last one singin' the blues for the bonus track.

[RxTechRN2b]

Robert, did Jay Asher give you the story of how he composed the song? You know, like Richard being inspired by the mention of a song in a movie, or hearing a part of it on a bank commercial.

[Chris-An Ordinary Fool]

Ned, interesting and cool read.
I've always wondered why I hear Karen sing at the opening in the song, "Something Missing in my life", but yet the rest of the song she is singing Something's Missing in my life. I always thought Karen was singing this as a work lead and may have forgotton to sing the "S" on the first read or was this the way the song was meant to be sung? Did your lyrics wriiten to him cover this at all and did he comment on this?

[DR Drummer]

Wow, that's really interesting and very cool. I've always loved the song as it has a haunting, soul searching ambiance and resonance and a great musical theme with a lot of kick.

[Pookeysmom]

I also find this song quite interesting for Karen to have chosen. Obviously, she felt some kind of connection to the lyrics. Perhaps she left out of of her final choices because there just wasn't room for everything. As for Richard's reasoning, we can never really guess at that. Karen sang about love and even making love when they recorded together, so I never really understood his reasoning, anyway. I would think it would honor her personal choices to a certain extent. If she didn't choose this song, maybe that's why Richard didn't release it. We can only guess.
Neat story, though. I'm glad he likes Karen's version and am surprised that he hadn't heard it until now.

Cheryl

[NedNickerson]

I did ask several questions in my email - such as, "Did you know beforehand that Karen had recorded the song?" "How did you find my video?" But that's the only email I received from him, aside from another short "Thank you!" email after I sent him the link to download the MP3. I also sent him a link to where he could download a copy of the video for his own collection. My video listed the title as simply "Something's Missing," and did not include composer credits at the end, because when I posted it, I didn't know who had written the song. I found out later and added composer credits in the notes to the song. I sent him a copy of the video where I corrected the title of the song, "Something's Missing (In My Life)" and added composer credits at the end of the video. I also sent him a copy of the song featuring "lead-in" on the song, where you can hear about seven seconds of the drummer clicking drumsticks together...

In the liner notes for her album, Phil Ramone says the album consisted of all the tracks she had previously approved, including one unfinished bonus track. Consequently, the album contained 12 tracks, more tracks than any of the previous Carpenter albums. I really wish that she had chosen this song, or that at least it had been finished. If you listen, you'll notice there's no strings in the song.

As for whether or not there was enough room, more songs could have been added on a CD, since this was not a vinyl album release. I've burned my own copy of Karen's solo songs. There are 21 songs all together, and they all won't fit on a CD. So I omitted "Guess I Just Lost My Head," since it's my least favorite song on the album, and the remaining 20 songs fit nicely on a CD.

Based on the information Mr. Asher gave, about the song being a # 1 hit in New Zealand and # 2 hit in Australia, and the fact that Barbra Streisand once considered recording it, and that he likes Karen's version the best, and since so many Carpenter fans like it, I wonder what might have happened if the song had been released in 1980...?

I found Marcia Hines' website. http://www.marciahines.com.au/ I've never heard of her before, until Mr. Asher mentioned her name. I'm curious about what her version of the song sounds like...

Edited by NedNickerson, 08 January 2008 - 11:46 AM.

[betossantana]

Consequently, the album contained 12 tracks, more tracks than any of the previous Carpenter albums.

I think not!

Ticket to ride - 13 tracks;
Close to you - 12 tracks;
A song for you - 13 tracks;
Now & then - 15 tracks;
Christmas portrait - 17 tracks!

[Sakura]

Thank you very much, Robert!! I love this song. I knew lyricist's name and I have searched for his songs and found Donna Summer's and Barbra Streisand's connection before, but I thought he wrote music, too.
Greg posted Marcia Hines's name before. I have heard her sample and saw her video on YouTube.



Phil Ramone wrote "How does he or she sift through thousands of potential songs to arrive at the twelve or thirteen that will end up on the album?"

Richard wrote about the third album in 35th anniversary box linernotes.

Richard answered about Hoirzon at fans ask.

Before CD times, not so many songs couldn't be included in one LP. Max was 20 probably. I have Bacharach max 2, there was Carpenters compilation Max 20, too. But max 20 was very expensive. So they didin't release 20 songs LP as original album.


As I posted before, Richard mentioned about "Something's Missing" something like this, this song sounded like a "Carpenters" track to him. he'd like to arrange, if it was going to be allowed, he thought Karen wanted Richard complete the song..
Richard mentioned he felt that this song was not chosen for solo album because it sounded like Carpenters track.
(I don't have the interview in English. But I have read some in English. Dose anyone have the interview?)

Who will allow? Phil?

Sakura

[JayLumbee]

Personally - I do not care for Karen's singing on this song. Parts of it, she sounds out of key. My least favorite part of the song comes when she half-sings .."and I've torn myself apart" (it's like scratching your nails on a chalkboard).

I find it hard to fathom that the writer of a song didn't know the FAMOUS KAREN CARPENTER had recorded his song.
Wouldn't he have gotten some royalty $$ after the CD was released in 1996 ?