The other day, while dining with Beaner, a Carpenters song began playing overhead. “You know the thing about The Carpenters is they sound great, but all of their songs are incredibly sad,” she observed. We then started changing the words of upbeat songs to reflect lyrics representative of The Carpenters.
Later on, I decided to do a little research on the Carpenters. Although Karen seemed to get most of the attention publicly, Richard got most of the attention at home and, surprisingly, wrote many of the sad, sad lyrics. Apparently Richard was the favorite child, while Karen was constantly seeking validation from her mother, Agnes. In addition, Richard dated and married (one year after Karen’s death) their first cousin. This situation was not pleasing to Karen but Richard suggested she drop it because the cousin was adopted and they had taken blood tests, so all was good.
I shared the information about the cousin with Beaner. She was convinced ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ was inspired by the kissing cousins. She might be right, but I’m thinking their rather hush hush relationship may have actually inspired ‘A Kind of Hush.’ So sweet, yet, typical Carpenters style, so sad.
I made the observation that their mother’s name is the same as my in-house ghost, Agnes. Beaner suggested I study my genealogy because I may “have a special tie to The Carpenters.” Regardless of what I may learn, I have no intentions to marry any of my cousins. In fact, just the thought of it inspires me to sing ‘Goodbye to Love.’