‘Christmas with the Carpenters’ is a special time of year

It’s hard to believe that Karen Carpenter, who was known far and wide as “the drummer who could sing,” died 40 years ago. She was 32 when she passed away in 1983 from heart failure. 

Karen and her brother, Richard Carpenter, were known simply as the Carpenters. They were one of the most talented entertainment duos the music industry has ever seen.

 

One Christmas song stands out among their finest efforts – “Merry Christmas Darling.” Released in 1970, this song was written by Frank Pooler, the choir director at California State University, Long Beach, where the Carpenter siblings studied music under his tutelage.

 

It’s an intriguing story. The song had lain “dormant” for more than 25 years. 

Pooler was 18 and a rising high school senior in Onalaska, Wis., when he composed “Merry Christmas Darling” as a yuletide love song for his girlfriend, according to Thad Garrett, a music librarian at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. 

In the summer of 1944, during an extended vacation with his family, Pooler was moved to write a romantic tune for his sweetheart back home, Garrett said. “Pooler planned to give her the song as a Christmas gift, but before he could lay it on her, their romance hit the rocks.” The song got tucked away in his back pocket. 

Fast forward to the late 1960s. Cal State music students Karen and Richard Carpenter were beginning to have success as a local band, but they’d grown weary of singing the standard holiday songs. They asked “their favorite faculty member” – Frank Pooler – if he had any ideas for some new material. 

Pooler dusted off his old “Merry Christmas Darling” song…but told them he didn’t think much of the original melody. Richard said he thought the lyrics were golden; he proceeded to write a new score in 15 minutes. 

Karen Carpenter said later: “‘Merry Christmas Darling’ is a little extra special” because of Frank Pooler. Frank was very helpful in our college days, when we were trying to get a contract and constantly missing classes and everything. He was the only one there who actually understood what we were after, and he stood behind us all the way.”

 

Frank Pooler “glows every time we do (‘Merry Christmas Darling’), she said. “It’s my favorite, because it’s really close to me.” 

Richard Carpenter called the original recording of the song one of his sister’s “very best performances.” Let’s listen to an abridged arrangement:

 

Greeting cards have all been sent

The Christmas rush is through

But I still have one wish to make

A special one for you

 

Merry Christmas, darling

We’re apart, that’s true

But I can dream and in my dreams

I’m Christmasing with you

 

Holidays are joyful

There’s always something new

But every day’s a holiday

When I’m near to you

 

The lights on my tree, I wish you could see

I wish it every day

Logs on the fire fill me with desire…

 

…I wish you Merry Christmas

Happy new year too

I’ve just one wish on this Christmas Eve

I wish I were with you….

 

Merry Christmas, darling.

 

“So, whatever happened to the girl for whom Pooler wrote the song back in Wisconsin in 1944?” Garrett asked. “In 2002, he found her, just a short distance away in Palm Springs, Calif.” 

“They arranged to meet, where he informed her that she had been his muse. She responded, ‘Now I have a treasure.’ And so do we.” 

“‘Merry Christmas, Darling’ may have taken more than 25 years to get from paper to vinyl, but it will forever remain a classic in the American Christmas songbook,” Garrett said.

Observations: 

 Another Christmas song by the Carpenters that is highly touted as a classic by holiday music critic Kelly O’Sullivan is “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays,” recorded in 1984. She suggests that this is “the most iconic version of the song” that has ever been produced. 

“Karen Carpenter’s pure voice makes any song, especially this happy holiday tune, sound like home sweet home,” O’Sullivan said. 

“Home for the Holidays” was composed by Robert Allen with lyrics by Al Stillman in 1954. The first recording was by Joe Reisman and Loretta Lynn.

 

 

With a distinctive three-octave contralto range, Karen Carpenter was praised by her peers for her vocal skills. 

Karen Carpenter’s only sibling, Richard, the elder by three years, developed an interest in music at an early age, becoming a piano prodigy.

At Downey (Calif.) High School, the band conductor gave Karen the glockenspiel, but she wanted to be a drummer like Joe Morello and Ringo Starr. Richard proclaimed that his sister could “speedily maneuver the sticks as if she had been born in a drum factory.”

 

 

A&M Records signed the Carpenters to a recording contract in 1969. Karen started out as both the group’s drummer and co-lead singer, and she originally sang all of her vocals from behind the drum set. 

Because she was 5-foot-4, it was difficult for people in the audience to see Karen behind her drums. She was persuaded to stand at the microphone to sing the band’s hits while another musician played the drums (former Disney Mouseketeer Cubby O’Brien).

 

 

Reacting to Karen Carpenter’s death, songwriter Burt Bacharach said that she “had a sound in her voice that was very unique, that I haven’t heard before.” 

Paul McCartney said that Karen Carpenter had “the best female voice in the world: melodic, tuneful and distinctive.” 

Elton John said Karen Carpenter was “one of the greatest voices of our lifetime.” 

Richard Carpenter, now 77, is living in New Haven, Conn., and maintains the family legacy.