Carpenters - The Rainbow Connection

Recorded in 1981 for the "Made In America" album, this performance is a work lead by Karen. The song was recorded with just piano, bass and drums, and vocals by Karen to introduce the song for the other musicians and to familiarize them with Richard's arrangement. Had the song been completed and included on the album, other instruments would have been added such as strings and horns, and later, Karen would have come back to the studio and recorded a new vocal track. Karen recorded the song at Richard's request, but simply didn't like the song, and so the song was never completed..

Years later, after Karen's death, fans learned of the track and begged Richard to release it. In an interview, Richard stated, "If I ever released it, Karen would come down and get me!" But twenty years after Karen recorded "Rainbow Connection," Richard began work on the last Carpenters album, a Japanese CD entitled "As Time Goes By" released in 2001, and he decided to complete the song and include it on the CD. The CD was later released in the United States in 2004.

To put this song into historical context, it was recorded a year after Karen completed her solo album, an album which she decided to shelve at the urging of A&M. She then returned to the studio to begin recording what turned out to be her last Carpenters album, "Made In America."

Her solo album has been described as her effort to change her image by breaking away from traditional Carpenters songs and recording songs with more risque lyrics in a higher tone of voice. She may have viewed "Rainbow Connection" which had been introduced by Kermit the Frog in "The Muppet Movie," as a step back toward the type of song she was trying to break away from. But she obliged Richard by laying down a vocal track, but ultimately, she didn't like the song enough to pursue it any further. But her vocals, however "begrudgingly" they were recorded, are nearly perfect, and show her extreme professionalism towards her craft.

Most Carpenter fans like "Rainbow Connection," but are divided on two aspects of the song: the toy piano and the "angel" voices in the chorus. I like the song just the way it is and it's among one of my favorite Carpenter recordings. Of all the videos I've created using Carpenters songs, this is the first one that made me cry when I viewed it for the first time after its completion. There's something about it that makes me miss her all the more - I'd like to think that she's happy wherever she is and that she's finally found her rainbow connection.

THE RAINBOW CONNECTION
(Words and music by Paul Williams and Kenny Ascher)

Why are there so many songs about rainbows
And what's on the other side?
Rainbows are visions, but only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide.

So we've been told and some choose to believe it.
I know they're wrong, wait and see.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection -
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Who said that wishes
would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
and someone believed it.
Look what it's done so far.

What's so amazing
that keeps us stargazing,
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection -
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

All of us under its spell.
We know that it's probably magic.

Have you been sleeping
And have you heard voices?
I've heard them calling my name.

Is this the sweet sound
that calls the young sailors?
The voice might be one and the same.

I've heard it too many times to ignore it -
There's somewhere that I'm s'posed to be.
Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection -
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.

Someday we'll find it, the rainbow connection -
The lovers, the dreamers and me.

Someday, somewhere, I know we'll find it -
The lovers, the dreamers, and me.