When I was growing up, songs by The Carpenters were some of my favorite songs. They were pretty much “oldies” when I started enjoying them, and tragically, Karen Carpenter was already gone from this world, but their music resonated with me in a way that was unusual for at that time. The songs were beautiful and romantic, of course, but also, Karen Carpenter’s voice was like honey. Truly, she had the voice of an angel and her loss was a huge loss to the music world. As beautiful as her voice was, her brother Richard was the brains of the operation, and he did most of the songwriting and the business side of their act.
Interestingly, “We’ve Only Just Begun” wasn’t a song that Richard wrote. One day when he was watching TV, he saw a bank commercial that had a catchy tune that captured his attention. Somehow, he managed to track down the writers who, blessedly, still owned the rights to the song. Richard asked them if there was a complete version of the song and luckily there was, sort of. At least, the writers of the song told Richard there was a completed version of the song, and they very quickly sat down and finished a song they had started long before. But you’re possibly unaware of the origins of one of the most beautiful love songs ever recorded.
An advertising agency needed a song for a commercial for a bank. The bank had some specific requirements. They didn’t want a jingle; they basically wanted a music video that would attract as customers young people and newlyweds. They envisioned a young couple in a car driving off into the sunset with a song playing. The tagline of the video was to be “you’ve got a long way to go, we’d like to help you get there to the Crocker Bank.” The ad agency hired a writer to write the song, but he broke his arm in a skiing accident, so they had to get a backup. Paul Williams and Roger Nichols were hired to write the song.
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Nichols and Williams wrote two verses and added a third verse later on the off chance that someone might want to record it someday, which they never dreamed it would happen. However, when they got the call from Richard Carpenter, they finished the song and the rest, as they say, is history. The Carpenters won two Grammy’s for their recording of this song. Enjoy the video below.