Carpenters, Top Of The World | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 36^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2023), we recollect and reflect on “Top Of The World” by Carpenters. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 36^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2023), we recollect and reflect on 🎵 “Top Of The World”, performed by 🎙 Carpenters. 

“There is only one wish on my mind / When this day is through I hope that I will find…” 🎙 Carpenters – siblings 🎙 Karen Carpenter (1950 – 1983) and 🎙 Richard Carpenter (1946 – ) – were a musical force, PERIOD.  All told, the 🏆 Grammy-winning duo’s gentle brand of pop earned them 12 top-10 hits, with three of those top-10s being no. 1s.  After scoring a no. 1 hit with 🎵 “(They Long To Be) Close To You” in 1970, they’d score their second no. 1 with 🎵 “Top Of The World” in 1973, spending two weeks on top. “Top Of The World” appeared on their 1972 album, 💿 A Song For You.

Finishing off the excerpted verse, Karen sings, “That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me / All I need will be mine if you are here.” Sigh, she sings with incredible ease – nothing forced.  Her voice is clear and angelic.  After blessing us with her compelling lead, she gets lovely supporting vocals (Richard) during the tuneful chorus:

“I’m on the top of the world looking down on creation

And the only explanation I can find

Is the love that I’ve found ever since you’ve been around

Your love’s put me at the top of the world.”

Of course, the verses are sweet too, with Karen radiating with her breezy approach. Rightfully, Karen’s vocals and brilliant songwriting (Richard Carpenter and 🎼 ✍ John Bettis) earn substantial praise on this once in a lifetime classic. That said, the music – the instrumental – deserves plenty of love, too.  “Top Of The World” was produced by 🎛 Jack Daugherty.  The aesthetic created is celestial in itself.  “Top Of The World” has this sensational blend of pop with a dash of country/folk thrown in. There are keys, pedal steel, and strings that complement the sophisticated lead of Karen. Five decades after its arrival, 🎵 “Top Of The World” remains an epic, timeless record.

🎙 Carpenters • 💿 A Song For You • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 📅 1972

Carpenters, “Top Of The World”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 36 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; UMG Recordings, Inc.; John Alan Sperry, PIRO via  Pixabay]