I stumbled upon this gem of a video on YouTube recently, and it was just the most amazing thing.
It’s the story of how “Goodbye To Love” was conceived, told by none other than Richard Carpenter himself.
Now I’ve listened to many Carpenters songs, and while I think many of them are excellent…my favourite Carpenters song has and always will be “Goodbye To Love”, because of both its musical and lyrical genius.
There are many beautiful chord changes in the song which may not be apparent at first glance. And the lyrics…wow, just the best thing ever.
The clip also touches on the rather unusual (but brilliant) guitar solo that was incorporated into the song.
It’s an unusual bit because until that song came about, all the Carpenters songs never really had such fuzzy rock-sounding guitar work before. And the solo itself was a thing of beauty, cos when it first starts out, it mimics the melodic line and you think “Ah well, this guitarist is just imitating the entire melody”…but then after a few lines he launches into this crazy, wild whirlwind of a rock-influenced guitar solo.
What an amazing song.
I never tire of listening to “Goodbye To Love”.
