Close To You
當時與The Beatles、The Beach Boys的作品合稱為「the Three B's」之名作曲家伯特拜克拉(Burt Bacharach)前去拜訪A&M唱片公司的另外一位老闆謝利摩斯(Jerry Moss)，提起在電台廣播中聽到卡本特樂隊的《Ticket to Ride》，非常喜歡。謝利告訴伯特，卡本特樂隊是A&M旗下的藝人，伯特就要求謝利和他的拍擋赫伯幫忙，希望理查可以把一些他的名曲重新改編成一段混和曲(Medley)，為他替某醫院的慈善義演作開場表演。
赫伯建議理查採用伯特發表於1963年的一首作品《They Long to Be Close to You》。伯特曾經希望理查錄製這首歌曲，不過赫伯覺得有一句歌詞似乎不太合適，而紅歌星狄安華韋克(Dionne Warwick)數年前曾錄製過這首歌，所以沒有予以灌錄，建議改編應用在混和曲裡。但這首歌和理查選好的其他應用在混和曲裡的作品並不太搭配，所以最後並沒有採用這首歌曲。理查對於這首歌的旋律始終念念不忘，當卡本特樂隊製作第二張專輯時，便收錄了這首歌。而理查覺得原本的歌名《They Long to Be Close to You》太長了，於是把前面的四個單字加上括弧，變成《(They Long to Be) Close to You》，亦簡稱為《Close to You》。
1970年，卡本特樂隊的《Close to You》和同名的專輯上市發行，銷量超過百萬張。果然和理查的預言一樣，《Close to You》這首歌很快登上了流行榜的冠軍寶座，蟬聯四個星期之久，也讓卡本特樂隊奪得該年度的「最佳新進藝人」和「最佳流行組合」兩項格林美獎(Grammy Awards)；翌年再次獲得第三項格林美獎「最佳流行組合」。
About Astor
Astor is able to express herself with logical literacy but full of artistic feelings. She acts to record her valuable, interesting and unforgettable experiences during her travel and plans to share with others her instant feelings, thoughtful insights and findings via poems, free verses, prose, narration, reference, etc.
Music, Movie, Musicals and Me
Music and theatre have had a close relationship. Theatre can associate with movie or musical theatre (musicals) and I love both of them. I sing theme songs in some Asian movies, such as“When I Dream” (theme from “Dragon Squad”). It easily recalls people not only from scenes of the movie, but also from memory. I love theme music from movies as well as songs from Musicals, especially Broadway. I remember I have fallen in love with Broadway since I was 12. Musical films characteristically contain elements reminiscent of theatre; performers often sing and dance as if there is a live audience watching. Some musical films were adapted for the stage after their great success, such as “The Wizard of Oz” and“Fame”, while successful musicals also definitely received movie adaptations, i.e. stage-to-film adaptations, such as“Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita”. We can share our moments after all these years by passing through “Over the Rainbow”, “Out Here On My Own”, “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”, “You Must Love Me” ……
“Moon River” (theme from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”) has to be selected in my new album "Theatre" although it has been covered by hundreds of artists all over the world. I sing it each time, it seems like a live performance accompanied by the pianist just in front of the audience.
“The Way We Were” (theme from “The Way We Were”) must be selected because it was the song of one of my favorite singers that influences me most, Barbra Streisand, and I won the singing contest with it!
“For All We Know” (theme from “Lovers and OtherStrangers”) was selected, of course, in tribute to my forever idol, the Carpenters.
WORDS from Astor :
I hope all of you would like the presentation of my albums.
Everlasting love dedicated to SUPERSTAR...
My dearest family,
Mom and Dad,
Uncle,
Tony,
Jan.
All the one I love,
Teachers and tutors, who have enlightened me,
All singers and writers of the original songs, especially Karen and Richard Carpenter.
All musicians,
All my fans and friends.
Thanks GOD.
Astor Fong
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當時與The Beatles、The Beach Boys的作品合稱為「the Three B's」之名作曲家伯特拜克拉(Burt Bacharach)前去拜訪A&M唱片公司的另外一位老闆謝利摩斯(Jerry Moss)，提起在電台廣播中聽到卡本特樂隊的《Ticket to Ride》，非常喜歡。謝利告訴伯特，卡本特樂隊是A&M旗下的藝人，伯特就要求謝利和他的拍擋赫伯幫忙，希望理查可以把一些他的名曲重新改編成一段混和曲(Medley)，為他替某醫院的慈善義演作開場表演。
