Is The Meaning Of We Ve Only Just Begun By Jeff Merron

“The fact that We’ve Only Just Begun is a wedding song did not make any difference to him one way or another, but certainly did to countless couples planning to get married following the record’s release; We’ve Only Just Begun became the wedding song of a generation. In addition, Karen and Richard, Nichols and Williams were bombarded with requests from yearbook committees, asking permission to use We’ve Only Just Begun as the motto of the graduating classes.” (Carpenters Biography 2005, Richard and Karen Carpenter).

As stated in The Carpenters by Decker, “according to the Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, “highlighted Karen’s crystal-clear diction, overladen with intricate harmonies and a faultless production.” ” (48). Following this

“Top Of The World”, as for most of their songs, was a love pop song that appreciated the love that the main character experienced with his/her lover. The instruments in the song were piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums and a tambourine. It created a smooth, harmonious and heartfelt, which is suitable for such a love song. As a result for their success, many people were fan of The Carpenters but they were also criticized by the media because their revolutionary song in pop industry. As Jeff Merron mentioned in “The Carpenters”,

Music critic Rob Hoerburger wrote in the New York Times in 1991: “They always dressed as if they were going to church, and they sang sticky songs about love (but never sex). Worst of all, parents loved their music.” During the Carpenters ' heyday, rock critics described their music as “treacle,” “drippy easy listening,” and “schlock” and their personalities as “squeaky,” “smiley,” and “saccharine.” (519)

Nevertheless, the United States was thrilled by their music during the early 1970s. They even got invited by President Richard Nixon to perform in the White House in 1973 (Merron 519). Besides, The Carpenters were worldwide known musicians by then and they got large fan base also everywhere, especially in Japan and Great Britain.

After this period, Richard Carpenters gone through several treatment for different addiction, one of which was the addiction for Quaalude (Merron 519). Moreover, his sister, Karen Carpenters, went through even more difficult time with her anorexia nervosa and bulimia which caused her lamentable death in 1983 (Reel 101). These were the eating disorder that interfered with Karen’s eating rhythms and caused such symptoms as “abusing thyroid pills, vomiting, and abusing laxatives” (Reel 101). These disorder happened as a result of some comment from the media said that Karen was “chubby” along with her continuous concern about her weight. During that time, the existence and knowledge about eating disorders were little to non; therefore, people, especially the Carpenters family, was simply thought that Karen was just one of those young and healthy women that care about their health at the time (Carpenters Biography 2005, Richard and Karen Carpenter). With such an event, all of their record project as well as world tour in Japan and Great Britain during the late 1970s have to postpone and cancelled, which caused a total shock to their fan and nearly put Karen’s music pathway to an