The song For All We Know was written by Fred Karlin, Jimmy Griffin, Robb Royer and was featured in the film Lovers and Other Strangers. Karlan composed the music. Griffin and Royer supplied the the lyrics first using the names Arthur James and Robb Wilson.

Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin were both members of the pop group Bread. Royer was the bass player while Griffin played guitar. Griffin and Royer wrote many of the songs (about 1/2 of the songs on their early albums were written by the team Griffin and Royer while the other half were written by David Gates) but none of their chart hits.

It became a Carpenters song by accident. Richard Carpenter was relaxing while on tour and decided to see the movie, Upon hearing the song he thought that it would be a good idea to record the song with his sister Karen.

They released it in early 1971, their followup single to We’ve Only Just Begun and their Christmas song Merry Christmas Darling. It reached Number 3 on the US charts and was the first single from their album Carpenters and their 4th (5th if including Merry Christmas Darling)

It was a hit throughout the world, but in the UK it was not their version that charted the highest. Theirs peaked at Number 18 while Shirley Bassey reached Number 6.

The song won the 1971 Academy Award for Best Original Song. Even though they were the ones to make the song popular, they were not allowed to perform the song at the awards ceremony since they were not in the movie.

The Carpenters are an act that many who came of age in the 1970s may not want to admit that they enjoyed. Their music was closer to bubblegum pop than rock of the day and listening to them as a High School student brought on ridicule by ones peers.

And as a fan of the singles of the day, especially during the 1971-73 period, Carpenters songs may or may not have been part of my collection. For All We Know was one, but still it seemed as if every time one of their songs were played on the radio, it was enjoyable.

On their 1971 appearance on the Johhny Cash Show they not only performed For All We Know, but also their followup single Rainy Days and Mondays.

Rainy Days and Mondays shows how a single line or the title of the song can become a commonly used phrase. I still hear people on a rainy day, especially when it’s a Monday, utter this phrase.

The song was written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams and was one of their first hit songs. Others would be recorded by acts such as Three Dog Night and Barbra Streisand.

The Carpenters reached Number 2 on the US charts.

The brother and sister duo The Carpenters recorded this song in 1970 early in their career. When they release their Christmas Portrait album in 1978, they recorded a newer version of the song. The only difference between the versions is that in 1978. Karen Carpenter requested to rerecord the song since in 1970 she felt that her voice was more deep and husky while in 1978 it was softer.

The words of the song was written by Frank Pooler who was director of the University Choir at California State University at Long Beach when Richard Carpenter was attending in 1966. He asked Richard to put a poem that he wrote in 1946.

The song was released as a Christmas single many times and in 1970, 1971 and 1973 it was the top Christmas single.

In 1970 a few Pop artists released Christmas Albums, but after that until the Carpenters released Christmas Portrait in 1978, few artists recorded a full Christmas album. Their record company A&M Records had been reluctant allow them to release on, but by 1978 and their recording of three popular Christmas songs, Christmas Portrait was released. The album was a success.

The decade of the seventies were full of songs featuring the voice of Karen Carpenter. While her brother Richard was playing the keyboards, Karen was a drummer.

This clip features many performances of her playing the drums. And as you can see from the huge smiles on her face as she’s playing she looks as if she was more comfortable with the sticks in her hand than with a microphone.

She was another of the artists of the 70′s that left us too soon. But she’ll be forever remembered.

The Carpenters are one of many great artist of the 70′s that for some reason have not been elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.