Memories Of Rock: “Superstar” by The Carpenters

Written by Leon Russell and Bonnie Bramlett, “Groupie (Superstar),” as it was first known, appeared on the B-side of Delaney and Bonnie’s 1969 single “Comin’ Home,” which didn’t do much in the States but made the UK Top 20, no doubt because of the heavily-marketed presence on the record of Eric Clapton. Russell then took the song out on Joe Cocker’s 1970 Mad Dogs And Englishmen tour and gave it to backing singer Rita Coolidge to perform as a solo feature, this time simply naming the song “Superstar.”

Sometime in 1971 Richard Carpenter was watching The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson when he heard the song, sung by a young, up-and-coming singer named Bette Midler. It took a while to convince Karen that the song was worth covering (a minor lyric change was necessary) but she seemed able to delve into its barely concealed grief deeper than anyone else had managed – so much so that, listening to it, one forgets there was ever such a thing as groupies; Karen catches a ghost, perhaps the ghost of this chimerical thing called “rock” which once upon a time had been there but had now vanished into the irretrievable ether. She certainly did a better job of articulating that bottomless loss than McLean managed on “American Pie.”

Date Record Made Number Two: 16 October 1971

Number Of Weeks At Number Two: 2

Record At Number One: “Maggie May/Reason To Believe” by Rod Stewart

UK Chart Position: 18 (as half of a double A-side with “For All We Know”)

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