The Carpenters – We’ve only just begun
An evening pause: Performed live 1971.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
1408 ruined this for me.
Karen Carpenter is probably under-rated as a singer. Her voice is ‘pure’, with good breath control.
I grew up in a small town in western Canada. It was small enough that people knew what you had for breakfast and weddings were serious business. (In some cases, those were the social events of the year. Whoever had the fanciest ceremony and reception won.)
I’m sure that song was performed by a number of bands at those functions.
“I grew up in a small town in western Canada.”
[Raises hand} High school. Not Canada; but small towns are small towns everywhere. Weddings: Big Deal. And, should be, for the principals.
I’m sure we could swap a few stories about life in a small town. The one I grew up in was much like the ones portrayed in movies such as American Graffiti, October Sky, and The Last Picture Show.
There were several places in town where one could hold a reception. One of them was the local Elks hall which, for many years, was two blocks away from my parents’ house. We often heard much of the hooting and hollering from those whoop-ups, particularly during the summer.
I remember when a certain young lady I knew from high school got hitched and the reception was held there. If the Carpenters song had been played, it didn’t do much good. The couple divorced the following year.
BMJ wrote: “Whoever had the fanciest ceremony and reception won.”
This is the case everywhere. A couple could go to the justice of the peace, or they could celebrate that the next generation was getting ready to create the following generation. Mom and Pop are about to become proud grandparents.
“I’m sure that song was performed by a number of bands at those functions.”
It was very popular in the 1970s and 1980s, in the United States. It was played so often that I started hearing complaints that it was too ubiquitous. No one complained about Here Comes the Bride, but We’ve only just begun is so much more appropriate.
Here Comes the Bride is based on the wedding processional from the third act of Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, so that tune isn’t entirely out of place.
While on the subject of songs that are, as you describe, ubiquitous, many wedding receptions include a dance. When I was much younger, just about every band I knew of that played at those functions included Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Proud Mary. As much as I like CCR’s music, that’s one song I now try to avoid.
That’s already scheduled for tonight.