Solitaire (Neil Sedaka song)

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"Solitaire" is a ballad composed by Neil Sedaka with lyrics by Phil Cody and originally recorded by Sedaka on his 1972 album Solitaire. It uses the card game of solitaire as a metaphor for a man "who lost his love through his indifference"—"while life goes on around him everywhere he's playing solitaire". A version by Andy Williams reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart in 1973. In 1975, the song was a U.S. top-20 single for the Carpenters.

Early versions

Sedaka originally was inspired by Frederic Chopin (his favorite classical composer) for the chorus and by Roberta Flack in the verses. When he presented the tune to Cody, he came up with the words based on his recent divorce; Cody had been playing solitaire frequently as a coping mechanism. Both Sedaka and Cody considered the composition to be a spiritual experience.[1]

Neil Sedaka recorded "Solitaire" as the title cut for a 1972 album at Strawberry Studios, Stockport, England backed by Lol Creme, Kevin Godley and Graham Gouldman while Eric Stewart engineered the session. Creme, Godley, Gouldman and Stewart would later go on to record under the name 10cc.

Appearing on 1972 album releases by both Tony Christie and Petula Clark, "Solitaire" had its first evident single release in February 1973 as recorded by the Searchers; however it was an autumn 1973 single by Andy Williams which would reach number 4 in the UK Singles Chart and afford Williams a number 1 hit in South Africa.[2] The title cut from an album produced by Richard Perry, Williams' "Solitaire" also became a US Easy Listening hit at number 23. In 1974, Neil Sedaka's 1972 recording of "Solitaire" was included on his comeback album Sedaka's Back. Later in 1975, a live-in-concert version recorded by Sedaka at the Royal Festival Hall was issued as the B-side of "The Queen of 1964". This is the version of "Solitaire" that was released as part of Razor & Tie's 2007 Definitive Collection album.

Carpenters version

The Carpenters recorded "Solitaire" for the 1975 Horizon album; Richard Carpenter, familiar with the song via the versions by Neil Sedaka and Andy Williams, was "not crazy" about the song, but he felt it would showcase Karen Carpenter's vocal expertise. Despite assessing her vocal performance on "Solitaire" as "one of [her] greatest", Richard says that, "she never liked the song [and]...she never changed her opinion."[3]

"Solitaire" was issued as the third single from Horizon; for the single version a guitar lead was added between the first verse and chorus.

The single reached #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the duo's least successful single since "Bless the Beasts and Children" in 1971. However "Solitaire" did afford the Carpenters their twelfth of fifteen number 1 Easy Listening hits.

Personnel

Chart performance

Andy Williams version

Chart (1973–74) Peak
position
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[4] 34
Template:Singlechart
New Zealand (Listener)[5] 18
South Africa (Springbok)[6] 1
UK Singles Chart[7] 4
US Billboard Easy Listening 23

Year-end charts

Chart (1974) Rank
South Africa [8] 5
UK [9] 52

Carpenters version

Chart (1975) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report) 61
Canada RPM Top Singles 12
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[10] 3
Quebec (ADISQ)[11] 47
Oricon (Japanese) Singles Chart 44
New Zealand (RIANZ) 6
UK Singles Chart 32
US Billboard Hot 100 17
US Billboard Easy Listening[12] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[13] 15
US Cashbox Radio Active Airplay Singles 2

Year-end charts

Chart (1975) Rank
Canada[14] 116
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening[15] 40

Other notable cover versions

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Different version of the lyrics

There are significant differences between the lyrics in the Neil Sedaka, Andy Williams and Carpenters versions. Andy Williams asked Philip Cody to rewrite the lyrics and make them more personal, perhaps reflecting his then current separation from his wife, while the Carpenters took some of the Andy Williams changes but elsewhere kept Phil Cody's original lyrics. Cody has said he now prefers the Carpenters version.[16]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Template:Cbignore
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ John Tobler. The Complete Guide to the Music of the Carpenters (1997); Omnibus Press, London; Template:ISBN; p. 66
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Flavour of New Zealand, 4 May 1974
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  15. ↑ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1975
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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