Little Girl Blue by Randy L. Schmidt Page B

not one-hit wonders, and it went on to become the wedding song for an entire generation of newlyweds in the 1970s.
    Mark Lindsay’s recording of “Begun” had been put to tape before the Carpenters’, but his remained an album cut. “Mark’s was a lovely record,” says Paul Williams, “but when people heard Karen sing it, that song belonged to her. It’s
her
song.”
    As the
Close to You
album gained momentum and the group’s popularity grew, word of the song “Mr. Guder,” written some three years earlier about the Disneyland supervisor of the same name, reached the ears of its inspiration. Victor Guder returned from a hiking trip in the High Sierra to stacks of mail. Picking up a copy of a trade paper he read a review for
Close to You
that mentioned “Mr. Guder” by name. He immediately called his secretary and asked, “Do you guys know anything about this?”
    â€œNo, we were waiting for you to read it,” she said.
    â€œWell, I’d like to hear the record!”
    Obtaining a copy of the LP, Guder shut the door to his office and placed the needle to the vinyl.
    Mr. Guder, say, Mr. Guder
    Someday soon you may realize
    You’ve blown your life just playing a game
    Where no one wins but everyone stays the same
    â€œWe were kind of shocked at first,” Guder says, “but that’s just part of the game we play. When you’re working for Disney or working for a public company . . . you’re vulnerable to all that stuff. But you know, it didn’t faze us as negative at all. It was done when everybody was kind of anti-establishment, and it was a gimmick they used. They were reflecting the Disney image, ‘coat and tie,’ ‘shine your shoes.’ That’s what Disney stands for. It was very cleverly written.”
    Richard later admitted “Mr. Guder” was written out of anger. “ Looking back, it’s a bit harsh, really . . .,” he explained. “We were a little rebellious and we were finally fired. We wrote this song. But now that the years have gone by and I’m looking back at this, it really wasn’t a very nice thing to do because the man was just doing his job.”
    â€œMr. Guder, party of two,” a waitress in a Newport Beach restaurant called as Victor Guder and his wife awaited seating. As if on cue, the house band began playing the tune. “We sat there and enjoyed it very much,” Guder recalls, “and then had our dinner.”

    H ERB A LPERT was mindful of the Carpenters’ inexperience with the music industry and made numerous efforts to surround them with his most trusted friends and associates, many of whom he had known and respected since the beginning of his own success. He showed care and concern for all artists on the roster but seemed especially protective of Karen and Richard. He viewed A&M Records as a family label, as perceived by radio host Dick Biondi, who called it the “White Motown” during a 1970 interview with Karen and Richard. “ Every direction we could have gone, we didn’t go unless Herbie checked it,” explained Karen several years later. “All I can say is thank heavens for Herb Alpert, because he protected us in every way. There aren’t a lot of people in this world who would do that.”
    Shortly after the Carpenters’ arrival at A&M in 1969, Alpert had forwarded a copy of their
Offering
album to his manager, Sherwin Bash of BNB Management, and suggested he listen and consider representing the act. “ The vocal harmonies, the construction , the thoughts, and the songs were all very good,” Bash recalled, “but there was one thing that I thought was very, very special. It was a girl’s voice that I’d never heard anything like before and I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like since. There are so many people in the world today who are good. . . . Good is not good