Solitaire (Neil Sedaka song)

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"Solitaire"
U.S. Picture Sleeve
Single by The Carpenters
from the album Horizon
B-side "Love Me for What I Am"
Released
July 18, 1975
Format 7" single
Recorded
1975
Genre Pop
Length 4:40
Label A&M
1721
Writer(s)
Neil Sedaka, Phil Cody
Producer(s)
Richard Carpenter
The Carpenters singles chronology
"Only Yesterday"
(1975) "Solitaire"
(1975) "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)"
(1976)
"Solitaire" is a ballad written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody. Cody employs playi
ng 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 soli
taire". The song is best known via its rendition by the Carpenters.
Contents
1
2
3
4
5
6

Early versions
The Carpenters version
Personnel
Other cover versions
See also
References

Early versions
Neil Sedaka recorded "Solitaire" as the title cut for a 1972 album recorded at S
trawberry Studios, Manchester: 10cc members Lol Creme, Kevin Godley and Graham G
ouldman accompanied Sedaka while Eric Stewart also of 10cc engineered the sessio
n. Appearing on 1972 album releases by both Tony Christie and Petula Clark, "Sol
itaire" 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 re
ach #4 UK and afford Williams a #1 hit in South Africa. The title cut from an al
bum produced by Richard Perry, Williams' "Solitaire" also became a US Easy Liste
ning hit at #23. In 1974 Neil Sedaka's 1972 recording of "Solitaire" was include
d 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 Qu
een of 1964. This is the version of "Solitaire" that was released as part of Raz
or & Tie's 2007 Definitive Collection album.
The Carpenters version
The Carpenters recorded "Solitaire" for the 1975 Horizon album; Richard Carpente
r, familiar with the song via the versions by Neil Sedaka and Andy Williams, was
"not crazy" about the song but felt it would showcase Karen Carpenter's vocal e
xpertise and Richard Carpenter would assess Karen Carpenter's performance on "So

litaire" as "one of [her] greatest" adding "she never liked the song [and]...she
never changed her opinion."[1]
"Solitaire" was issued as the third single from Horizon; for the single version
a guitar lead was added between the first verse and chorus. It hit #17 on the Bi
llboard Hot 100, their least successful single since their pre-stardom A&M debut
"Ticket to Ride" in 1969; it signaled a downturn in the group's popularity whic
h, consolidated by the Top Ten shortfall of the lead single and title cut of the
1976 album A Kind of Hush, would prove irreversible. "Solitaire" did afford the
Carpenters their twelfth of fifteen #1 Easy Listening hits.