Cover illustration of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang, April 1921
I hit the ol' random play button on Winamp looking for a "Probabilistic Jukebox" song, but this Carpenters track popped up, and I immediately found myself asking two questions: 1) Why did I rip this track to my hard drive? and 2) Why did this song get recorded in the first place? I understand that, in 1974, the Carpenters were best known for their soppy ballads (which I unashamedly love!) and wanted to show that they could do something upbeat and fun. But I don't understand why they thought that this lifeless reproduction of the Marvelettes' 1961 hit was the solution to their problem.
But what do I know? This cover turned out to be one of their biggest worldwide hits, in spite of Richard Carpenter's airless arrangement, Karen's emotionless vocal, and a terrible TERRIBLE saxophone solo. This "Please Mr. Postman" has none of the fun of the Marvelettes original or the fierceness of the Beatles' '63 version. Karen's drumming has some bounce to it, even if it doesn't swing, and the guitar solo (probably by Tony Peluso or Tim May) ends the song nicely, but the song is pretty pointless overall. "Please Mr. Postman" was released as a single in '74 and then on the album Horizon in '75 - it was the Carpenters' last #1 on the US pop charts, which is kind of sad as it is inferior to some of the better singles they had afterward (like "Only Yesterday" and "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft").
"Please Mr. Postman" by the Carpenters
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