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Long ago, and, oh, so far away I fell in love with you before the second show. Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear, but you're not really here. It's just the radio. Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby? You said you'd be coming back this way again baby. Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby. I love you, I really do. Loneliness is such a sad affair, and I can hardly wait to be with you again. What to say, to make you come again? Come back to me again, and play your sad guitar.
Occasionally, the Carpenters return home early enough from the recording studio or concert dates to catch Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. One evening as Richard was watching the show, a female singer with a Mae West strut was going to perform a love song of today about a groupie. It was Bette Midler singing Superstar. Again, Richard heard the song as a totally different musical conception in his mind and was excited by its potential.
Ironically, although it was first recorded by Rita Coolidge on the Joe Cocker Mad Dogs And Englishmen album, Superstar is a song almost tailored to Karen's voice. Heavy on the most singable vowel sounds and perfect for her vocal range, it is a natural. The vocal track that you hear on this album is the first time that Karen ever sang Superstar, reading the lyrics written on a napkin. Her interpretation was so perfect, they decided to utilize this "first take luck." Even though the album with that song on it had already sold a million copies by the time that Superstar was released, it became the fifth gold single for the Carpenters within eight weeks.
In the notes to the Carpenters: The Compact Disc Collection, Richard Carpenter wrote:
Superstar - I came home from the studio one nightand heard a then relattively unknown Bette Midler performing this song on the "Tonight Show". I could barely wait to arrange and record it. (It remains one of my favorites).
