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MR. GUDER
Music and Lyrics by Richard Carpenter
and John Bettis
John Bettis and I composed
this “anti-establishment” song in late 1967, following our brief stint at
Disneyland®. We had been hired as the piano/banjo act at Coke Corner on
Main Street, U.S.A. and, as such, were required to perform American songs
written around the early 1900s. A problem had started when we honored some
patrons’ requests to play contemporary songs, such as “Somewhere My Love,”
“Yesterday,” “Light My Fire,” et al. Vic Guder, our talent supervisor, was
understandably disgruntled about this. John and I were young and full of
ourselves, and during the ensuing weeks, continued to do as we pleased.
This ultimately led to our dismissal. John and I took great umbrage at
this, and wrote this song. Looking back, I feel we should have been
thankful to have had the job…and adhered to policy.
Irving Music, Inc. (BMI)
Produced by Jack Daugherty
Arranged by Richard Carpenter
Lead Vocal: Karen Carpenter
Backing Vocals: Karen and Richard
Carpenter
Keyboards: Richard Carpenter
Bass: Joe Osborn
Drums: Karen Carpenter
Flute: Bob Messenger
Engineers: Ray Gerhardt and Dick Bogert
From the album
Close To You (1970)
Additional recording and remix done in
1990
Engineer: Roger Young

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