#Carly Simon #pop rock #folk rock #singer-songwriter #1970s #music video #TV concert
Most love songs exist in the present tense: “I love you.” Occasionally, some delve into the past, reminiscing about when the lovers met or how far they’ve come in their relationship. The idea of the future in these songs tends to be hazier, defined at best by an assumption of everlasting love. (Even the seemingly noncommittal “I may not always love you” of “God Only Knows” is a red herring.) The narrator of Carly Simon’s 1971 single “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” however, is fixated on predicting the future of her relationship, and what she foretells is bleak. She and her husband-to-be may be in love now, but within that love, hate - for each other, for themselves - lurks like a dormant virus. For her, a marriage proposal isn’t a declaration of love; it’s the trigger for that virus to attack, replicating itself till they’re both stricken.
As Carly Simon’s first single and opening track on her debut album, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” (co-written with lyricist Jacob Brackman) introduced the singer as an archetypal ’70s woman, attempting to reconcile traditional relationship models with the gains of second-wave feminism. On the surface, the sentiments in the song’s chorus could have been drawn from a wedding song like “Chapel of Love,” where marriage stands for happily ever after:“you say it’s time we moved in together/ and raised a family of our own, you and me.” The minor-key verses surrounding the chorus, however, bespeak only doubt. Simon recounts her negative observations of other married couples over a fragile piano-strings arrangement: her parents ignoring each other in separate rooms; the frustration and dissatisfaction of her college friends.
Rather than marriage bringing two people together, all she can conjure is disconnection, the couples uniting only to “cling and claw and drown in love’s debris.” She also worries that marriage will mean giving up an equal relationship for the lesser position of wife (“you say we’ll soar like two birds through the clouds/ but soon you’ll cage me on your shelf”). It’s this sacrifice that she fears will breed hate, from resentment between the two partners, to self-loathing, to eventually even disgust from their future children.
Her dismal observations in the verses shift to his entreaties for marriage in the chorus, and with his more conventional perspective comes a more conventional rock arrangement. Thudding drums trample over the music-box instrumentation. The tinkling piano keys swap out for crashing chords. Simon’s voice is no longer a whisper tip-toeing around empty hallways, but something more forceful, even a little sarcastic (see the title line).
By the end of the chorus, though, the brashness fades. The instrumentation drains away, leaving Simon’s voice suspended in midair, supported by only a faint string line. Her tentative “we’ll marry” sounds less like a statement of purpose than a question, an impression furthered by the unresolved melody line. By the third and final chorus, she appears to have assented to his proposal, altering the opening of the refrain from “but you say it’s time” to “well, OK, it’s time.” Simon’s voice on the final “marry” is doubled for the only time in the song’s run. Does this imply a successful partnership between the narrator and her husband? Or is it the ghost of her future self, echoing from a lonely room?
Crucially, the words “hate” and “love” appear exactly the same number of times in the song (twice each), creating a perfect ambiguity as to which path their marriage will follow. For all the narrator’s prognostications of misery, the song suggests there’s an equal chance that the relationship will continue to flourish. She can be no more certain of her future than those lovers in songs foretelling eternal bliss.
From: https://oneweekoneband.tumblr.com/post/39585806110/carly-simon-thats-the-way-ive-always-heard-it
The Schaefer Brewing Company had been sponsoring a summer concert series in New York’s Central Park prior to 1971. In August of that year, The Beach Boys, Ike and Tina Turner, and several others hosted the Good Vibrations From Central Park show. The who’s who of the music world was in attendance. James Taylor, Carole King, Art Garfunkel, and George Harrison. Not to mention the hosts, The Beach Boys and Ike and Tina Turner. The magic was certainly alive that night. One of the most well-received acts was Carly Simon.
This was one of Carly’s first appearances on National Television as a solo artist. She had been performing with her sister Lucy as a duo named The Simon Sisters for a few years. Carly walked on stage, captivating the hundreds of attendees in the audience. Her stage presence was insanely awe-striking. She performed two songs that later became hits. “Anticipation” was performed but wouldn’t be a hit for another six months. Next, Carly sang “That’s The Way I Always Thought It Should Be.” Simon mentioned prior to singing it, “Gonna sing a song that I heard on Jone’s Beach today. Anyways, it’s kinda a weird song about marriage.” This was Simon’s first single. She received a standing ovation by whistling and applauding fans. Some of her contemporaries listened to the budding star backstage. Art Garfunkel and George Harrison chatted in the wings, and I’m sure they were just as awe-struck as the Central Park attendees. From: https://dailyrockbox.com/carly-simon-gets-standing-ovation-guess-whos-backstage-listening/
