Inside Tracks #49: Neil Sedaka, "Solitaire," 1972, w/Covers by Carpenters, Jane Olivor, Elvis, Nana Mouskouri, Dana Valery, Mark Lanegan, & More

In a collab with Steve Goldberg, we celebrate the career of the late Neil Sedaka! We'll deep-dive into his & Phil Cody's "Solitaire," with a few covers we picked out, separately! Let's deal you in!🃏

New Deck and Shuffle

Good friend and Northern Californian, Steve Goldberg of Earworms and Song Loops, wrote a magnificent article merging Sedaka’s recent passing and his family, here:

Growing Up Sedaka

We also wanted to go a bit further, collab-wise, and give a more musical and memory-filled so-long to singer-songwriter, Sedaka. So, we shuffled the deck, and drew the cards of our favorite “Solitaire” covers from over the decades!

Secondhandsongs has managed to grow enough fingers to count 138 covers of the Sedaka/Cody ballad, and Steve and I (without consulting each other) each chose a handful of favored covers, and this we call “Inside Tracks”! Steve is no stranger to “Inside Tracks,” as he brought his funky “Monkey Man” article, just for us in late ‘22:

Inside Tracks Guest Post by Steve Goldberg: "Monkey Man" by Stones, Toots/Maytals & Smithereens

And, of course, Steve’s no stranger to Tune Tag, either:

Tune Tag #110 with Steve Goldberg of Earworms & Song Loops, Pt. 4: Eddie Murphy, 10cc, Melissa Manchester, Nick Mason, Joe Piscopo, Jennifer Love Hewitt

Sedaka (l) and lyricist, fellow singer/songwriter/recording artist, Phil Cody

“Solitaire” is a ballad composed by Neil with lyrics by his new lyricist, Phil Cody (after parting ways with longtime wordsmith, Howard Greenfield), and was originally recorded on Sedaka’s 1972 album, Solitaire. It uses the solo card game as a metaphor for a man “who lost his love through his indifference”—“while life goes on around him everywhere, he’s playing solitaire.”

Neil, from 2020, gives us his personal insights and memories of both of his lyricists, Greenfield, and Cody. Neil’s Cody memories with how they came to write “Solitaire” (Neil plays it, and is moved to tears) kick off this must-watch video:

A cover by Andy Williams (produced by Richard Perry) reached #4 in the UK in ‘74 (in fact, Williams titled his 31st studio album, in Fall of ‘73, after the song). Click here for a live performance from Andy on NBC-TV’s The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson).

In 1975, the song was a U.S. Top-20 single for Carpenters:

Karen and Richard in 1975.

Steve Goldberg Deals Us In:

I would guess that most people know “Solitaire” from the 1975 version by Carpenters. Many of the covers in the list Brad and I worked with erroneously credit the siblings as the writers/composers of the tune. Mark Lanegan’s link calls it a Carpenters song. Sheryl Crow’s version (which I almost chose for this piece), from the excellent Carpenters’ tribute album, If I Were a Carpenter, says “The Carpenters Cover.”

I get that Carpenters’ version was a bigger chart hit, but stuff like this irks me. It’s not the same as most people not knowing that Sedaka wrote “Love Will Keep Us Together,” which was made popular by Captain & Tennille, since Neil’s original was never released as a single in the U.S.

That said, Karen’s vocals here are gorgeous and imbue the song with as much emotional heft as I would think humanly possible. But I’d say that for nearly every Carpenters song. Even “Top of the World” (written by John Bettis and Richard) brings me to tears.

Brad’s Intro & Chosen “Solitaire” Covers

Jason Elias of Allmusic said of “Solitaire” (from Carpenters’ 1975 Horizon album), that the song is “melodramatic, but a great match for [Karen’s] voice.”

Allmusic’s Ed Hogan allows this about the song: “Sedaka had written the melody of ‘Solitaire,’ letting his love of the music of Chopin, Roberta Flack, and Harry Nilsson be his guide. When combined with the lyrics of collaborator Phil Cody, the melancholy mood of the song brought Sedaka to tears.

“It originally appeared on Sedaka’s Sedaka’s Back album, which was only issued in the UK, and was a Top 5 UK hit and Top 30 U.S. Adult Contemporary single for Andy Williams in 1974. The following year, Carpenters covered the song after hearing Sedaka, who was their opening act, perform the song. ‘Solitaire’ went to #17 pop and #1 Adult Contemporary in the fall of 1975.”

The duo produced, while Richard did so expertly what he did with virtually every Carpenters side: orchestrated and arranged, with the cream of L.A.’s seasoned session players. Richard opens with the quietest of piano intros, allowing Karen’s buttery rich alto to breathe without competition.

This is a compilation video of several different YouTube content creators first-reacting and/or expert-dissecting The Carpenters’ “Solitaire” arrangement (and Karen’s singing). It’s hit’n’miss, quality-wise, but may be worth auditioning:

Dana Valery, 1975

Mere weeks after Carpenters’ cover, Dana (pronounced Donna) Valery (accent on the second syllable: vuh-LAIR-ee) released one of the first true “belter” versions, on Phantom/RCA Records (it would take seven years before the fabulous’n’brassy Shirley Bassey out-belted her on “Solitaire” in 1982!). Curiously produced by former Mountain Long-Island thud-rocker, Leslie West, he also provides the very rock-arena guitar solo herein. Ah, now I know! Valery provided backing vocals and a duet with the guitarist on his 1975 Phantom/RCA album, The Great Fatsby!

It certainly starts off sedate enough:

Jane Olivor, 1978

And, now to the Great White Way, and the deft cabaret stylings of Jane Olivor, from 1978, on Columbia Records, and produced by Jason Darrow. Now 78, Olivor released 5 albums from the late 1970s through the early ‘80s. Her stage fright, anxiety over her rapid success, and her husband’s illness and death caused her to take a 10-year hiatus. She released five more albums from 1995 through 2004, and since 2009, has been retired from the public eye.

The MTV Connection: Patricia Paay, 1983

Dutch singer, radio host, glamour model and TV personality, Patricia Paay was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and is well-known for her 4-decade musical career. She is also regularly featured on Dutch television and in Dutch tabloid media.

In 1984, Paay was the first glamour model in the Dutch edition of Playboy. In 2009, Paay posed for the December issue of the Dutch version of the magazine at age 60, making it the third time she had posed for Playboy.

She was married to MTV VJ, Adam Curry (above), between 1989 and 2009.

Fil/Wings of Pegasus gives an expert analysis of Neil’s vocal performance in this 1976 live “Solitaire”:

Steve makes his clever music choices with the same discerning taste and acumen as he chooses his Tune Tag merch…here, he’s shown enjoying his new Tune Tag travel mug! For our March Birthday Bash Bonanza, all Tune Tag merch (and FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE Merch, too!) is all 10% OFF! Make you selections today, at the FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE and Tune Tag Gift Shoppe!

Steve Takes Us Home: Solitaire - The Only Game in Town

When I heard that Neil Sedaka had passed, I mourned by going down a rabbit hole of listening to his vast discography and watching a plethora of YouTube videos. Some of the videos were interviews with Neil at various points in his life.

One of them was a recent interview with YouTube’s The Professor of Rock. In the interview, Neil reveals the origins of “Solitaire.” The relevant part starts at 8:48:

Phil told Songfacts: “Neil just hit me with a lot of sad music, and that kind of thing for me was a surprise - I didn't know I had that in me. But Neil encouraged me to make him cry. So I went for that particular part of Neil's throat - I was trying to get a reaction out of Neil, and if I got a reaction out of Neil, I knew I'd done good.”

Brad sent me a link to a page listing nearly 140 different covers of “Solitaire.” And that didn’t include several more that I’d found in my own research.

I didn’t listen to all of them (I have a life, and want to maintain some sanity), but I did scan through 20-30 versions of the song. In my opinion, none are better than the original, but several are worthy successors. Here are a few standouts:

Elvis Presley, 1976

During a 2011 interview with Songfacts, Cody discussed his feelings about Elvis’ “Solitaire”:

“It’s sort of weirdly histrionic,” he said. “I mean, I’m happy about it. It’s a wonderful way to sit down and start a conversation. I had an ASCAP Country Award with Elvis for ‘Solitaire.’ That’s always nice on my resumé.”

Schwartz Stories #1: Viva Hilton! Stephen Michael Schwartz Meets RCA Label-Mate Elvis Presley, Las Vegas 1974-EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Nana Mouskouri, 1984

Ioanna “Nana” Mouskouri is a Greek singer and politician. Over the span of her career (almost 70 years!), she has released an estimated 450 albums in at least thirteen languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Hebrew, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese, and Corsican.

This lovely 1984 version of “Solitaire,” sung in French, captures the dramatic emotion of the original, but is definitely more orchestrated and syrupy.

Mark Lanegan, 2013

The late Mark Lanegan became famous for his powerful, emotive vocals for grunge pioneers, Screaming Trees. When he went solo in 1997, he branched out into a whole lot of sonic directions, recording several albums with Isobel Campbell (Belle and Sebastian).

Three different people pointed out this version of “Solitaire” to me when I wrote my previous post that featured the song. I would have likely chosen Lanegan’s stripped-down, dirge-y version for this list anyway, but the readers’ suggestions cemented its inclusion here. I also love that he changed the protagonist from 3rd-person to 1st-person. It makes the song even more heartbreaking.

Carlos Futura, 1979

Christian Bruhn, one-half of Carlos Futura

Carlos Futura was near the bottom of the list that Brad supplied me to choose my final four. I was fully burned out on the song after hearing dozens of fairly faithful, but dull versions at that point. Like the character in the song, I was becoming indifferent.

I needed someone — anyone — to show me a unique and inspired take on Neil’s classic. Enter Carlos Futura. I would describe this electronic instrumental version as sounding somewhere between Esquivel and a milder Wendy Carlos.

According to German Wikipedia, Carlos Futura is the pseudonym of the two composers and musicians, Christian Bruhn (above) and Klaus Netzle (pictured below).

In 1979, they released two synthesizer albums under the Carlos Futura name: Bach for Computer, with new arrangements of Johann Sebastian Bach compositions, and Sound Fantasy, with unique electronic arrangements of rock and pop songs of the day, including “Solitaire.” Both albums were released on Metronome Records in Germany.

Klaus Netzle, the other half of Carlos Futura.

Finale: Sedaka, live in Chile, 1980