“And Solitaire’s the only game in town
And every road that takes him, takes him down.”

In setting out to chronicle the thirty-eight year history of the song, “Solitaire,” I thought it best to keep the chatter down to a minimum and just let the cover recordings tell the story. Missing from the play list is the Johnny Mathis version, which I have never heard and which seems to be missing from all the digital collections of Mathis’ material. I’ve tried to keep the play list in chronological order but placed the Neil Sedaka version ahead of Andy Williams, because I felt the original should take precedence.
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Sedaka and I wrote “Solitaire” in 1971. It was one of the first tunes we wrote together and was not very well received by the folks at Don Kirshner Music, our publisher at the time. There seemed to be a general lack of faith in the song’s potential “earning power,” the feeling at the company being that we had written a “nice” song and that we should now devote our efforts to writing hits. Yet, here I am, four decades and a bazillion cover recordings later, talking about what is, essentially, the most covered song that Neil and I have ever written.

In 1972, Sedaka flew to London and, with the musical backing of the band, 10 c.c., recorded “Solitaire” as part of a British album entitled, strangely enough, “Solitaire.” The song appeared for the first time in the U.S., in 1973, on an album by Andy Williams called . . . get this . . . “Solitaire.” I wasn’t all that crazy about the Williams version. His producer, Richard Perry, had me rewrite the lyric in the first person and had me change some of the imagery to reflect Williams’ less edgy sensibilities. The first person thing didn’t work for me.

In 1974, Sedaka’s original version of the tune appeared on “Sedaka’s Back,” his first U.S. album on Rocket Records. Sedaka was back and I was getting my first taste of success.

Karen and Richard Carpenter cut the song for their 1975 album, “Horizon.” The Carpenters’ version incorporates some of the lyric changes made for the Andy Williams recording but keeps the song in the third person. I consider this the definitive version of the song and Karen Carpenter’s vocal and her interpretation of the lyric turns me into a weeping pile of mush, every time I hear it.

I received my first and only ASCAP Country Music Award in 1976 when Elvis Presley included his interpretation of  “Solitaire”  on his album,” Live From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis Tennessee.”  Whatever else had gone before, I could now look at my songwriting career with the surety that I had “made it.” Elvis had done my song!

Eighteen years later, “Solitaire” made an appearance on the Carpenters tribute album, “If I Were A Carpenter.” Sheryl Crow’s cover is my all-time favorite. It’s such a radical departure from all the other versions of the tune. I call it the schlockless version and I love it.

In 2004, “Solitaire” was relased as a single for the first time and went to number one on the Billboard singles charts. Clay Aiken’s version of the song is very big and very gaudy and very appropriate.

At the beginning of this article I promised to keep the chattering down to a minimum and I’ve fudged on that promise considerably but, before closing, I would like to emphasize one fact:

There would be no history of “Solitaire” if not for the melodic virtuosity of Neil Sedaka. Regardless of what you may think of this particular style of music, he is a true genius of the genre and artists would not have lined up in droves to sing his wonderful melodies were it not so.

Thanks for listening.

PC

You can purchase any of the CDs, containing the tunes in this article by visiting the
Zookini Music Record Store

Correction: The Carpenters released Solitaire  as a single in 1975.  Aiken’s 2004 release was the second.

Filed under: Music • Songs

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