The Carpenters' version from their
Passage album charted worldwide and appeared on several of their hits compilations. The song title appears on the Carpenters' version above the tagline "(The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)". The success of their version led to the duo receiving many letters from people asking when World Contact Day would be held. The song ultimately led to a successful Carpenters television special,
The Carpenters...Space Encounters. While Klaatu's original opens with various sounds of living species, the Carpenters' version opens with a radio
DJ on a request show. The DJ identifies a phone caller as "Mike Ledgerwood". When the DJ asks Mike for his song request, an alien-sounding voice responds. The DJ is voiced by longstanding Carpenters' guitarist
Tony Peluso, who can be seen in that role at the start of the video for the track. The vocal melody ranges from B♭3 to G♭5. The Carpenters' arrangement of the song was later copied on a sound-alike cover released on the 1977 album
Top of the Pops, Volume 62. The cover art was painted by designer
Andrew Probert. Reaching number nine in the
UK Singles Chart in 1977, in a UK television special on
ITV in 2016 it was voted fifth in ''
The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Song''.
Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Music videos The Carpenters had two music videos for "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft": •
Starparade – German TV, 1977; available on their DVD
Gold: Greatest Hits •
Space Encounters – Carpenters' TV special, 1978; available on their DVD
Interpretations Personnel •
Karen Carpenter –
lead and
backing vocals •
Richard Carpenter – lead and backing vocals,
piano,
Hammond organ,
Fender Rhodes electric piano,
ARP Odyssey,
orchestration •
Joe Osborn –
bass •
Tony Peluso –
electric guitar,
DJ •
Ron Tutt –
drums • Earle Dumler –
oboe •
Gregg Smith Singers – backing vocals •
Peter Knight –
orchestral
arrangement • Uncredited – percussion ==References==