Richard Carpenter of
Carpenters heard the song during an evening of relaxation at the movies while on tour. He decided it would be ideal for the duo. It became a hit for them in
1971, reaching No. 3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, spending seven weeks in the Top 10, and No. 1 for three weeks on the US
easy listening chart. It also became Carpenters' third consecutive top-five single in the
Billboard Hot 100. According to Richard, the intro was originally played on guitar. They had run into
Jose Feliciano in a restaurant, who was a big fan of theirs and wanted to play on one of their records. They went into the studio and the intro was devised by Feliciano, using his nylon string
acoustic guitar. The next day, though, Richard got a phone call from Feliciano's manager, demanding that he be removed from the recording. Richard essentially did as requested and replaced Feliciano's guitar intro with that of Earle Dumler's oboe. The other instruments heard on the song were recorded by session musicians later known as
the Wrecking Crew. When the original song was nominated for an Academy Award, the Carpenters were not allowed to perform it at the ceremony because they had not appeared in any film. At their request, the song was performed by British singer
Petula Clark. In 1972, Richard and Karen appeared on Tom Jones's
London Bridge Special, where they performed "For All We Know". This version was not released to the public until 2000, with the release of the compilation
The Singles: 1969–1981.
Personnel •
Karen Carpenter –
lead and
backing vocals •
Richard Carpenter – backing vocals,
piano,
Hammond organ,
Wurlitzer electric piano,
orchestration •
Joe Osborn –
bass guitar •
Hal Blaine –
drums • Earle Dumler –
oboe Charts Weekly charts Year-end charts Note • Released as a double A-side with "
Superstar" in the UK ==Shirley Bassey version==