Solitaire – Carpenters

„Solitaire” is a ballad written by Neil Sedaka whose lyrics by Phil Cody employ playing the card game of solitaire as a metaphor for a man „who lost his love through his indifference” – „while life goes on around him everywhere he’s playing solitaire”. The song is best known via its rendition by the Carpenters.

The Carpenters recorded „Solitaire” for the 1975 Horizon album; Richard Carpenter, familiar with the song via the versions by Neil Sedaka and Andy Williams, was „not crazy” about the song but felt it would showcase Karen Carpenter‘s vocal expertise and Richard Carpenter would assess Karen Carpenter’s performance on „Solitaire” as „one of [her] greatest” adding „she never liked the song [and]…she never changed her opinion.”^[1]

„Solitaire” was issued as the third single from Horizon; for the single version a guitar lead was added between the first verse and chorus. Although it rose as high as #17 on the Billboard Hot 100, „Solitaire” became the least successful Carpenters’ single since their pre-stardom A&M debut „Ticket to Ride” in 1969 and signaled a downturn in the group’s popularity which, consolidated by the Top Ten shortfall of the lead single and title cut of the 1976 Carpenters’ album A Kind of Hush, would prove irreversible.

Carpenters Solitaire Lyrics

There was a man, a lonely man
Who lost his love through his indifference
A heart that cared
That went unshared until it died within his silence
And Solitaire’s the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
And by himself it’s easy to pretend he’ll never love again
And keeping to himself he plays the game
Without her love it always ends the same
While life goes on around him everywhere
He’s playing Solitaire
A little hope goes up in smoke
Just how it goes, goes without saying
There was a man, a lonely man
Who would command the hand he’s playing
And Solitaire’s the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
And by himself it’s easy to pretend he’ll never love again
And keeping to himself he plays the game
Without her love it always ends the same
While life goes on around him everywhere
He’s playing Solitaire
And Solitaire’s the only game in town
And every road that takes him takes him down
While life goes on around him everywhere
He’s playing Solitaire