Oh Man,
You just "drummed up" some very sad memories and feelings. I fell in love with her just for her sensuous, lazy, laid-back voice, and then again for her percussion. The Carpenters ROCKED, and I don't care who doesn't share my feelings.
She was beautiful and heavily talented in every possible description- she gave rock and "pop" a genre that has yet to be equaled. When Karen passed away, I cried like a baby for a day or 2.
OK, I'll admit it-- I'm all misty-eyed thinking about her now.
I remember going to jail in 1980-something for starting a fistfight with one of Leslie West's (Mountain) roadies who (after too many shots and bong hits) said some things about her. Cost me about $400 in fines, a year's probation, but it cost him a tooth!
May God bless her sweet soul.
C. P.