"Bless the Beasts and Children" is the theme song to the 1971 eponymous film and was performed by the Carpenters. It was featured on the B-side to their hit, " Superstar". The song received enough of its own airplay that ''Billboard'' listed the single as "Superstar"/"Bless the Beasts and Children" on the Hot 100, charting first at number 16 for the week of 11/20/71, and then number 21 for the week of 11/27/71. Then "Bless The Beasts and Children" had its own run as an A-side charting on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, eventually topping out at number 67. In order to promote it, the Carpenters performed it on their television series, '' Make Your Own Kind of Music'', as "F" for "Film Music". It was nominated for a 1972 Academy Award for Best Song, but it lost to
Isaac Hayes
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...
The original soundtrack
''The Original Soundtrack'' is the third studio album by the English rock band 10cc. It was released in 1975 and peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. ''The Original Soundtrack'' includes the singles "Life Is a Minestrone", and "I'm No ...
included two different versions of "Bless the Beasts and Children", the other being an orchestral instrumental arrangement by composers Barry DeVorzon and
Perry Botkin, Jr.
Perry Botkin Jr. (April 16, 1933 – January 18, 2021) was an American composer, Record producer, producer, arranger, and musician. The tune "Nadia's Theme", composed by Botkin and Barry De Vorzon, peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...
, and the original " Nadia's Theme", which was listed as " Cotton's Dream". "Cotton's Dream" was also used as the theme song to the 1973 soap opera, '' The Young and the Restless,'' and later "Bless the Beasts and Children" was used when David Hasselhoff's character, Dr. "Snapper" Foster, had to say goodbye to his son in a dramatic 1982 episode of the series.
The song was originally released on the original soundtrack, and a slightly different version was released on the Carpenters' 1972 LP, ''A Song for You'' on June 13, 1972. The original soundtrack had a vibraphone playing the melody in the introduction, while the ''
A Song for You
"A Song for You" is a song written and originally recorded by rock singer and pianist Leon Russell for his first solo album '' Leon Russell'', which was released in 1970 on Shelter Records. A slow, pained plea for forgiveness and understandin ...
'' version, released on the single, contained an oboe stating the melody. The two versions (soundtrack and album versions) faded out toward the end, but in 1985, Richard Carpenter re-mixed the song so it does not fade out in the end. He also added a harder bass-line.
Barry De Vorzon composed the song at a residence in Lake Arrowhead, California, where he used to spend his weekends, after director
Stanley Kramer
Stanley Earl Kramer (September 29, 1913February 19, 2001) was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywood's most famous "message picture, message films" (he would call his movies ''heavy dramas'') and a libera ...
gave him the screenplay of the film. At first he wrote a "beautiful melody" and then "loaded the lyric with all the terrible things we're doing to children and animals", but it "did not work". The next day he changed them to simpler lyrics that call to protect their innocence.
Richard Carpenter Richard Carpenter may refer to:
* Richard Carpenter (theologian) (1575–1627), English clergyman and theological writer
* Richard Carpenter (ca. 1700–1750), original owner of the Belvale property in Virginia
* Richard Cromwell Carpenter (1812†...