1979 (The Shirley Bassey Variety Show was televised around the world, but some of the clips were shown in some countries, and not others. Here, Shirley performs one of her hits charted in the UK and in Europe titled, 'For All We Know'. Of course, this was also a big hit in the USA for the Carpenters.
This performance was shown in the USA, but strangely enough not in the United Kingdom. It was provided by Susan to Pieter who originally uploaded it at the Shirley Bassey Blog. Thank-you Susan and Pieter for posting this wonderful clip so the rest of the world can view this special Shirley Bassey performance.
Susan, if you by any chance see this clip here, Shirley fans would be very interested in how you came across this treasure. I watched this show way back when in the USA, but I don't recall the broadcasters televising this performance.
ABOUT This Song:
"For All We Know" is a popular song written for the 1970 film, Lovers and Other Strangers, by Fred Karlin, Robb Wilson (Robb Royer) and Arthur James (Jimmy Griffin). It was originally performed by Larry Meredith.
It was heard by Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters during an evening of relaxation at the movies while on tour. Carpenter decided it would be ideal for the duo. It became a hit for them in 1971, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number one for three weeks on the U.S. easy listening chart.
The song went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, though the Carpenters were not allowed to perform the song at the ceremony as they had not appeared in a film. At their request, the song was performed by British singer Petula Clark. Clark performed the song in concert on February 6, 1983, in tribute to Karen Carpenter, who had died two days before.
According to Richard, the oboe intro was originally a guitar. They had run into Jose Feliciano in a restaurant who was a big fan and wanted to play on one of their records. They went into studio and that intro was devised by Jose through using his nylon string acoustic guitar. The next day, though, Richard got a phone call from Jose's manager stating in no uncertain terms Jose be removed from the recording. Richard essentially did as requested and replaced the guitar intro with the oboe.
In 1972, Richard and Karen appeared on Tom Jones' Special London Bridge Special, where they performed a reprise of "For All We Know". It was never released to the public until 2000, with the release of The Singles: 19
