Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft


"Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" is a song by Klaatu, originally released in 1976 on their first album . The song would open night transmission of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline. The year following its release, the Carpenters covered the song, using a crew of 160 musicians. The Carpenters' version reached the top 10 in the UK and Canada, and charted at number 1 in Ireland.

Origin

John Woloschuk, a member of Klaatu and one of the song's composers, has said:

Charts

Personnel

The Carpenters' version from their Passage album charted worldwide and appeared on several of their hits compilations. The song title appears on the Carpenters' version above the tagline "". The success of their version led to the duo receiving many letters from people asking when World Contact Day would be held. The song ultimately led to a successful Carpenters television special, The Carpenters...Space Encounters.
While Klaatu's original opens with various sounds of living species, the Carpenters' version opens with a radio DJ on a request show. The DJ identifies a phone caller as "Mike Ledgerwood". When the DJ asks Mike for his song request, an alien-sounding voice responds. The DJ is voiced by longstanding Carpenters' guitarist Tony Peluso, who can be seen in that role at the start of the video for this track.
The vocal melody ranges from B♭3 to G♭5.
The Carpenters' arrangement of the song was later copied on a sound-alike cover released on the 1977 album Top of the Pops, Volume 62.
The cover art was painted by designer Andrew Probert.
Reaching number nine in the UK Singles Chart in 1977, in a UK television special on ITV in 2016 it was voted fifth in The Nation's Favourite Carpenters Song.

''Chart''

Music videos

The Carpenters had two music videos for "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft":