Their breakthough song was originally the B side of "Blue Guitar," an obscure #42 hit from 1963 by actor-singer Richard Chamberlain.

Herb Alpert was recording a remake of the song but passed on it because he didn't like the lyric line, "So they spinkled moondust in your hair."

So the song instead went to a relatively unknown brother and sister duo whose only claim to chart fame at that point in 1970 was a #54 remake of the Beatle song, "Ticket To Ride."

They wouldn't be relatively unknown for long. "(They Long To Be) Close To You," the song Alpert turned down, became the breakthrough hit for Karen and Richard Carpenter , reaching #1 in the summer of 1970. They had two more #1's in the 70's with "Top Of The World" and "Please Mr. Postman." In all, they chalked up a dozen Top 10's and 20 Top 40's to become the greatest brother-sister singing duo of all time.

In late 1970, they released Christmas song #26, "Merry Christmas Darling." Sadly, Karen Carpenter died in 1983 of heart failure as the result of anorexia nervosa. However, her memory lives on thanks in part to this Christmas ballad classic. "Merry Christmas Darling" gets considerable airplay at this time of the year, particularly on Mainstream AC stations and Oldies stations, too.

Next tomorrow at #26: THE YOUNGEST SOLO SINGER EVER TO HAVE A TOP 40 HIT. HE WAS ONLY SIX YEAR OLD.

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CHRISTMAS SONG #28: "I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS"--BING CROSBY, 1943

In 1955, a songwriter-producer named Buck Ram was trying to get two of his groups major record labels. He told Mercury Records that the only way he'd have the group the Penguins (Of "Earth Angel" fame) sign with them, that the label would have to sign another group.

The Penguins never had a hit with Mercury. That "other group," though, only became the biggest group of the 1950's. The Platters went on to score #1 hits with "The Great Pretender" and three remakes: "My Prayer," "Twilight Time" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." The Platters were overall the #3 act of the 1950's behind Elvis Presley and Pat Boone.

Buck Ram at least co-wrote "Twilight Time" and "The Great Pretender"--and, earlier in 1943, the #28 Christmas song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas," which Bing Crosby first recorded.

Rob Durkee remembers first hearing the song on Elvis Presley's 1957 Christmas album. The Beach Boys and the Carpenters have also sung it.

But perhaps my favorite version came on a Dean Martin Christmas special in the late 1960's. I just remember it so well...and I don't think anyone's ever sung it better, with the possible exception of Elvis, of course.