I Won't Last a Day Without You explained

"I Won't Last a Day Without You" is a song by The Carpenters with lyrics written by Paul Williams and music composed by Roger Nichols. The writing duo had previously contributed "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays" to the Carpenters.

Release

The song was released in the U.K. in September 1972, paired with "Goodbye to Love" as a double-A side single for A Song for You. The single reached No. 9 and spent 14 weeks on the chart.

It was later released in the U.S. and became a hit single for them in 1974, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart No. 1 one on the easy listening chart,^[1] the ninth No. 1 for Carpenters.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1974)	Peak position
Canadian RPM Top Singles[2]	7
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary[3]	1
Oricon International Singles Chart	1
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4]	63
US Radio & Records CHR/Pop Airplay Chart[5]	10
US Cash Box Top 100	9
US Cash Box Radio Active Airplay Singles	1

Year-end charts

Chart (1974)	Position
Canada[6]	104
US Cash Box [7]	99

Personnel

• Karen Carpenterlead and backing vocals
• Richard Carpenterbacking vocals, piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, orchestration
• Joe Osbornbass guitar
• Tony Pelusoelectric guitar
• Hal Blainedrums
• Louie Sheltonelectric guitar
• Earl DumlerEnglish horn
• Uncreditedtambourine

Other versions

Many artists have released other versions of "I Won't Last a Day Without You". Among the most notable are:

• Bobby Darin recorded a cover that later appeared on a posthumous album titled Darin 1936-1973 released by Motown Records a year after his death.
• Diana Ross included it on her 1973 album Touch Me in the Morning; she also made it the B side of the title track single release, which became a No. 1 hit.
• Paul Williams, on the 1972 album Life Goes On, and as a single in 1973, but his rendition garnered only minor success (US No. 106).^[8]
• Barbra Streisand included it in her 1974 album ButterFly.
• Maureen McGovern released it as a single in 1973 (and included it on her album The Morning After), reaching No. 89 Billboard, No. 72 Cash Box and No. 14 Adult Contemporary. In Canada, her version reached No. 12 AC.^[9] The Carpenters released their single the following year.
• Al Wilson created a medley of "I Won't Last a Day Without You" with another Nichols/Williams composition "Let Me Be The One" for his 1974 album La La Peace Song. The medley was issued as a single in December 1974 and went to No. 18 on the R&B chart in Billboard magazine; it crossed over to both Billboards Adult Contemporary chart (No. 39) and to the mainstream Pop chart the Billboard Hot 100 (No. 70).
• Ringo Sheena covered the song on her 2002 cover album Utaite Myōri as a duet with Hikaru Utada, who appears as a featured vocalist.

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1974 (U.S.)

Notes and References

1. Book: Whitburn, Joel . The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition . Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 107.
2. Web site: RPM Top 100 Singles - June 1, 1974.
3. Web site: RPM Top AC Singles - June 15, 1972.
4. Book: Australian Charts Book 1970—1992. David Kent. 0-646-11917-6. 1993. Australian Chart Book Pty Ltd, Turramurra, N.S.W..
5. Web site: Carpenters.
6. Web site: RPM 1974 Wrap Up - December 28, 1974.
7. Web site: Top 100 Year End Charts: 1974 . . 2015-07-16 . September 27, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120927045130/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/1974YESP.html . dead .
8. Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004
9. http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/films-videos-sound-recordings/rpm/Pages/image.aspx?Image=nlc008388.4955&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fwww.collectionscanada.gc.ca%2fobj%2f028020%2ff4%2fnlc008388.4955.gif&Ecopy=nlc008388.4955 RPM Adult Contemporary, November 30, 1973