We had this incredible song as a set piece set on Krypton for our recent am drams panto Aladdin and Superman…
I don’t remember whether or not I knew it was a cover version at the time The Carpenters had a hit with the song, but regardless
“Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” was originally written and recorded by Canadian prog rock band Klaatu in 1976. The Carpenters’ full orchestral cover version sounds like a pastiche of Bowie’s “Life on Mars” with a splash of Supertramp’s breakfast, John Miles’ “Music”, and a nod to Jeff Wayne’s “War of the Worlds”, it has its origins in American 1950s flying saucer affectations. The opening to the original version sounds more like The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever.
It’s weird whichever version you listen to…
There have been other cover versions since the big Carpenters hit: the children of The Langley Schools Music Project, Babes in Toyland, The Flowers of Hell, Lard (the chorus but with a different lyric), The Space Cadet, Orbital (samples of Carpenters’ version).