"Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" is a song by Canadian rock band Klaatu, originally released in 1976 on their first album 3:47 EST. The song was played to open night-time transmission of the pirate radio station Radio Caroline. The year following its release, American soft rock duo 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

Klaatu members John Woloschuk and Terry Draper wrote the song together, with Woloschuk assigned 75% of composer royalties because the music was mostly his work. The lyrics were written equally by both. Woloschuk said: "The idea for this track was suggested by an actual event that is described in The Flying Saucer Reader, a book by Jay David published in 1967. In March 1953 an organization known as the "International Flying Saucer Bureau" sent a bulletin to all its members urging them to participate in an experiment termed "World Contact Day" whereby, at a predetermined date and time, they would attempt to collectively send out a telepathic message to visitors from outer space. The message began with the words..."Calling occupants of interplanetary craft!""

Charts

Personnel

Carpenters version

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 Recognized Anthem Of World Contact Day)". 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 the 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

Weekly Charts

Year-end charts

Music videos

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

Personnel