The song's title is derived from the now-defunct use of telephone exchange names in telephone numbers. In this case, the significant portions of the exchange name were the first two letters of "Beechwood" (BE), and the remainder of the number. In conventional modern use, this telephone number would be 234–5789.
The Marvelettes version
Background
The lyrics are about the singer wanting a man she just met to call her number in order to "have a date, any ol' time." As with all the Marvelettes' other singles during the first phase of the group's career, the lead vocal was by Gladys Horton. The song's co-writer Marvin Gaye played drums on the track, which William Stevenson produced. The single was taken from the group's 1962 album Playboy.
Reception
"Beechwood 4-5789" has become a signature hit of Motown's early period, but it was not one of the label's biggest hits. However, it reached the Pop Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 as number 17 in the autumn of 1962. The track also reached the R&B Top Ten where it achieved double A-side status with "Beechwood 4-5789" reaching number 7 and the flip "Someday, Someway" number 8;[1] the latter track was a ballad from the writing-and-production team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Freddie Gorman and featured Berry Gordy Jr.'s wife Raynoma Liles as organist.
A remake of "Beechwood 4-5789" was featured on Made in America, a 1981 album by the Carpenters whose 1975 remake of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" had reached number one.
Although Richard Carpenter typically exercised control over the Carpenters' song choice, the idea to remake "Beechwood 4-5789" was evidently Karen Carpenter's. Mike Curb recalls Karen playing him the original over the phone after telling him: "I've gotta play a song for you! You'll get a kick out of it! It is really fun! It'll bring back memories." When the record ended, Karen asked Curb; "So, what do you think of this as a single?" Although Curb saw no hit potential in a remake of "Beechwood 4-5789" he responded positively to her question, not having the heart to dampen her enthusiasm.
Reception
"Beechwood 4-5789" would be issued as the fourth single from Made in America1) on March 2, 1982, Karen Carpenter's thirty-second birthday. The track debuted on the A/C chart in Billboard dated March 27, 1982 and entered the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 24, 1982 at number 83 becoming the twenty-seventh single by the Carpenters to reach the Hot 100, all the group's singles since their major label debut in 1969 having appeared on the chart.
The last single release by the Carpenters prior to Karen Carpenter's February 4, 1983 death, "Beechwood 4-5789" did not become a major hit, rising no higher than number 74 on the Hot 100; the track's A/C chart peak was number 18. "Beechwood 4-5789" did reach number 10 in New Zealand in March 1982 – the single having been released there that February prior to its US issue – making the track the last evident top ten hit by the Carpenters on a major national chart.
Music video
A 1960s nostalgia-themed video for the Carpenters' "Beechwood 4-5789" was shot on A&M's Chaplin Stage. The video's setting is divided between a soda shop where a scene shows the song's single to be put in a jukebox by a man and then the couples in their chairs dance and Karen sings, and a young woman's bedroom (implied to be that of Karen's character) where Karen sings seated in front of a dresser. Karen is then shown seated and singing alongside Richard playing the keyboard; the footage is superimposed onto the dresser in the bedroom, making the duo appear miniature, especially alongside a pink Princess telephone. The video ends with Richard and Karen singing along with the band performing in the shop in front of the couples dancing on seats.[3]
