written by Carole King

produced by Lou Adler

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In 1975 Carole King wrote and performed the soundtrack to the

short cartoon film Really Rosie—as well as voice-acting the title

character—being from there no stranger to scoring and singing for

animation. In 1981, American Greetings’ division Those Characters

From Cleveland brought its artist Elena Kucharik’s line of rainbow-colored teddy bears to life, assigning them their literally iconic magical tummy symbols, and introducing America to the Care Bears. So a couple years later, when it was time to start developing and producing the first feature film, Carole King was brought on board to write and perform some of the songs, along with fellow New York recording artist John Sebastian. Neither of them actually scored the movie (that would be Patty Cullen), but the score and songs remain faithful enough to one another that if told it was all the work of the same individual, I’d believe it.

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It seems ironic and amusing to me that a franchise created by a company called American Greetings would become—at least in the ’80s, and at least in terms of its media—so synonymous and associated with Canada. Before (Toronto’s) Nelvana even got involved, (Ottawa’s) Atkinson Film-Arts cranked out a couple Care Bears TV specials in 1983 and ’84... neither of which I’d ever seen before making this song’s page. The Care Bears Movie popped out courtesy of Nelvana the very next year, spring 1985—premiering in Washington, D.C., funnily enough—and I can vividly remember seeing it that year, while it was brand-new... even though my age in years at the time could be counted on one hand. I still watch and enjoy the film and its two original sequels today, with nostalgic fondness, and it still impresses me how all three show a true distinction from one another in the production of execution of their music.

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(Not unlike the Ninja Turtles films five years later in their own way,) The first two Care Bears movie soundtracks are pretty similar to each other—charmingly corny, sweet but not too saccharine, helping introduce us more intimately to the characters—while the third deviates a bit, but not inappropriately so. In fact, the third one takes advantage of our familiarity with the canon by now focusing on songs specifically tailored to its Lewis Carroll-borrowed storyline. I remain personally most partial to the second movie’s soundtrack (one example of which you can find right here), while simultaneously proclaiming this takes nothing away from that of the other two. In fact, if you’re a fan of Carole King and/or John Sebastian, the first movie’s worth watching for their contributions alone.

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CBM1 is the story of a young boy, Nicholas, a magician’s assistant, who wants more than anything to just be liked and have friends—and being a great magician himself wouldn’t hurt either—a desire taken advantage of by an evil spirit in a book of magic spells that mysteriously finds its way into the magician’s trailer. Being the impressionable lad he is, Nicholas lets the spirit draw him in with promises to be famous and beloved by taking over his mentor’s act, not realizing the extreme evil of the influence. Things get way out of hand much faster than the Care Bears can handle, though they’re helped along the way by meeting their cousins in the Forest of Feelings, and the songs along the way carry them through to the end. Some elements of the first movie are even actually pretty dark and scary—sort of like All Dogs Go To Heaven, but to a lesser degree—but overall it’s still fine fare for small children.

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This song, however, “Care-A-Lot,” bookends the film—presenting us both the opening and closing credits—has nothing to do with the storyline, but rather intros us to the heaven-like home of the Care Bears, from which they ride down rainbows and cloud cars to visit Earth and help people in need. To be fair, their love-filled sky realm plays a big part in the film’s action, almost like another character. It’s easily the most well-known song from the movie, and serves its purposes, with all the other songs being those that help narrate the story. Even though there was apparently a soundtrack released from the film—co-produced by John Sebastian—that’s one I never quite found, and while thinking about it, being from the mid-’80s and a semi-niche children’s project such as this, I’d wager it never made it past vinyl.

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(When I made my tribute video to Carol Kane—different story—using Carole King’s songs “You’ve Got A Friend” and “Anyone At All”—I considered later throwing in scenes from other Carol Kane projects I didn’t have before that, and tossing in “Care-A-Lot,” or another song from CBM1... which never happened, and likely never will, but it’s nice to know they’ll always be there.)

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I already linked to it above—a song I earlier catalogued on the site—but as something of a companion piece to “Care-A-Lot,” the closing number in CBM2, one year later, is “Forever Young” by Dean and Carol Parks. They did about half the songs for the sequel, the other half by Stephen Bishop and Debbie Allen. In the spirit of the first two films, another song I’ll be adding to the site later on is movie 3’s “Rise And Shine,” performed by Natalie Cole. Similarly lovely, before we got all the Wonderland-themed songs (most of which were also by John Sebastian). Very different Care Bears film, and the only one of the three never released on DVD, but as far as the fodder of the first two projects, I suppose it’s the sort of well you can only go to just so often before it dries up. But stay tuned.

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Final note: the opening credits version of the song is about a minute shorter than the end credits. The middle chunk is repeated through the closing credits version. Nothing is repeated in the opening credits, so that’s the version the lyrics I’ve printed below reflect. And I had ​to just do my best with that heavily

harmonized segment at the end... gosh, that was a bugger. Sorry it’s not exactly perfect.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

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YT:

full version

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Carole’s official website

Lyrics

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Care-A-Lot is a place we all can go / Whenever we choose it / Care-A-Lot is a feeling we all know / We never do lose it / We can find a secret place / To rest and make a new start / If you don’t know where it is / Look inside your heart / Care-A-Lot is a playground you can find / For sliding and swinging  / Carousels playing music in your mind / For dancing and singing / Sometimes you feel so glad / Sometimes you feel blue / Share your feelings, it’s not bad / Feelings are just you / When you’re lonely, don’t you fret / You’re not alone, you just tend to forget / Care-A-Lot is easily found / You’ve been there / And you have friends who care / Don’t you let your sadness get you down / It always helps when you sing a song / Good cheer carries you along / Through darkness leads to sunlight / A new day comes, it’s all right / Care-A-Lot is a place you’d like to be / Riding on a cloud, you’ll / Care-A-Lot, it’s a rainbow fantasy / For laughing out loud / Care-A-Lot is a place we all can go / (Care-A-Lot, is there a lot, is a place we all can go) / Care-A-Lot is a place we all can go / (Care-A-Lot, Care-A-Lot, share a lot, it’s a place we all can go, come to) / Care-A-Lot it’s a place we all can go / (Care-A-Lot, Care-A-Lot, Care-A Lot, it’s a place we all can go, come to) / Care-A-Lot / Share a lot / Care-A-Lot

first release: The Care Bears Movie original soundtrack (1985)

audio treated sample