Karen Carpenter had one of the most naturally gifted contralto voices in American music history — warm, clear, and completely without artifice. She never oversang. She let the note do the work. Voice teachers still use her recordings to demonstrate what perfect breath control sounds like.

“Yesterday Once More” came out in 1973 and hit number two on the Billboard Hot 100. But the chart position was never the point. The point was that opening line — when I was young I’d listen to the radio — and the way it landed for everyone who heard it like a hand on the shoulder.

She was 32 when she died. The music she left behind has now outlived her by more than four decades. Some voices just stay.