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"(They Long to Be) Close to You" is een nummer van het Amerikaanse duo The Carpenters. Het nummer verscheen op hun album Close to You uit 1970. Op 15 mei van dat jaar werd het nummer uitgebracht als de eerste single van het album.

"(They Long to Be) Close to You" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. First recorded in 1963 by Richard Chamberlain, the song had its biggest success in 1970, in a version recorded by American duo the Carpenters for their second studio album Close to You and produced by Jack Daugherty. A soft pop ballad, the song expresses a woman's appreciation that her romantic partner symbolically attracts the attention of birds and falling stars.

Released on May 14, 1970, the single of the Carpenters' version topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts and ranked no. 2 in the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 of 1970. Billboard, Cash Box, and Record World all offered positive reviews. It was also popular internationally, reaching the top of the Canadian and Australian charts and peaked at number six on the charts of both the UK and Ireland. The record was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in August 1970. Johnny Mathis and Andy Williams also recorded their own versions of "Close to You" later that year.

In 1986, American R&B singer Gwen Guthrie recorded a cover of the song that reached no. 25 on the UK Singles Chart and no. 9 on the Recorded Music NZ chart. In later years, the Carpenters' version continued to attract interest, as a plot device in the 1989 film Parenthood and 2007 film The Simpsons Movie along with a 1991 episode of The Simpsons. The New York Times also wrote articles complimenting the song in 1995 and 2014.