The Songwriter
“Carole King could’ve already tossed her piano into the ring for ‘Greatest Songwriter in the Universe’ after penning an endless string of era-defining hits in the ‘60s” PM with “her Brill Building lyric-writing husband Gerry Goffin.” TM The pair composed more than a hundred top 40 hits, including the Shirelles (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?,” #1 in 1960), Bobby Vee (“Take Good Care of My Baby,” #1 in 1961), Little Eva (“The Loco-Motion,” #1 in 1962), Steve Lawrence (“Go Away Little Girl,” #1 in 1962), the Drifters (“Up on the Roof,” #5 in 1962), the Chiffons (“One Fine Day,” #5 in 1963), Herman’s Hermits (“I’m into Something Good,” #13 in 1964), the Righteous Brothers (“Just Once in My Life,” #9 in 1965), the Animals (“Don’t Bring Me Down,” #12 in 1966), the Monkees (“Pleasant Valley Sunday,” #3 in 1967), Aretha Franklin (“You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,” #8 in 1967), and Blood, Sweat & Tears (“Hi-De-Ho,” #14 in 1970). (See a list of the top 50 songs written and/or performed by King here).
The Singer
However, by the late ‘60s “Bob Dylan and the Beatles created the era of the singer-songwriter and Tin Pan Alley was closing. To stay in the game, Carole King needed to reinvent herself.” CM “After her divorce from Goffin in 1968, King fell into a new crowd that included James Taylor and his guitarist pal Danny ‘Kootch’ Kortchmar. She moved to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles where Joni Mitchell and all the other singer-songwriters congregated.” CM
With Taylor’s encouragement, she released her first solo album, 1970’s Writer. It only sold 6000 copies, but its follow-up, Tapestry, was a monster success. TB The “stripped-back, piano-based album…sounded like her demos for other artists” TB and “revealed that King could unlock another layer of magic in her songs through her own voice and performance.” PM She reached “even greater heights as a performer.” AM Her “voice has limits, range chief among them, and that’s a critical part of Tapestry’s charm.” TLKing “insists on being heard as she is – not raunchy and hot-to-trot or sweet and be-yoo-ti-ful, just human, with all the cracks and imperfections that implies.” RC She “is casual, intimate, and tough; she covers all the emotional ground of the post-liberated woman with ease.” AZ It is “an intensely emotional record” AM delivered with “disarming simplicity, and humane, undisguised sincerity.” GS Taylor said the album was comprised of “very personal, very accessible statements, built from the ground up with a simple, elegant architecture.” BN
“The music is loose, earthy, L.A. session-pop” AZ and while this is “Pacific rock…[it is delivered] with a sharpness worthy of a Brooklyn girl.” RC Tapestry “is not over-produced, which makes up a big part of the album’s homespun charm.” DV It “is a light and airy work on its surface, occasionally skirting the boundaries of jazz.” AM It relies “on pianos and gentle drumming” AM “with a few sonic flourishes and some saxophone and guitar here and there.” DV
Its Legacy
“Joni Mitchell, Janis Ian, Laura Nyro, and others had preceded her and blazed a trail, but none had achieved the kind of sales figures and chart accomplishments that King would with this album.” TB She “became the ‘70s’ first lady of pop when she released Tapestry.” RV
The album was “the East Coast’s best answer to all the singer-songwriter strumming California was exporting at the time.” TM “Most of the singer-songwriters of the time came from a folk music background. King’s songs drew from the harmonic structure of jazz, Motown and soul.” CM
King “created the archetype of the female singer-songwriter.” TL Any one of these songs individually “would make a normal tunesmith’s year. So many…qualifies Tapestry as one of the most extravagant bundles ever dropped.” TM It “is arguably the definitive singer-songwriter album of the early ‘70s and worthy of its own chapter in any update of the Great American Songbook.” PM The album “paved the way for every Tori Amos, Alanis Morissette, and Avril Lavigne to follow in its wake.” TB
The Songs
“King weaves an heirloom drapery of perfect songcraft and raw, soulful emotion that welcomes the listener to step inside.” PM “These are delicate, sophisticated , and effortlessly beautiful pop odes.” TM They “were intimate, accessible works about love and friendship that resonated with sincerity.” RV “Songs like ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,’ ‘You’ve Got a Friend’ and ‘So Far Away’ have almost been worn thin by ubiquitous radio play and countless covers. Their classic status, however, seems impossible to diminish.” RV
Here’s insights into individual songs.
“You’ve Got a Friend”
King was working on Tapestry at the same time Taylor was recording his Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon album. They both recorded You’ve Got a Friend, her “promise of life-long loyalty,” TB which she wrote, using the same players. It came out first on her album, but his version became the chart-topping single. Both versions won Grammys – hers for Song of the Year and his for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
“Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “Natural Woman”
King also tapped into her songwriting catalog for a couple of the album’s recordings. While they may “have been worn thin by time and uninspired covers by every lounge singer in the world,” BN they “take on added resonance when delivered in her own warm, compelling voice.” AM When “heard in the voice of the original songwriter, they still sound astonishingly fresh.” BN “Her take on ‘Natural Woman’ feels more vulnerable than Franklin’s.” TL
“Her slowed down Will You Love Me Tomorrow? more poignant than the Shirelles” TL by adding “adult nuance.” AZ “The girl-group version had seemed fraught with all the insecurities and double standards of the traditional boy-girl relationships of that earlier era, whereas King’s own version comes across as a mature, clear-headed appraisal of the uncertainties of any relationship in any era.” TB It also featured backing vocals from James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
“I Feel the Earth Move”
The new hits “rank solidly with past glories.” AM Their “white-soul realism and maturity put pop hits to shame.” AZ I Feel the Earth Move “actually rocks.” GS In 1989, Martika took a dance-pop version of the song to #25 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“It’s Too Late”
“If there’s a truer song about breaking up…the world (or at least AM radio) isn’t ready for it.” RC The song shows a “determination to survive and move on from a failed relationship.” TB It is one of two songs on the album co-written by Toni Stern. The double-sided single of “I Feel the Earth Move” and It’s Too Late went to #1 for 5 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Gloria Estefan revived the song in 1994 with her version that hit #31 on the adult contemporary chart.
“So Far Away”
That song might be rivaled by So Far Away. “With its universally recognized ‘doesn’t anybody stay in one place any more’ line, [it] is among the best ballads ever written” GS and “perfectly captures the restlessness of the era.” CM It was a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. For Tapestry’s 25th anniversary, an album was released with various artists covering all the album’s songs. Rod Stewart took his version of “So Far Away” to #2 on the adult contemporary chart.
“Where You Lead”
“You’ve Got a Friend” wasn’t the only song from Tapestry to get a remake and have chart success from another artist while the album was at its peak. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit with “the jolly upbeat country rock of Where You Lead” GS on two occasions. Her initial 1971 recording hit #40 and then a year later a live medley of the song with “Sweet Inspiration” bested it by a few notches with a #37 peak. In 2000, King reworked the song with her daughter, Louise Goffin, for the theme song to television’s The Gilmore Girls.
“Beautiful”
“Beautiful may not be the best song in existence, but it's certainly one of the most optimistic ones.” GS Along with “Where You Lead,” Barbra Streisand also recorded this song on her 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand. The song also served as the title for the 2014 Broadway musical about Carole King’s early life and career.
“Smackwater Jack”
“That oh-so-Seventies outlaw tale is completely and absolutely out of touch with the rest, but it’s good clean fun anyway.” GS This was, yet again, another example of a song which was covered by another artist even as Tapestry was still riding the charts. Quincy Jones not only covered the song, but used it as the name of the album he released in late 1971.
“Tapestry” and “Home Alone”
“The title song and Home Alone tackle the human condition with warmth and maturity.” RV
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