Everything You Need to Know About Carole King’s 50-Year-Old Landmark Album

Happy Belated 50^th Anniversary to Carole King’s Tapestry! And Merry Christmas to all!!! I’d be a fool to let 2021 slip by without talking about this songwriting legend and her groundbreaking 1971 album.

First, Who is Carole King?

Carol Joan Klein was born on February 9, 1942, in Manhattan, New York. Her mother, Eugenia Klein, was a teacher and her father, Sidney Klein, was a firefighter. Eugenia frequently practiced playing piano, which led to Carol’s budding curiosity for music. When Carol was just three years old, Eugenia discovered she possessed absolute pitch, an ability to accurately identify notes by ear. By the age of four, she was giving Carol formal piano lessons, including theory, proper techniques, note reading, and timing.

While Carol was attending high school in Brooklyn, she changed her name to Carole King and formed a band called Co-Sines. She befriended another aspiring musician, Paul Simon, a musical legend in his own right. The two friends quickly became collaborators and started their music industry journey by recording demos for $25 per session. In 1958, she released her first single called “The Right Girl,” which failed to gain any attention.

Love and Work With Gerry Goffin

After high school, King attended Queens College, where she met Gerry Goffin. King and Goffin became songwriting and romantic partners rather quickly. In 1959, when King was 17, she became pregnant with her first daughter, Louise. King and Goffin dropped out of college to get jobs to support their family and continued to pursue their musical aspirations. They scored their first hit as songwriters in November of 1960 with “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” by The Shirelles. It became the first song by a black girl group to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

Goffin and King wrote dozens of songs together in the 1960s. In addition to “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” Goffin and King’s biggest hits include:

• “Loco-Motion” by Little Eva, 1962
• “Up On the Roof” by The Drifters, 1962
• “Chains” by The Beatles, 1963
• “Just Once in My Life” by The Righteous Brothers, 1965
• “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin, 1967

Fun Fact:

Gerry Goffin wrote for many artists, including Diana Ross, Natalie, Cole, Rod Stewart, Gladys Knight & The Pips, and Roberta Flack. He wrote “Saving All My Love For You,” which was a hit for Whitney Houston in 1985, but it was originally sung by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. in 1978.

Carol King’s Accomplishments

In May of 1970, Carole King released her first studio album, Writer. To date King has 22 albums to her name; 7 of which were in the top 10. While recording and creating her own music, she continued to pen hits for other artists. As stated on her website, “To date, more than 400 of her compositions have been recorded by more than 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles.” She is a highly decorated singer and songwriter who even has an award-winning Broadway musical about her life and music: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

In addition to Grammy awards, Golden Globe awards, and Primetime Emmy awards, her many accolades include:

• Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, 1987
• National Academy of Songwriters’ Lifetime Achievement Award with Gerry Goffin, 1988.
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee with Goffin, 1990
• Johnny Mercer Award from Songwriters Hall of Fame, 2002
• Trustees Award from The Recording Academy with Goffin, 2004
• Kennedy Center Honors, 2015
• Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song (first female recipient), 2013
• Grammy for Lifetime Achievement Award, 2013
• Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2012
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as a solo artist 2021

Most Recent Project

In 2021, King co-wrote Jennifer Hudson’s new song, “Here I am (Singing My Way Home)” for the Aretha Franklin biopic, Respect.

Fun Fact:

The very first VH1 Divas Live concert, in 1998, was a tribute to Aretha Franklin and Carole King. The benefit concert, to raise money for Save the Music Foundation, featured pop divas Celine Dione, Gloria Estefan, Shania Twain, and Mariah Carey paying homage and performing with Franklin and King.

About Carole King’s Tapestry

Carol King’s Tapestry earned four Grammy Awards: Record of the Year (“It’s Too Late”), Song of the Year (“You’ve Got a Fried”), Album of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal. The album spent 15 consecutive weeks at #1, and a total of 318 weeks on the Billboard 200, between 1971 and 2011. Over 25 million copies (and counting) were bought worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It was certified 13x Platinum by the RIAA (over 13million units sold in the US alone). Carol King’s Tapestry was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is #25 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Tapestry spawned a total of four singles, released as two double A-sides:

• “So Far Away” and “Smackwater Jack” (March 1971)
• “It’s Too Late” and “I Fell the Earth Move” (April 1971)

My 3 Favorite Tracks from Carole King’s Tapestry

Below I will dig into my three favorite songs from Carole King’s tapestry, including one of those singles:

• “It’s Too Late”
• “You’ve Got a Friend”
• “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”

“It’s Too Late”

“It’s Too Late” is about a breakup in which there is no clear side to blame. The singer addresses her partner to let him know it’s too late to try to fix the relationship and pretending is no longer going to work. The lyrics of the chorus make it clear:

“And it’s too late, baby, now it’s too late.

Though we really did try to make it

Something inside has died

And I can’t hide and I just can’t fake it.”

https://genius.com/Carole-king-its-too-late-lyrics

In the third verse she sings:

“There’ll be good times again for me and you

But we just can’t stay together, don’t you feel it, too?

Still, I’m glad for what we had and how I once loved you.”

Instead of taking a melodramatic, typical life-is-over pop song trope, there’s an expression of awareness that everything is going to be okay. She’s telling her partner there will be good times for us, but not with each other. She also expresses her gratitude for the great relationship. Not all relationships end with guilt, blame, and deceit. Sometimes love in a relationship just fades and it’s better and healthier to acknowledge the truth.

“It’s Too Late” is one of two songs on Carole King’s Tapestry with Toni Stern as co-writer. Stern’s lyrics were inspired by her own breakup with singer & songwriter James Taylor. It was a huge hit for King, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, and was certified Gold (over 1 million in sales) by RIAA. “It’s Too Late” is considered one of the greatest pop/rock songs of all time. Part of the appeal was that it provided a feminist take to ending a relationship. The woman recognizes a futile relationship and takes the initiative to end it amicably, instead of staying silent and hoping things will get better. Cover versions by other artists include Chris Colfer and Darren Criss in Glee (2015), Amy Grant on Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King (1995), Isaac Hayes (1973), and The Isley Brothers (1972).

“You’ve Got a Friend”

Anyone feeling lost and alone, or who wishes to express their love for a friend in need, will appreciate my next favorite track from Carol King’s Tapestry. With the current pandemic wreaking havoc on mental health, “You’ve Got a Friend” seems to be more relevant than ever. King wrote the song in response to a 1970 song by her friend, James Taylor, called “Fire and Rain”. That song contained a lyric that says, “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.” The song has a universal appeal that defies the boundaries of gender, race, and religion. It serves to inspire hope and encouragement when you are feeling alone, regardless of what type of heartache or mental health issue you’re trying to cope with.

King never released this song as a single. King wrote the song, then she and Taylor simultaneously recorded their own versions. Taylor’s version appears on his 1971 album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, and was released as a single in May of 1971. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. You’ve Got a Friend” is one of the most covered songs in the world. The song has been translated into many languages, including Swedish, Spanish, French, German, Catalan, Czech, and Romanian. Some of the most popular covers were sung by Barbra Streisand, Labelle, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Al Green, Bebe and Cece Winans with Aretha Franklin, The Brand New Heavies, Dusty Springfield, and Jimmy Cliff. Even Kidz Bop covered the song in 2004!

“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”

Before Carole King’s Tapestry, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” was released as a stand-alone single by Aretha Franklin in September of 1967. Although it only reached #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100, the song was a huge hit for Franklin and became her signature song. It was written at the urging of Jerry Wexler, then the co-owner of Atlantic Records. As the story goes, Wexler was riding in a taxi in New York City when he happened to see Carole King on the street. He yelled out to her, saying he wanted her to write a song about a natural woman for Aretha Franklin. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” that same night.

Some think “Natural Woman” is a song about physical pleasure, while other believe it’s about feelings of intense love and adoration of a man. The song really is about a woman finding purpose and fulfilment through a man who makes her feel good about herself and her life. The second verse of the song makes the meaning clear:

“When my soul was in the lost and found

You came along to claim it

I didn’t know just what was wrong with me

‘Til your kiss helped me name it

Now I’m no longer doubtful of what I’m living for

‘Cause if I make you happy I don’t need to do more.”

https://genius.com/Carole-king-you-make-me-feel-like-a-natural-woman-lyrics

This song is celebrated as an ode to the power of love. While I love the song, I can’t help but critique it for its anti-feminist slant. The song is about a woman who was not able to self-identify as a confident, independent single woman. Before meeting this man, who makes her feel so fulfilled, it seems she see was a lost and lonely soul, wandering aimlessly through life. I’m interested what you think about this song. Let me know in the comments below!

Carole King’s Tapestry Deserves a Spot in Your Music Library!

Carole King is a national treasure and Tapestry is a bright and indelible mark on the American musical landscape. This album represents the strength and endurance of her songwriting and musical talent. As truly timeless body of work, 50 years later it still makes you feel love and loved, heartbroken and hopeful, and introspective and celebratory. It deserves a spot in your music library! Wish yourself a Merry Christmas and get a copy!

Merry Christmas!