I always assumed that my first post about a female singer songwriter was going to be Joni Mitchell. People who know me know I’ve got a sweet spot for the inspirational songstress. However, I was working the other day and put Carole King’s ‘Tapestry’ on the sound system and things changed.
Both Carole and Joni were in that 1960-70s hippy/folk scene with Carly Simon taking up the last place in the holy trinity of females writing chart topping, knock-out songs. The music scene adopted (or arguably inspired) the ‘free love’ attitude of the time and collaborations were frequent – most of these projects spawned moments of unprecedented genius (look at Crosby, Stills & Nash (&Young) for one stellar example). James Taylor, another of my favourite song writers from the era, was one such collaborator with our subject today.
I chose to do a piece on Carole instead of Joni because I feel a little more light needs to be shone on this lady’s sterling career. I’m guessing that more people will of heard of Joni Mitchell than Carole King but when you see the list of songs that the latter has (co)written you’ll probably be able to sing more of her choruses. She wrote 118 songs included in the Billboard ‘Hot 100’ weekly chart – 118!!. In my native Britain she has charted 61 singles. They are some staggering numbers!
The first number one under her belt was ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ (written for The Shirelles) released in 1960(!) – this was before the decade had really begun to swing.
Major hits flowed throughout the 60s for artists such as The Monkees, The Drifters and Aretha Franklin. King can clearly write a classic – sometimes effortlessly it seems.
‘Tapestry’ was Carole’s second solo release in her own right (the first was a bit of a flop) and she absolutely knocked it out the park if I do say so myself. The album was released alongside records from Joni Mitchell (‘Blue’) and James Taylor (‘Mud Slide Slim’) with all three artists contributing to each-others works. There’s certain times in musical history where there is simply ‘something in the air’ and 1971 is certainly one of them (The Eagles began in 1971 and were involved in these circles for yet another example). So, stick it on and lets have a listen shall we:
Track 1 (‘I feel the earth move’) and track 3 (‘Its too late’) were the first singles off the abum, released as a double-a-side. They spent 5 consecutive weeks at number 1 in the U.S together – so a solid start to the album is an understatement. ‘I feel the earth move’ has some lovely piano (played by Carole) on it and demonstrates the level of songwriting that is maintained or bettered later in the album.
I’d also like to draw some early attention to Charles Larkey’s basslines throughout the album. I’m a bassist so I listen out for this sort of stuff but I would struggle to give someone a better blueprint to follow as an aspiring player. His tone, technique and groove are all subtly magnificent.
Track 2 (‘You’re so far away’) is a heartbreaking masterclass in ballad writing and, although never release by King, charted at number 2 in 1995 by Rod Stewart of all people. ‘Home again’ (track 4) falls in to a similar vein with Carole really showing off her sublime voice.
‘Beautiful’ is one of many King songs that is genuinely inspirational (“You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart/Then people gonna treat you better, you’re gonna find yes you’ll find – that you’re beautiful as you feel”). Its a song about inner-beauty called ‘beautiful’ – sound familiar? COUGH Aguilera.
‘You’ve got a friend’ starts the b-side off in blockbuster style. This was written by King but was also included on Taylor’s album of the same year – it turned out to be his only number 1 ever! It requires no introduction – songwriting perfection. Also on the b-side to the record are the aforementioned number 1’s ‘Will you still love me tomorrow’ and the powerhouse that is ‘(You make me feel) Like a natural woman’.
‘Where you lead’ features one of my favourite Larkey’s bassline (its between this and ‘Smackwater Jack’) and is another example that King just has melodies falling out of her (it also charted the same year but as a hit for Barbara Streisand instead). A nice combination of soul and country. ‘Smackwater Jack’ and ‘Tapestry’ finish the track listing and are songs good enough for most other songwriters to consider as singles. The album as a whole spent 15 consecutive weeks at the top of the album charts and stayed in the top 100 for 6 years following its release. It has charted in the top 100 album rankings over 300 times.
Astonishing work.