Music Monday - Breaking Down "Tapestry" and Fun Facts You May Not Know!

A lot of James Taylor…

I Feel the Earth Move

Both 'I Feel the Earth Move' and 'It's Too Late' became among the biggest mainstream pop hits of 1971.

Music journalist Harvey Kubernik stated that "I Feel the Earth Move" was "probably the most sexually aggressive song on the Tapestry album" and a "brave" opening to an album whose mood is mostly "mellow confessionality".

AllMusic critic Stewart Mason describes the song as "the ultimate in hippie-chick eroticism" and writes that it "sounds like the unleashing of an entire generation of soft-spoken college girls' collective libidos"

It’s Too Late

Did you know…the lyrics were written by Toni Stern with music by King. Stern told author Sheila Weller that she wrote the lyrics in a single day, after her relationship with James Taylor ended.

Music critic Dave Marsh saw implicit feminism because the woman left the man.

So Far Away

Did you know…this recording features James Taylor on acoustic guitar.

You’ve Got a Friend

Another well-known version is by James Taylor and both his and King’s versions won Grammy Awards (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Song of the Year respectively).

According to Taylor, King told him that the song was a response to a line in Taylor's earlier song "Fire and Rain" that "I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend” but King said in a 1972 interview that she "didn't write it with James or anybody really specifically in mind. But when James heard it he really liked it and wanted to record it".

King's album was recorded in an overlap with Taylor's, and King, Danny Kortchmar, and Joni Mitchell perform on both.

Where You Lead

Another written with lyricist Toni Stern

The song served as the main theme song for The WB dramedy series Gilmore Girls in a lyrically revised version recorded by King and her daughter Louise Goffin.

Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Words by King’s former husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin and music composed by herself.

It was recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles with ‘Boys’ as their B-Side later covered by The Beatles.

The song was the first by a Black girl group to reach number one in the United States.

King recorded her version for “Tapestry” in 1971.

(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Of course, famously written for Aretha Franklin

As recounted in his autobiography, Jerry Wexler, producer and co-owner of Atlantic Records, was a student of African-American musical culture and had been mulling over the concept of the "natural man". He drove by King on the streets of New York shouting that he wanted a "natural woman" song for Aretha Franklin's next album. King and her writing partner Gerry Goffin went home and wrote the song that night and in thanks, they granted Wexler a co-writing credit.