My life has been a tapestry
Of rich and royal hue
An everlasting vision
Of the ever-changing view
Carole King (Tapestry for 50 years)
The richest of rich tapestries and officially the best-selling by a female artist, Tapestry, was cut 50 years ago.
Rainy Days and Songdays, our weekly music feature that transports us in our minds to exotic places, today celebrates Tapestry.
Brooklyn’s finest
Proud New Yorker Carole had gone west in 1971, following the break-up of her marriage to Gerry Goffin.
Her pal James Taylor had urged her to put her own voice to her tracks after pumping out classics for others through the Sixties.
The push and pull of home and away informs Tapestry as Carole takes us on a journey we all can share.
And Californian too
Making a new home for herself in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills, Carole pines for home in the early tracks.
In Far Away a clearly homesick Carole asks:
‘Doesn’t anybody live in one place any more/It would be so nice to see your face at my door?’
Further down the line back playing in NY she elicits home support with a nod to Brooklyn.
A Real Homebody
But showing how timeless Home Again is Carole updates it here for our Covid times.
Of course Carole occupies a place for her listeners which is universal.
Which is where You’ve Got A Friend resides and that friend is ours too, James Taylor.
Oh heck here they are again in another place we all know and all go in Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
We’ll Love You Tomorrow
And, of course, she famously wrote it when she was 17, gave to The Shirelles, took back, slowed down, and dropped the ‘Still’.
Carole professes that she ‘always wanted a real home with flowers on the window sill but if you want to live in New York City, honey you know I will’.
Amusingly Carole confesses she went cold on the song as she grew and considered Where You Lead belittling.
Momma and daughter
Until she reinvented it as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin.
For her Hyde Park concert which was the same year as me and my Natural Woman, my Sadie, rocked up for her musical Beautiful in London’s Theatreland.
It’s as is she was shouting out to us with her ‘If you wanna live in London, England, honey you know ai will.’
The Richest Tapestry
Yes, 50 years on Carole King, where you lead I will follow.
And I’d urge you if you haven’t got Tapestry your collection go out and buy it.
And you’ll have a friend. For me it’s Tapestry for 50 years.
