Aretha Franklin > (You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman
Composed by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, & Jerry Wexler

The peak. The last, and maybe the greatest, of the Goffin & King work-for-hire smash hits. (After 1968 there were a couple of blah years, and then, the explosion and revolution of Tapestry).

And what a smash. For any other artist this record would have a career peak. For Aretha it was an artistic peak, except there were many, many more zeniths over the next six years.

For Carole King, maybe it was the beginning of understanding herself?

Carole King Week #6
Legends of Soul #3 
Legends of Songwriting #6

The Monkees > Pleasant Valley Sunday
Composed by Carole King & Gerry Goffin

We’re getting near the end, my friend. Not just of Carole King Week, but of the run of hits Carole made with her first partner/husband. They’d toiled in the factory for seven years and still had tomorrow’s big hit in them, but please, it was getting wearing. The Monkees were fun and all, but isn’t there something else?

Carole King Week #5
Legends of Pop #1
Legends of Songwriting #5

Carole King > Up On The Roof
Composed by Carole King & Gerry Goffin

I was too young to hear the original hit by The Drifters, so when The Persuasions sang it a cappella it hit me like a ton of bricks. I never much liked James Taylor’s cursory treatment, and like almost everyone else I ignored this album where Carole covered it herself. Who really wants to hear a white girl writer-turned-singer cover her own tune (and she didn’t even write the poigant lyric)?

What an idiot! My recent rediscovery led me back to Carole’s first solo album. Just like on You’ve Got A Friend, she takes a song I had related to the background and reinjects it with heartbreak. Soul? It’s soul baby, for real. Don’t be as stupid as me, listen.

Carole King Week #4 
Legends of Singer/Songwriters #3 
Legends of Songwriting #4

Grand Funk Railroad > The Loco-motion
Composed by Carole King & Gerry Goffin

The secret of Carole is how darn musical she is. The melodies are simple and memorable, sure, but always somehow constructed. Her #1 hits could work for her singing babysitter (Little Eva Boyd) or even a hard guitar band that couldn’t sing in tune like Grand Funk.

Carole King Week #3 
Legends of Songwriting #3
Legends of Stupid Rock #1 

Earl-Jean > I’m Into Something Good
Composed by Carole King & Gerry Goffin

I’d never heard this version of a song I got to love when Herman’s Hermits covered and hit with it in 1964. But, it’s very cool.

Carole King Week #2 
Legends of Songwriting #2

Carole King > You’ve Got A Friend
Composed by Carole King

I always loved the pop songs Carole King wrote with her then husband Gerry Goffin, and while I liked her mega super smash hit album Tapestry, it’s ubiquity caused me to not really pay attention.

Then, reading her biography last year I found myself admiring her all the more, and listening with a completely new ear. Instead of You’ve Got A Friend being merely a confection, I heard a completely personal, truthful, authentic song, telling a story with a voice that actually brought me to tears. It didn’t seem possible that a melody this infectious could be so moving, but there you have it, a wonder of modern pop.

Carole King Week #1 
Legends of Singer/Songwriters #3 
Legends of Songwriting #1