Carole King: Songs you may have not realized she wrote

[P. Aaron]

I knew most of these but that's cause I'm an old clunker.

Commentary from the link:

10: “Take Good Care of My Baby,” Bobby Vee—from 1961, but almost feels pre-’60s.
9: “Jazzman,” Lisa Simpson—this actually was originally recorded by King, in 1974, but I guarantee you more people know it as Lisa’s eulogy for Bleeding Gums Murphy.
8: “Another Pleasant Valley Sunday,” the Monkees—what, you thought the Monkees wrote their own stuff?
7: “Don’t Say Nothing Bad About My Baby,” The Cookies—yes, a Jewish lady from Brooklyn wrote this, really.
6: “One Fine Day,” The Chiffons—ditto.
5: “Don’t Bring Me Down,” The Animals—exactly the sort of tune you wouldn’t think she wrote!
4: “You’ve Got a Friend”—yes, it’s on Tapestry, but the version by her friend James Taylor is so definitive. And he was no songwriting slouch.
3: “I’m Into Something Good,” Herman’s Hermits—something about the blues progression here feels so typically her, in much the same way that the next song’s does.
2: “The Loco-Motion,” Little Eva—you think you can hear King singing this song in her voice; but she didn’t until 1980.
1: “Up on the Roof”—quite simply one of the great songs. The James Taylor version is wonderful, too. And is there a track more subtly yet quintessentially New York?

One heckuva songwriter & voice. Yet her albums are so modest. Very impressive.

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/9921...m_medium=email

[handofseven]

Cool!

Carole King's "Tapestry" is the nuts. An amazing record. No album conjures more completely the memories of my childhood.

[P. Aaron]

Originally Posted by handofseven

Cool!

Carole King's "Tapestry" is the nuts. An amazing record. No album conjures more completely the memories of my childhood.

Was in my early teens. Skipped school (cause it was really awful) listened to FM radio. She was everywhere.

[Richland123]

Here are some great songs co-written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin.

"Will You Love Me Tomorrow" - Shirelles
"Take Good Care of My Baby" - Bobby Vee
"Some Kind of Wonderful" - The Drifters (this is not the same song first done by Soul Brothers Six and covered by Grand Funk Railroad)
"Halfway to Paradise" - Tony Orlando
"Every Breath I Take" - Gene Pitney (not The Police song)
"Walkin' with My Angel" - Bobby Vee
"Don't Ever Change" - The Crickets
"Chains" - The Cookies
"Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" - Little Eva
"The Loco-Motion" - Little Eva
"He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" - The Crystals
"Go Away Little Girl" - Steve Lawrence
"Point Of No Return" - Gene McDaniels
"It Might As Well Rain Until September" - Carole King
"Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" - The Cookies
"Old Smokey Locomotion" - Little Eva
"I Can't Stay Mad At You" - Skeeter Davis
"Hey Girl" - Freddie Scott
"One Fine Day" - The Chiffons
"Up on the Roof" - The Drifters
"I Can't Hear You No More" - Betty Everett
"I'm into Something Good" - Herman's Hermits
"Oh No Not My Baby" - Maxine Brown
"Don't Forget About Me" - Barbara Lewis
"Don't Bring Me Down" - The Animals
"Road to Nowhere" - White Trash
"Sometime in the Morning" - The Monkees
"Goin' Back" - Dusty Springfield
"I Can't Make It Alone" - P.J. Proby
"Pleasant Valley Sunday" - The Monkees
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - Aretha Franklin
"Porpoise Song" - The Monkees
"Wasn't Born to Follow" - The Byrds
"Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" - Blood, Sweat & Tears

[Luv2Pla4U]

Originally Posted by handofseven

Cool!

Carole King's "Tapestry" is the nuts. An amazing record. No album conjures more completely the memories of my childhood.

+1, but memories of my College days. Yeah, I'm a fossil, but I'm still on top of the dirt for the moment

[EBodious]

one set of lyrics she did not write, but put music to and recorded. i am a big fan of hers, but also of maurice sendak...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72DZ3dw5JUg


p.s. wasn't born to follow, one fine day, & will you love me are among my favorite tunes. i once heard she would get out of high school, take the bus into the city, and sell songs in the brill building. imagine that today.

[dhsierra1]

thanks for posting this, I'm a big Carole King fan as well, old enough to remember when "Tapestry" first came out, just couldn't get away from it. Not that I tried

Another nice Jewish lady but from the Bronx who could write and sing up a storm from the 60s and early 70s was Laura Nyro

She unfortunately wasn't as famous as Carole but wrote some huge hits covered by others like "Stoney End" (Barbara Streisand) "Eli's Coming" (3 Dog Night), and "And When I Die" (Blood Sweat and Tears). The list goes on.

And IMHO her magnum opus I believe was covered by the 5th Dimension: "Stoned Soul Picnic".

I actually prefer her versions to the covers, though, she was a helluva singer and always with great back up bands. Even Duane Allman sat in on one of her later albums

[JimK]

Originally Posted by handofseven

Cool!

Carole King's "Tapestry" is the nuts. An amazing record. No album conjures more completely the memories of my childhood.

A great Pop album!
...check out her follow-up, Music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_(Carole_King_album)

Some of the guys in King's back-up band (Kortchmar, Larkey, etc) played in a group called Jo Mama.
They are worth checking out, too.

[ShoeManiac]

Tapestry is an absolute classic album. And it's always part of the discussion when you look at the singer-songwriter records of the early 70's. And the Goffin & King portion of her career definitely shouldn't be overlooked.

There was a film about 10 years ago that was a quasi-biopic about Carole King. It was called Grace of my heart, and even though the characters had different names, you could clearly tell that one was Carole King, another was Gerry Goffin, and John Turturro was the Phil Spector of the story.

[warnergt]

How does she do it?
She is mega-talented when it comes to songwriting.

[Solarmist]

I thought Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote the Monkee's music(?)

[ShoeManiac]

Originally Posted by Solarmist

I thought Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart wrote the Monkee's music(?)

Boyce & Hart wrote a lot of the Monkees material, but not all of it. Songwriting teams like them as well as Goffin & King had their songs recorded by a wide range of artists. The Monkees even recorded a Neil Diamond song. And the common thread with all of those songwriters? Many of them worked out of the Brill building in New York, which was a songwriting & recording mecca in the 50's and 60's

[bass81800]

Old enough to remember Tapestry. How could I ever forget!

Here is her very informative website:

http://www.caroleking.com/

She also had her memoirs published, and it just went into paperback version. Plus, a lifetime Grammy award this year.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by ShoeManiac

Boyce & Hart wrote a lot of the Monkees material, but not all of it. Songwriting teams like them as well as Goffin & King had their songs recorded by a wide range of artists. The Monkees even recorded a Neil Diamond song. And the common thread with all of those songwriters? Many of them worked out of the Brill building in New York, which was a songwriting & recording mecca in the 50's and 60's

Agree. Neil Diamond wrote at least a couple..."I'm A Believer" is the best known.
Don Kirschner had them (song writers) lined up & vying to have the next Monkees hit...having your song played on a nation-wide TV series was a huge deal.

IIRC, things hit a nerve when the Monkess wanted to realize thier own song vs. a Neil Diamond tune(?).
Kirschner had words with the Monkees' management because deals had been set, yaddayadda.
Ultimately, Kirschner was let go...the Monkees did their own thing...then, on the last couple of LPs...went back to Kirschner's formula (outside writers/musicians).

How about a Harry Nilsson tune called "Cuddly Toy" (about a certain biker group's gang bang).

I just peeked at who wrote "I'm Only Sleeping" ('cause I like that one; the Verses are in "7", IIRC)...composers are Cynthia Weil & Barry Mann...two professionals who have their share of very cool R&B/Pop hits.

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by ShoeManiac

And the common thread with all of those songwriters? Many of them worked out of the Brill building in New York, which was a songwriting & recording mecca in the 50's and 60's

Man--you thought Lennon and McCartney had a competition who could write more hits.

Apparently, there is a movie coming out this Summer about the Brill Building. Hopefully, it actually gets released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0S8r1r2scM

[Zooberwerx]

Who are the great singer / songwriters of today's generation?

Riis

[chuck norriss]

Respect for King. She wrote all those classic hits AND she can get down. Herman's hermits owe it to her don't they--wasn't that their biggest hit? I will have to research Tapestry.
I'm digging the classic-classic rocknroll stuff: gene vincent, Eddie Cochran, chuck berry (my first 8 track was chuck berry's hits album). I love the real songwriting stuff.

Recent singer/songwriters--Babyface Edmonds comes to mind. I like jack white's work. Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Cat Power, Raphael Saadiq, Damien Rice: They're out there but they don't really get radio time.

Want to hear something bad? That Rihanna song, "We found love in a hopeless place" same #### over and over again. How is that even a hit song?

[TundraMan]

I love Carole King.

When my son was about 3 we came home from one of our weekly trips to the library. He put in one of the videos he'd checked out that was a collection of various songs. I wasn't paying too much attention to the video when suddenly I heard her unmistakable voice and style. Sure enough one of her songs was on the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syAtmgKqc9c

[chuck norriss]

Tapestry is on Spotify.
Who's playing bass on this album? Pretty damn good.

[Demon_Hunter]

Greatest cover of Carole King's I feel the earth move. Well, at least I think so!!

http://youtu.be/PnIbT8t2kJo

here he is backstage playing it on acoustic

http://youtu.be/905Um7hqBkQ?t=1m20s