Carole King’s Tapestry is so cozy, you'll want to hug it; sit with it. It sounds simple, warm, and totally unassuming. But it’s way more impressive than it seems at first.
Adam and Peter break down what’s actually going on beneath the surface of Tapestry ... and what most people miss. Carole King was already an elite songwriter long before this album. You know Aretha Franklin's “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”? Carole wrote that. “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by The Shirelles? She wrote that, too. When she was just 17!
Listen closely and you hear it everywhere: in the chord choices, in the way the she actually PLAYS the piano instead of just accompanying her vocals, and in the way her melodies and lyrics lock together so naturally you barely notice how intentional it all is.
Add in that soulful, sweet voice, and you start to understand how this unassuming record became a chart-topping, Grammy-dominating classic when it came out in 1971.
Tapestry sounds easy, but it's not. Check out this episode, and you'll never hear this album the same way again.
Get our newsletter for bonus stories that didn’t make the pod:
https://youllhearit.com/newsletter
00:00 - Opening Tune: It's Too Late
01:25 - Introducing Carole King's Tapestry
05:00 - That Time Young Paul Simon and Carole Played Together
07:10 - Carole's Early Doo-wop Sound
10:20 - "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - Aretha Franklin
13:30 - When Songwriter Became Performer
16:30 - B.B. and Carole
18:00 - "I Feel the Earth Move"
22:00 - "So Far Away"
30:45 - "It's Too Late"
40:50 - "Home Again"
44:00 - "Beautiful"
45:35 - "Way Over Yonder"
50:00 - "You've Got a Friend"
58:20 - "Where You Lead"
1:02:30 - "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"
1:04:40 - "Tapestry"
1:08:45 - "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman"
1:13:10 - Apex Moments of Tapestry
1:21:20 - Coming Up On on You'll Hear It
1:22:00 - Outro: "It's Too Late"
