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Samuel Cox

Mr. Jorgensen

ENGL 2010

9/5/2023

The Rhetoric of Music – Tapestry

The female artist who holds the record for most Grammys for Album of the Year is

Taylor Swift, a fact most music enthusiasts likely know. However, fewer people may know that

the first female artist to receive a Grammy for Album of the Year is Carole King. In 1971 Carole

King released Tapestry, an album deserving of all its recognition and influence on the music

world.

Carole Kings real name is Carol Joan Klein. Carol was born in New York City on

February 9th, 1942. With a mother who was a schoolteacher and a father who was a firefighter.

“At age four, her mother began teaching her the rudiments of piano technique, music theory and

harmony” (Academy of Achievement). Learning to love music at such an early age she also

began to write songs of her own and landed a contract with ABC Paramount Records at the age

of 15.

At the age of 16 she enrolled into “Queens College, where she met Gerry Goffin, an

aspiring lyricist” (Academy of Achievement). They would get married at 17, drop out of college

and pursue their songwriting careers while having 2 kids by the age of 20.

“From 1959 to 1968 the team of Goffin and King wrote more than two dozen rock ‘n roll

hits for other artists” (Schuman). A few chart-topping songs Carole King helped write were,
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Bobbys Vs “take good care of my baby” and The Monkeys “Pleasant Valley Sunday”. But

Goffin and Kings would get divorced in 1968 and move to California.

In 1971 Carole King finds her major success with her second album release Tapestry, an

album that achieved extensive success that few albums ever do. This album would receive four

Grammys, “Album of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, “Record of the Year”, and “Best Female

Pop Vocal Performance”.

She had a great influence on the end of the “Brill Building Sound”. This was when music

publishers “contracted songwriters, like Goffin and King, to churn out material for Girl Groups,

Pop singers and other recording artists of the day” (Teach Rock). Carole King would help bring

the time for sing-songwriters to take over the industry, with her album being a major success.

One of Kings great friends who had a great impact on her was James Taylor. “a long-lost

friend who also happened to be an angel”, “Taylor later pushed her to "transition from sideman

to performer."” (Bartolomed). Carole King wasn’t the only person part of this movement to sing-

songwriter but had one of biggest impacts on it.

Seven of the twelve songs on the album were written by Carole King alone, a true

example of sing-songwriter. And two of the songs were written by herself and her good friend

James Taylor. King even plays the guitar part on “So Far Away”.

Carole Kings album Tapestry would go to the top of Billboard’s album charts and stay

there for 15 consecutive weeks. The album would stay in the top 200 for an amazing 313 weeks.

“For the next 25 years, Tapestry remained the bestselling album by a female artist.” (Academy of

Achievement). These achievements just show how popular her music was and how timeless it is.
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Spanning 25 years as the top selling female album, that is 3 different generations of people to

looking up to her name. Even in today’s world, the album feels new.

The album cover of Tapestry is down to earth feels relatable, it shows simple women

sitting at her home window with a cat in the shot. A picture we can all imagine ourselves inside,

hanging out with our pet cat at the window with no shoes on. This album cover is also a nice

resemblance of what the album offers, being comfortable and relatable.

The first song on the album is “I Feel the Earth Move”, a song that makes you want to

dance. “I feel the earth move under my feet” a literal down to earth song. The sound of the song

has an amazing groove, with no distracting lyrics. The song is made for dancing and knows what

it wants to be.

The second song on the album is “So Far Away”, really setting the mood for the rest of

the album. An amazing slow-moving piece of music, all about missing a loved one. King is also

cleverly ambiguous about who the song is about. Making the song perfectly relatable cause it can

be about anybody you love, that feels “so far away”.

“Way over yonder”, this song contains great piano and amazing melody just like “so far

way”. But this time the song is conveying a new message keeping the album engaging. The song

is about having an optimistic future, “troubles gonna loose me” over the yonder. The song is

something everybody can relate to, looking for a better future.

In the song “Beautiful” we are given a beautiful message about self-love. Everyone is

capable of being their own person, “you’re as beautiful as you feel”. An uplifting feel to the

entire song, with powerful lyrics.

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The second-best song on the album is “It’s Too Late”, an unbelievably real sounding

song. This is another break up song, a song portrayed too many times. But Carole Kings story for

breaking up sounds much to believable and relatable to not connect with. With the lyrics, “be no

denying one of us is changing or maybe we’ve just stopped trying”. A song about a relationship

growing apart and no one willing to put in the effort to keep it together anymore.

The best song on the album is “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Women” with some

of the rawest beautiful vocals on the entire album accompanied with brilliant piano. This song

shows Carole Kings belief in true love, even after all the heartbreak and struggles she has gone

through. “Your love was the key to my piece of mind”, a message so many songs are trying to

portray but Carole King portrays it perfectly.

This album became the soundtrack of all these new generations of women becoming their

own after all the feminist movements. And creating a new sound which would define most of the

70’s music. This album had enormous success during its time, but in today’s world it seems to

have been forgotten.

Tapestry is a perfect album, a beautiful listen that will never get old. Every song has an

amazing message and feels so relatable while still being very easy to listen to. Only one song I

felt myself not being able to connect with easily and found myself skipping over. The music

sounds like it could be written today and that is the definition of timeless music.
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Works Cited

Schuman, Wendy. “CAROLE KING: The Tapestry of Her Amazing Life.” Grand Magazine,

Spring 2021, p17-2.1 5p., https://web-s-ebscohost-

com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=9b16463e-9092-440e-

a289-38d6210b1bb0%40redis Accessed 15 Oct. 2023.

“Carole King — Academy of Achievement.” Academy of Achievement. 9 May. 2022.

https://achievement.org/achiever/carole-king/. Accessed 15 Oct. 2023.

“Carole King.” TeachRock, teachrock.org/people/king-

carole/#:~:text=Perhaps%20the%20most%20successful%20female,a%20hugely%20succes

sful%20solo%20artist. Accessed 15 Oct. 2023.

Bartolomed, Joe. “5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT… CAROLE KING” People,

00937673 Vol. 77. Issue 19. 7 May 2023. https://web-s-ebscohost-

com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=cb1bf2f9-f7a8-4a61-9be6-

b8e854eadadf%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=74

680810&db=f6h. 15 Oct. 2023.

“Carole King ~ Tapestry [1971] (Full Album).” Www.youtube.com,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyQ-TgA6bQk. Accessed 16 Oct. 2023.