Carole King

Carole the sweet one, unruly curls hiding her shyness. Carole at the window in the half-light, bell-bottoms and bare feet, alone with her cat, keeping a safe distance from those spotlights she's feared ever since her debut. They call it stagefright, the fear of facing the stage. And not even a suitcase full of hits will ever be enough to fully overcome it.

Carole's surname is Klein, but King sounds better. A regal name to match the talent of that piano prodigy who had bewitched Neil Sedaka at Queens College (he even dedicated the famous "Oh, Carol" to her). Still waters run deep, and young Carole from Brooklyn proved it: she first pierced the heart of Paul Simon, then (above all) that of songwriter Gerry Goffin, whom she married, pregnant, at just 17.

The couple had two daughters and produced an astonishing string of hits, most of them written for the vocal groups of the era (from the Everly Brothers to the Shirelles), but also for Aretha Franklin, as in the case of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". Together with the duo Bacharach-David, they became the most successful songwriting team of the Sixties. So what is Carole doing, then, staring out of that window with a lost, melancholy look, in the year 1971?

Time has left painful marks on that once fresh-faced, schoolgirl countenance. California and its star-shredding machine, her marriage to Gerry in pieces, followed by divorce and a second marriage to bassist Charles Larkey (soon abandoned in turn). A period of personal crises and artistic setbacks, like her debut solo album ("Writer", 1970). There are depths of melancholy to wade through. So Carole sits back down at the piano and fills her scores with torment and regret. Because it's too late: It's too late. Too late to mend the threads of a relationship that's over, too late to recapture the freshness of love's early days ("It used to be so easy living here with you/ You were light and breezy and I knew just what to do/ Now you look so unhappy, and I feel like a fool"). Words written by young lyricist Toni Stern, but which seem to fit perfectly with the notes and feelings pouring out of Carole's piano. That music in a minor key, that aching Tin Pan Alley-style melody, and that vocal tone so clear and sincere - free of filters or artifice - combined with soft, jazzy arrangements, yet always wrapped in a bare, understated production, sharpen the sense of regret and longing. So much so that the disillusionment over a love story reaching its end seems to morph into the resignation of an entire generation - the one that had dreamed of truly living the Age of Aquarius and instead found itself suddenly thrown into the disillusionment of the Seventies, into realignment, and into the collapse of hippie utopias.

But while stretching the meaning of "It's Too Late" too far can be misleading, it's not inaccurate to call the song a generational anthem, a manifesto of an era. In its sound, first of all, which set a defining standard for the entire decade of the Seventies (that of the most intimate, melancholy singer-songwriter style, think James Taylor), but also in its words: feminist, according to some, because it's a woman who ends the relationship - even too mature and too honest, according to critic Robert Christgau, who wrote: "If there's an honest song about a breakup, it's 'It's Too Late' - the world (or at least AM radio) isn't ready for it yet". But he would be proven wrong, at least on the second point: released as a single in April 1971, "It's Too Late" shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Adult Contemporary chart, becoming the third best-selling single of the year and winning a Grammy for Best Record of the Year.

"It's Too Late" is the pivotal track on "Tapestry", the 1971 album with which this shy New York flower child broke through onto the international scene, revealing a clear voice and a delicate sensibility, paired with a distinctly utopian spirit very much in step with the times. The album went to number one on the US charts and stayed on the charts for over six years. Credit is also due to the timeless charm of ballads like "You've Got A Friend", a wistful ode to friendship also taken to success by James Taylor, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", a soul-rock classic performed by Aretha Franklin, and "So Far Away", an irresistibly atmospheric slow number.

Giving the record more drive, on the other hand, are the tight pop-rock of "I Feel The Earth Move" and the infectious soul of "Way Over Yonder". Carole King proves herself to be not only a first-rate songwriter but also a performer, able to lend an elegantly jazzy touch to her compositions.

Thanks in part to this record, confessional singer-songwriting turned into a mainstream genre, and women in rock finally found a role model to follow. A reference point that would remain alive for the new wave of intimate singer-songwriters at the end of the century too: Suzanne Vega, Tori Amos, Natalie Merchant, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow.

With Carole King, as with Janis Joplin, we celebrate the sexual revolution, the great dreams of the Seventies, the ideals of the "Woodstock Generation". But everything is softer, gentler, more graceful. Through the unease that seeps out of her songs, the New York singer-songwriter reveals every sign of an unformed, introverted character, one that wouldn't hold up to stardom for very long.

"Tapestry" would indeed remain the peak of her success. And what an extraordinary success it was. It has sold twenty million copies worldwide. It won four Grammys: Album of the Year, Song of the Year ("You've Got A Friend"), Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. And her songs have been covered by artists such as James Taylor, Quincy Jones, Rod Stewart, Bee Gees, Manhattan Transfer, Aretha Franklin and the Monkees.

More years will pass, and more songs. But Carole, today a magnificent septuagenarian, will forever remain, in everyone's imagination, that shy girl in the sweater and flared trousers, staring out the window with eyes veiled in melancholy.

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31/10/2006