Nine Hit Songs You Had No Idea Were Written By Carole King (Suprises me)

BI ^ | 6-29-2014 | Aly Weisman

[blam]

Aly Weisman
June 26, 2014

The Broadway musical "Beautiful" — the true story of Carole King's remarkable rise from behind-the-scenes songwriter to solo stardom — took home three Tony Awards in June, including Best Actress for Jessie Mueller's portrayal of King. "Tapestry" launched Carole King's solo career in 1971, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.

But what many don't realize about King's career is that the musician began songwriting for other artists in the 1960s, over a decade before she became a famous artist in her own right. King and her then husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote more than two dozen hits for top artists of the time, including Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, and the Beatles.

It wasn't until divorce and a cross-country move to Los Angeles that King released her first successful solo album, "Tapestry," which included hit songs like "I Feel the Earth Move," "You've Got A Friend," and "It's Too Late." In 1971, "Tapestry," produced by Lou Adler, hit No. 1 on the charts and won a Grammy in 1972 for Album of the Year.

(snip)

[Fiji Hill]

“Chains” by the Beatles — 1963

The song was originally recorded (but not released) by the Everly Brothers.

Chains was originally a hit for the Cookies, a girl group not to be confused with another group called the Cookies who recorded King of Hearts in 1957.

[rabidralph]

Here's the obit of Gerry Goffin, who she wrote a lot of songs with. It's just an incredible musical catalog between the two.

[bigbob]

Gerry Goffin had a way of putting words to feelings many had trouble expressing, but could relate to as soon as they heard their songs. RIP.

Here's the happy couple on their wedding day:

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

Actually he was from Tulsa. During his creative period he wrote a bazillion songs.

[SkyDancer]

[Steve_Seattle]

"Carole was/is great. I think I was most surprised to realize she’d written “Don’t Bring Me Down” by the Animals. It’s just such a unique tune with a killer organ and doesn’t sound like anything else she’s done."

The arrangement is up to the band, and they gave it their own stamp. I read somewhere that Cynthia Weil, co-author of The Animals hit "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," was not happy with their rendition of the song, to which Animals' drummer John Steel replied, in effect, "She was muttering and snarling all the way to the bank."

[blam]

"Didn’t know about the Motown tunes."

I agree...complete surprise. I remember and liked all those too.

I wouldn't have guessed that the Bee Gees wrote this Kenny Rogers - Dolly pardon hit either

[bigbob]

I think you man “The Funk Brothers”.

Search them on Youtube and you’ll find many of their backing tracks without the vocals, so you can really appreciate their talent.

And soon, the documentary on “The Wrecking Crew” will be out, and everyone will know who REALLY played on all those hits by the Beach Boys, Monkees, Sonny and Cher, and many more.

Both groups of studio musicians were incredibly talented and it’s only right that they are finally getting their due.

[Fungi]

He is the last remaining member of Bread. He truly was very prolific, writing “Popsicles and Icicles” for the Murmaids, among a host of other songs and he also produced for a number of artists. A Christian and a great guy.

[Steve_Seattle]

"I agree...complete surprise. I remember and liked all those too."

Shouldn't be surprised: there were a few song-writing tandems - Lieber/Stoller, Goffin/King, Mann/Weil, and a few others - whose footprints were all over the music scene from 1955-1970.

[newfreep]

The great Hal Blaine, drummer extraordinaire, led the various incarnations of The Wrecking Crew that included Carol Kaye (Bass), Glenn Campbell (Geetar) and other notables. They played the instruments on all the Beach Boy albums from the very first.

Re: the Funk Bros, they were legendary in their own right. A few years ago the surviving members got together and played a concert with guest vocalists including Joan Osbourne’s definitive version of the GREAT song “What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” - absolutely amazing!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA0GcXV2njY

[bigbob]

Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry were one of the most successful Brill Building songwriting-production teams to supply hit compositions to Phil Spector and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in the early ‘60s:

http://rockhall.com/inductees/greenwich-and-barry/bio/

Sadly we lost Ellie in 2009, Jeff is still active. Together with Phil Spector they pretty much created the “girl group” sound, and they made Neil Diamond a star.

[Alas Babylon!]

I bet he made a lot of Bread on those songs, too!

[newfreep]

“The Locomotion” was recorded by Little Eva who was Carol’s babysitter.

[nascarnation]

Have you seen the movie that was taken from?
I liked it a lot.

[bigbob]

well, there’s another 4 minutes well spent — I can’t watch that enough, and Joan Osborne just knocks a great song right out of the park.

Check out Kent Hartmans book ‘The Wrecking Crew’, it’s an excellent read. Now only were they great performers, but each was an ad-hoc arranger and producer as well. The book tells many stories of how some of the most recognizable hooks and riffs were the result of impromptu suggestions from The Wrecking Crew.

When Hal Blaine says “hey, I have an idea....” - you’d better listen!

[230FMJ]

She had a hit single called “It Might as Well Rain Until September”, Summer of ‘62.

[blam]

"I thought everybody knew, “Locomotion,” was by her and Little Eva was her babysitter."

Nope...didn't know that.

I did know that Eric Clapton stole George Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd and wrote Layla about her. George wrote Something about Pattie. Eric eventually married Pattie.

Patties sister, Jenny, married Mic Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac but left him when she discovered his affair with Stevie Nicks.

[newfreep]

Lou Adler is married to Daryl Hannah’s sister...if memory serves me correctly.

He also produced The Mamas & The Papas among many others.

[Huskrrrr]

I loved that song! Not nearly enough air time.