The best song written by a human being

James Taylor And Carole King They’ve been friends for over half a century, but things could have gone awry when they found themselves recording one of King’s most famous songs at almost the same time. The song we’re talking about is “You’ve Got A Friend”not only one of the standout tracks from ‘s 1971 album Carole King, “Tapestry” (read the review here), but also number one hits in the charts for James Taylor in the same year.

Speaking on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,’ Taylor recalled how that singular convergence of events came about. When both artists became staples of the Laurel Canyon music scene in the late 1960s, they became friends and ended up working together. Carole King played piano and sang backing vocals on Taylor’s 1970 album, “Sweet Baby James”and they ended up touring together.

James Taylor he relives that period with these words: “We were playing together at The Troubadour, a real seedy venue in Los Angeles, but it was an important concert. She and I were returning for the second or third engagement at The Troubadour and she gave the green light to this brand new song.”

The song, which would later reveal itself “You’ve Got a Friend”immediately struck Taylor. In fact, he found it so beautiful that he must have already heard it somewhere. “I was sure I already knew the song because it immediately seemed like a classic to me. I literally ran to find my guitar so I could play it.”

A couple of weeks later,
James Taylor
he was in the recording studio working on his new album,
“Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon”
(
read the review here
), these are his words. “We had a couple of hours left. That’s usually the time when someone thinks of a cover: that’s how we waited until we did ‘How Sweet It Is’, ‘Handy Man’, ‘Up On The Roof’. It was an improvisation; we did a quick arrangement and… boom!”. Then Taylor’s thoughts went to that Carole King song, she had heard it played but she hadn’t recorded it yet. “I said, ‘Let’s play that Carole song.’”

Taylor was satisfied with his performance, but there was a problem:
Carole King
was working on
“Tapestry”
and planned to include in the tracklist
“You’ve Got A Friend”
. “Of course she wanted to record that song – it’s the best song written by a human being. So I happily went and recorded it and we really liked the sound of it. So I had to go to Carole and say, ‘I kind of… recorded your hit.’”

James Taylor
he was a little embarrassed, but Carole was very kind. “She said, ‘Great.’ She was generous as usual.” There may be a reason for this kindness: King would later tell Taylor that
“You’ve Got A Friend”
it had been written in response to his
“Fire and Rain”
in which he sang: ‘I’ve seen lonely times when I couldn’t find a friend’. “She said, ‘I heard those lines and I thought to myself: I’ll tell him he has a friend.’”

This triumph of friendship and kindness brought luck to all: the single of
James Taylor
it reached first position in the sales chart, while the album failed to do so because it ended up at the top
“Tapestry”
Of
Carole King
. Closing the circle, guess who played guitar in King’s version of
“You’ve Got A Friend”
? Naturally,
James Taylor
.