Song Lyric Sunday …rivers each day…

...it’s too late, baby, now it’s too late…

Say what? I’m picking out bananas at the grocery store. My ears pick up the overhead piped in music. I squint upwards into the fluorescent lights as if looking for the source.
Seriously?

And then again the next week…

…you just call out my name…

…while wheeling my cart to the checkout line. I freeze. Not knowing whether to laugh, cry, protest or just sing along. Hard to wrap my head around the fact that Carole King is now muzak. I sigh, feel my age and start tapping my foot. Damn.

Forty eight years ago today – February 10, 1971 – Carole King released Tapestry. The day after her 29th birthday.

The 61st Grammy awards air tonight. In 1972, during the 14th Grammy awards, Tapestry won 4 awards:

Record of the Year: “It’s Too Late”
Album of the Year: “Tapestry”
Song of the Year: “You’ve Got a Friend”
Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female: Carole King for “Tapestry”

I memorized Tapestry. Every word. Every note. I can even sing every song. My untrained voice somehow able to follow hers. Never mind that it is one of the best selling albums of all time. Never mind about that. She was there right beside me. And millions of young people like me.  She knew us. Heard us. Understood us. Gave voice to what we perhaps were unable to articulate…yet.

12 songs. A young woman. A piano. Accompanists.
Simple songs of friendship, longing, loss, hope, love and joy.

I was 17. Seventeen is not easy. Ain’t it good to know you’ve got a friend?

That summer, 3 special girlfriends  – Patty, Wendy and Eleanor – and I played that album hundreds of times. Sang. Danced. Laughed. It wove the confusing emotions of our lives into lyrics we could understand. And often be comforted by.

Alone in my room, I’d drop the needle belting out the lyrics one song after the other. Knowing beforehand what came next.

When the title song fades out….He’s come to take me back… I’m poised for…Looking out on the morning rain….

Flip back to side one. …That you’re beautiful as you feel…wait for it…Way over yonder…

[Song lyric Sunday’s theme today is River/Stream/Crook/Brook]

Way Over Yonder (from Tapestry)
Words and music by: Carole King

Way over yonder is a place that I know
Where I can find shelter from hunger and cold
And the sweet tasting good life is easily found
Way over yonder — that’s where I’m bound

I know when I get there, the first thing I’ll see
Is the sun shining golden — shining right down on me
Then trouble’s gonna lose me — worry leave me behind
And I’ll stand up proudly in true peace of mind

Way over yonder is a place I have seen
In a garden of wisdom from some long ago dream 

Maybe tomorrow I’ll find my way
To the land where the honey runs in rivers each day
And the sweet tasting good life is so easily found
Way over yonder — that’s where I’m bound
Way over yonder — that’s where I’m bound

Almost 50 years later.
Still fresh.
Still relevant.

Still a great song.

Still a great album.