In the world of popular music, few praises are higher than that of John Lennon saying that he aspired to be like you. And few songwriters can claim such an honour. However, the two that can are, undoubtedly, two of the greats… Gerry Goffin and Carole King.
The pair have been credited with writing much of the “soundtrack of the sixties;” from hits like “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” “One Fine Day,” and “Locomotion,” to “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”
Carole King, born Carol Klein, and Gerry Goffin met in the fall of 1958. Gerry was nineteen and a night student at Queens College, while the sixteen year old Carole had just begun her studies at the college. They met in the student union through a mutual friend and Gerry offered to drive Carole home. The conversation quickly turned to music, and when they arrived at her parents house, she brought him into the living room and they wrote their first song together.
Although Gerry had wanted to write a Broadway musical with Carole, they quickly turned their efforts to popular songs (which had the benefit of more ‘immediate’ financial reward). This became even more important to them when they became parents—soon after their 1959 wedding. Having the financial means to raise their family became the centre of their efforts. Gerry worked a day job as a chemist while the pair would write together at night. It was their first #1 single together which would give Gerry the security to leave his day job and allow them to invest themselves fully in their careers as songwriters. That song was “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”
Over the course of the sixties, Goffin and King wrote hit song after hit song: “Chains,” “It Might As Well Rain Until September,” “The Loco-Motion,” “One Fine Day,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Up on on the Roof,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”
While audiences adored the songs that Goffin and King brought to life—via the performance talents like the Shirelles, Bobby Vee, The Drifters, Little Eva, and eventually the Monkees—the pair themselves were even more important to the musicians and songwriters who looked up to them. This included two young, aspiring songwriters in England during the early sixties – John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
John Lennon has stated in several interviews that, when he and Paul first started writing songs together, they wanted to be the “Goffin and King of England.” This is further highlighted by a Beatles cover of a Goffin and King song on their debut album – “Chains.”
Lennon and McCartney certainly achieved their goal, bringing their songwriting talents to the US, and further changing the popular music landscape. But Goffin and King weren’t done yet. Although their marriage would end by 1968, they closed out 1967 with one of the greatest songs of all time – a song written for an equally inimitable artist. The artist was Aretha Franklin, and the song was A Natural Woman.
The song began with a title; a title so important, they gave its creator, Jerry Wexler, songwriting credit. In her memoir, Carole explained that she and Gerry were walking down the street in New York one day when a limo pulled over and rolled down its window. Inside was Jerry Wexler, and he told the pair that he was looking for the next big hit for Aretha Franklin. “What About calling it Natural Woman?” – he suggested. And then he nodded to them and drove off.
Gerry and Carole sat down and wrote it that very night. The next day they recorded a demo and played it for Wexler. They heard nothing for several days, and didn’t know whether Aretha liked it or whether it would even get recorded. But then Wexler invited them to come in and hear the final recording. The experience was life changing. As Carole wrote: “Hearing Aretha’s performance of “Natural Woman” for the first time, I experienced a rare speechless moment. To this day I can’t convey how I felt in mere words. Anyone who had written a song in 1967 hoping it would be performed by a singer who could take it to the highest level of excellence, emotional connection and public exposure would surely have wanted that singer to be Aretha Franklin.”
Aretha recorded “A Natural Woman” at Atlantic Recording Studios in New York, shortly after the tumultuous – but productive – sessions at FAME studios, in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The sessions included some of FAME’s widely-respected rhythm section players, including Spooner Oldham on piano and Tommy Cogbill on bass. Gene Chrisman played drums, and the background vocals were sung by Franklin’s sisters – Carolyn and Erma Franklin. Jerry Wexler was the producer.
To write the song, Carole and Gerry placed themselves musically in the space of all of the great rhythm and blues, gospel, and soul hits of the day. You can hear this in the piano, which has these powerful, accentuating phrases, followed by a held-back pulse— which allows the other instruments to come forward. You can also hear it in both the way background vocals set the mood and the way the orchestration of strings and winds build into a triumphant chorus.
And of course, it’s Aretha’s singing that captured the incredible spirit that was already present in the song, bringing it to a new level of artistry and excellence. Aretha took Carole’s melody and Gerry’s celebratory lyrics and broadcast them in a way that only the Queen of Soul could do. As Carole states in her memoir: “…in the end, it was Aretha’s performance that sent our song not only to the top of the charts but all the way to heaven.”
“A Natural Woman” was released in September of 1967, and hit number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 2 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues charts. It became one of her signature songs, epitomized with her incredible performance at the Kennedy Honors Ceremony, honouring Carole King in 2015. This performance, and the original recording, are perfect examples of what a consummate artist can do with incredible songwriting.
Many artists have recorded and performed “A Natural Woman,” from Celine Dion to Carole herself. Carole’s recording came on her landmark 1971 album, Tapestry, and is equally wonderful in its own, completely different, and personal way. As Carole wrote….
“Q: How do you follow Aretha Franklin?
A: You don’t. You can only precede her.”
Even though Carole’s recording came out in 1971, she didn’t try to recreate the song that she had originally envisioned for Aretha. Instead, she went back and made it her own. Carole’s version is slower; the piano is brought forward and there is a constant pulse in the instrument throughout. Carole sings some backup for herself, but there is much more focus on the duet between her solo voice at the piano. Her version is intimate, and we are drawn into her personal celebration of love and human connection.
Carole’s version of “Natural Woman,” along with the rest of the Tapestry album, was recorded at A&M Recording Studios in January of 1971. Lou Adler produced the record. Most of the album was recorded in Studio B, since Joni Mitchell had booked Studio C. However, Studio C was the space with the gorgeous Steinway grand piano. One night, Carole and some of her musicians were able to get into Studio C for three hours to record the basis of three songs “I Feel the Earth Move”, “You’ve Got a Friend,” and “A Natural Woman”—all using that Steinway grand. These songs showcase Carole’s incredible talent at the piano on a beautiful instrument.
Her version of “A Natural Woman” is part of an almost perfect album. Tapestry spent 15 consecutive weeks in the Number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album won a grammy for Album of the Year, along with Best Pop Female Performance. Certainly, “A Natural Woman” was a huge part of the album’s success.
The wide variations between Carole and Aretha’s interpretations of the song reveal the fluidity of Gerry’s lyrics.They work equally well as an intimate personal reflection as they do an anthemic celebration. It often surprises people how Gerry was able to write lyrics for songs like “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “A Natural Woman,” which both showcase the female voice. These songs demonstrate his ability to tap into relatable human experiences and create powerful lyrics; lyrics that voices like Carole and Aretha could bring to life.
There is something so real and honest about lines like “And when I knew I had to face another day, Lord, it made me feel so tired.” Other times he finds brilliant metaphors that are completely his own, and yet so relatable. For instance, in the second verse, which begins, “When my soul was in the lost and found, You came along to claim it.” One of Gerry Goffin’s greatest talents was his ability to tap into these raw human emotions that found meaning with so many people.
Gerry Goffin and Carole King have rightfully been credited for writing the “soundtrack to the sixties,” with some of the most important songs of the era. And “A Natural Woman,” which came at the end of their time together, truly highlights the incredible songwriting power of this duo. Clearly, they wrote songs which—not only fit certain voices—but also translated into new interpretations and meanings for generations of listeners.