I am now the proud owner of quite simply the best album EVER: Carole King's Tapestry. I know that anyone over the age of probably 40 is now shaking their head and saying "wow, this girl is way behind the times," but yeah, there's a 20-30 year age gap between you & me...possibly more. I am well aware of the fact that Carole King has been popular, like, ever since she released her music. I am well aware of the fact that she was a 4 time Grammy winner, and I can even list them with the help of my CD (but after a while I should know them anyway, just because I'm a dork like that). And how many other singers can brag of having their album on the charts for SIX YEARS??? Pretty sure not that many. If you can list other artists, please let me know. :)
Anyway, so I'm not exactly behind the times, because pretty sure my mom has this album (and she's probably on her second copy, because isn't it standard for hippy-esque women from the 1970s to own this album?? and probably on record?? my mom has it on CD, but I'm guessing there must have been a record of this floating around at one point!), and I listen to it ALL THE TIME when I'm at home. And now I get to listen to it ALL THE TIME when I'm here too! YAY! I couldn't even think of stealing this one from home, because I think my parents would hunt me down at college to get it back.
And if you think I'm behind the times at all, you have to remember that this album was produced in 1971, and I wasn't even BORN until 1983, so already I've got 12 years against me.
This purchase of Tapestry is not COMPLETELY random. Now here at my college, they tend to announce just about everything that happens, from the showing up of Ben Stein last year to the fact that there is a runoff election for a trustee that requires top 19 lists in email...but they sadly forgot to inform the campus that Carole King (yes, THE Carole King) was coming to promote John Kerry. Don't you think that maybe SOMEONE would think to mention that Carole King is coming to our small town. But no. They neglected to mention it. I didn't even believe it when I got to work a few weeks ago (the day she was speaking). My initial reaction was "THE Carole King?? Why would she come HERE??" After all, we're a predominantly Republican town in Wisconsin...you'd think the Democrats and/or Kerry supporters would have been all over that.
The morale of today however, is that Carole King is a fucking goddess. And if I had been a 60s or 70s child, I would have been all over that sometime before the late 1990s. Though I can say that I have been aware of Carole King's music thanks to another strong female source: the 1992 movie A League of Our Own...which woohoo! features Now & Forever at the beginning of the film. Which, I'm sure has some romantic connotations to the song, but you know what? Whenever I hear that song, I think of my elementary school/middle school/high school friends...you know, the ones that have been around forever. Shoutouts to them!!! Even if two of them are in Europe right now (damn you - getting to be in Ireland & France!!!). :)
- posted by L. @ 1:40 AM