On July 31, 1971, James Taylor scored his first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with his rendition of the Carole King tune “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Taylor’s first Hot 100 hit was his classic song “Fire and Rain,” which reached No. 3 in 1970. As it turned out, “Fire and Rain” actually helped inspire the prolific King to write the song that became Taylor’s most successful single on the Hot 100 a year later.
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Taylor and King’s Early Collaborative Relationship
King had befriended Taylor after she relocated from New York City to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Carole’s move had followed her split with her husband and longtime songwriting collaborator, Gerry Goffin. Taylor and King worked on each other’s early albums and shared some of the same backing musicians.
King played piano on “Fire and Rain” and other songs from Taylor’s second album, Sweet Baby James. Taylor, in turn, contributed acoustic guitar and backing vocals to King’s first two solo albums, Writer (1970) and the chart-topping Tapestry (1971). Tapestry included the heartfelt ballad “You’ve Got a Friend,” which was among the songs featuring Taylor on guitar.
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Taylor revealed in a 2015 Rolling Stone interview that King told him she was inspired to write “You’ve Got a Friend” as a positive response to the “Fire and Rain” lyric “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find friend.” “Carole’s response was, ‘Here’s your friend,’” James noted. “As soon as I heard it, I wanted to play it.”
Taylor had heard King perform “You’ve Got a Friend” during a concert soundcheck before she’d recorded it for Tapestry. He decided he wanted to record his own version for his third album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. He was making his album around the same time King was recording Tapestry. James’ rendition of “You’ve Got a Friend” actually was recorded before King’s own version.
More Details About “You’ve Got a Friend” and Mud Slide Slim
The song was released as the first single from Mud Slide Slim, and grabbed the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 for one week. It also peaked at No. 4 on the U.K. chart, becoming his most successful single in that country as well.
Joni Mitchell, who was dating Taylor around that time, contributed backing vocals to his version of “You’ve Got a Friend.” In addition, session musician Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar played congas on both King’s and Taylor’ recordings, and also contributed acoustic guitar to James’ rendition.
King played piano on more than half of the songs on Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, although not on “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Mud Slide Slim peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Grammy Success for “You’ve Got a Friend”
Taylor’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend” won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male in 1972. The Song of the Year trophy went to King as the songwriter.
Taylor’s 2024 Tour Plans
Taylor is preparing to launch a series of late-summer tour dates in the U.S. The trek is mapped out from an August 30 show in Philadelphia through a September 15 concert in Vienna, Virginia.
Tickets for Taylor’s concerts are on sale now via a variety of outlets, including StubHub.
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