Cover Wars: You’ve Got A Friend by Carole King

In honor of the 45th anniversary of Carole King’s iconic album Tapestry – which anyone in the 70’s who had any interest in music at all had in their record collection – this week’s Cover Wars features King’s 1971 (yeah, I’m that old) masterpiece “You’ve got a Friend.” The song was featured on Tapestry, but became an ever bigger hit when recorded by country/folk singer James Taylor. His version was released as a single in 1971 and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The two versions were recorded simultaneously in 1971 with shared musicians, but it’s Taylor’s version heard on the radio most often.

“You’ve Got a Friend” won Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) and King (Song of the Year). Dozens, if not hundreds, of other artists, have recorded the song over the years, including Celine Dion, Roberta Flack, Anne Murray, Dusty Springfield, and even Michael Jackson, McFly, and Lady Gaga.

This is a very special song for me, as I spent many a teenaged day and night entranced by the magic of Tapestry. King is a role model, and legend for female singer/songwriters through the ages, and her life and music are now celebrated in the Broadway musical, “Beautiful.” Let’s see which of these new artists covers it best:

Eirini Tornesaki + Andres Rotmistrovsky‬: