She's the King!

My wife tells me that I can be rather excessive at times, and it is not only about food. But I've got to admit. Yes, many times, I over-eat. So, this is something I must cut down especially at my age.

But no, there are other excesses in my life that she complains about. Like, for example, my passion for music. She complains about my collection of vinyl records, she complains about my cassette tapes, she complains about my compact discs. Luckily, she did not say anything about my minidiscs. I hope not. Three out of four is bad enough.

This morning, I was looking through my music collection and goodness ... here's an excess that I found: three vinyl records and five compact discs by Carole King. You've heard of her, right? I mean Carole King, not my wife. If you haven't, cheh! Such an influential singer/songwriter and you don't know who she is!

I've loved her music ever since Tapestry came out as a vinyl record. Such wonderful songs, straight from her heart. Then, when CDs became fashionable, I bought Tapestry again. Wait...not just a copy but two! The second one was a remastered version that contained some extra songs. I simply had to buy it. Isn't that excessive for you?

Tapestry and her concert at Carnegie Hall are two of the most endearing CDs in my collection. A friend lent me The Living Room Tour last year but it wasn't as impressive as Carnegie Hall.


Anyway, if you look at the picture above, you'll also see the cover for The City CD hidden somewhere there. The music in that album was the forerunner of Tapestry and it was already influential. Blood, Sweat and Tears covered her song, Hi-De-Ho, while the Byrds used Wasn't Born To Follow on one of their albums. The City featured Carole King, Danny Kortchmar, Charles Larkey and Jim Gordon.

Finally, I just want to lift some verses from You've Got A Friend, a very poignant song but one with some great meaning and comfort. Here's the first verse:

When you're down and troubled
And you need some loving care
And nothing is going right
Close your eyes and think of me
And soon I will be there
To brighten up even your darkest night

And this is the second verse:

If the sky above you
Grows dark and full of clouds
And that old north wind begins to blow
Keep your head together
And call my name out loud
Soon you'll hear me knocking at your door

These are words of hope that swell from the deepest despair. Great stuff!