September 27, 2024      —–     Chart #265

Hello Music Friends,

Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. We are in 1971 this week with another great hit from none other than the incredible Carole King. “Where You Lead” is a song written in 1970 by Carole King with lyricist Toni Stern, introduced on King’s iconic 1971 album Tapestry. A Top 40 hit for Barbra Streisand in both a studio and a live version — the latter in a medley entitled “Sweet Inspiration/ Where You Lead'” — the song has also served as the main theme song for The WB dramedy series Gilmore Girls in a lyrically revised version recorded by King and Louise Goffin.

In 2000 Carole King recorded “Where You Lead” as a duet with her daughter Louise Goffin to serve as theme song for the WB television series Gilmore Girls. Asked by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino for permission to use the original Tapestry track as the Gilmore Girls theme, King had responded that she’d rather re-record the song for Sherman-Palladino’s purpose, with lyrics abridged to reflect the series’ theme of a mother-daughter relationship and with King’s own daughter Louise Goffin dueting with King. King contacted Toni Stern, co-writer of the song’s original version, and Stern tweaked the song’s original romantic lyrics so as to be applicable to a mother-daughter relationship, and King and Goffin recorded this new version of “Where You Lead” at the home studio in the Laurel Canyon residence of Goffin and Goffin’s then-husband Greg Wells with Wells producing the track.

The full version of the King/ Goffin duet of “Where You Lead” had its debut release on the 2002 album Our Little Corner of the World: Music from Gilmore Girls and would be a bonus track on the 2007 deluxe edition release of King’s album Love Makes the World, while King and Goffin could be heard singing the song live on King’s 2005 concert album The Living Room Tour: in its album appearances the track’s title shows as “Where You Lead I Will Follow” although the Gilmore Girls credits identified the song as “Where You Lead“. During the 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour King performed the revised version of “Where You Lead” at some tour venues, singing lead while the tour’s co-headliner James Taylor played guitar and sang background vocals. I guess if you have to share the stage, James is not a bad choice, huh?

Another timeless piece of music from Tapestry, one of the greatest albums of all time. Enjoy this one.

Keep Rockin’,

Stan Bradshaw