August 18, 2023 —– Chart #207
Hello Music Friends,
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Today I am going back to one of my most played albums of all time. This artist is a brilliant song writer and performer. “Beautiful” is a song written by Carole King that was first released on her 1971 award-winning album Tapestry. It has also been covered by other artists, such as Barbra Streisand and Richard Marx, and included on several of King’s live albums. It was also used as the title song of the 2014 Broadway musical Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
According to King, she did not consciously attempt to write “Beautiful” but it came to her spontaneously. It stemmed from her realization while riding the New York City Subway that the way she perceived others reflected how she herself felt. She has also stated that because it came to her spontaneously, she initially didn’t realize some of the professional details of the song, such as the lack of rhyme in the refrain, which if she was writing the song consciously she would have included.
Rolling Stone Magazine critic Jon Landau describes “Beautiful” as an “uptempo song.” The lyrics reflect themes present throughout the Tapestry album, such as the importance of self-esteem and positive outlook. Within the song, beauty is defined not as an attractive outward appearance but as inner beauty. In the verses of the song, the singer sings about the unhappy people she sees around her. The message is emphasized by setting the verses in a minor key and to a straightforward rhythm and singing at a relatively low pitch. The refrain, describes the need for optimism and self-esteem in order to be successful, and is reinforced by being set in a major key and to a syncopated rhythm and at a higher pitch.
Tapestry is the second studio album by Carole King, released in 1971 on Ode Records and produced by Lou Adler. The lead singles from the album—”It’s Too Late” and “I Feel the Earth Move“—spent five weeks at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts.
Tapestry has been certified 14× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in the US, and has sold an estimated 30 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 2000, it ranked 74th in Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums, and in 2020, it ranked 25th on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Tapestry won four Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Barbara Streisand: https://youtu.be/MfH-FNenMYk
Instrumentation for “Beautiful” includes King playing piano and synthesizer, Charles Larkey on bass guitar, Joel O’Brien on drums and Danny Kortchmar on conga drums. Author James Perone praises the song as “great sleeper track” but criticizes the use of the synthesizer, which although not prominent he believes sounds synthetic, detracting from the song’s emphasis on being real. Rolling Stone Album Guide critic Mark Coleman states that King’s performance “rescues ‘Beautiful’ from the sentimental deep end.”
Folks, in my humble opinion the entire Tapestry album is brilliant. I love these songs as much today as I did in 1972. Don’t overlook “Where You Lead”, “Way Over Yonder”, Home Again” or even “Smackwater Jack”. Enjoy.
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw