Story of the song: You’ve Got a Friend by Carole King

From The Independent archive: Robert Webb on the singer-songwriter’s hymn to companionship

James Taylor and Carole King in 1971 (Getty)

During the early Seventies, there was a feeling among the countercultural generation that “friends were the new family”. In response to this, Carole King had written a hymn to companionship, but was unsure if it rang true.

Around Christmas 1970, she played the new song to her producer, Lou Adler. “I have feelings of wondering about whether it’s going to make it or not,” King said. She remembered Adler’s equivocal, one-word response on hearing the song for the first time: “Yeah!” Unconvinced, she also tried it out on her co-lyricist Toni Stern, who thought it was “too obvious”.

Another songwriter, Cynthia Weil, considered it “too long”. The song swayed from minor to major, and back to minor. In January 1971, James Taylor’s unfussy acoustic guitar backed King on her version of the song, for what would become a defining album of the era, Tapestry. King and Taylor, with the help of the musician Danny Kortchmar, vocalist Merry Clayton and a string quartet, nailed the song in one take.

The same month, Taylor appropriated the song for himself, making it a US No 1 and earning Grammys for singer and writer. It’s been recorded by everyone from Al Green to McFly.