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"You've Got a Friend" is a 1971 song written by Carole King. It was first recorded by King, and included in her album Tapestry, although the better known version is by James Taylor from his album Mud Slide Slim, which 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.

"You've Got a Friend" won Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) and King (Song of the Year). Dozens of other artists have recorded the song over the years, including Dusty Springfield, Michael Jackson and Donny Hathaway.

History

"You've Got a Friend" was written by Carole King during the January 1971 recording sessions for her own album Tapestry, and James Taylor's album Mud Slide Slim. King has stated that "the song was as close to pure inspiration as I've ever experienced. The song wrote itself. It was written by something outside myself, through me." King's album was recorded in an overlap with Taylor's, and King, Danny Kortchmar, and Joni Mitchell perform on both. The song is included on both albums; King said in a 1972 interview that she "didn't write it with James or anybody really specifically in mind. But when James heard it he really liked it and wanted to record it".

Taylor's version was released as a single, and reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The James Taylor version also spent one week at the top of the Easy Listening charts. Billboard ranked it as the No. 17 song for 1971.

During the recording process, Taylor also offered to his Apple Records labelmate Mary Hopkin a chance to record the song, which she turned down, a decision she later said she strongly regretted.

James Taylor and Carole King performed "You've Got a Friend" together in 2010 during their Troubadour Reunion Tour. In 2015, Taylor performed an acoustic rendition of the song at Hôtel de Ville, Paris at the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo in tribute to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks.

Reception

According to author James D. Perone, the song's themes include an expression of "a universal, sisterly/brotherly, agape-type love of one human being for another, regardless of gender." The "reassuring" lyrics have long made the song popular with lonely people needing a boost of self-confidence. The song's messages of friendship having no boundaries and a friend being there when you are in need has universal appeal. For Taylor the lyrics had particular resonance due to the depression he had recovered from shortly before hearing King play the song. The music moves between a major and minor key, which according to music critic Maury Dean gives the song a "sympathetic mood."

In his review of Tapestry, Rolling Stone Magazine critic Jon Landau called "You've Got a Friend" Carole King's "most perfect new song." He particularly praised how the melody and lyrics support each other, and the "gorgeous, righteous rock melody" of the ending lyrics. Mojo Magazine considered the song to probably be "the core of Tapestry. Allmusic critic Stewart Mason commented on the "plainspoken intimacy" of King's performance. Mason finds that the "shyness" of King's voice gives her recording of the song a sincerity that he finds Taylor's to lack. Mason also praises the "depth and shading" provided by the string instruments on King's recording.

In his review of Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, Rolling Stone critic Ben Gerson described "You've Got a Friend" as an "affirmative song," but suggested that James Taylor's version was too similar to Carole King's original version to have been worth including on his album. Music critic Maury Dean describes Taylor's performance style for the song as minimalist and folkish and comments on his "star-spangled sincerity."

Other versions released as singles

The song was recorded by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway for their 1972 album Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway, and was released as the album's first single. The single was released a year before the album was, and coincidentally was released on the same date as James Taylor's single: May 29, 1971. The Flack and Hathaway version reached #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #8 on the R&B chart.

"You've Got a Friend" was performed by Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Gloria Estefan, and Carole King at the VH1 Divas Live concert in Beacon Theatre, New York, 1998. It was released as a single and reached number 74 on the Belgian Flanders Airplay Chart.

In 2004, English R&B singer Javine released her cover of the song as half of a double A-side single, along with a cover of "Don't Walk Away". Her recording was included in the soundtrack for the 2004 film Garfield.

In 2009, the song was performed collectively by the finalists of Season 2 of the Danish reality TV series X Factor, Alien Beat Club and Linda Andrews, and topped Tracklisten (the Danish Singles Charts) for weeks 8 and 9 in 2009.

Other recordings

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Many other artists have recorded "You've Got a Friend", in a wide variety of styles and languages. Cover versions of the song began almost immediately, with at least ten artists around the world releasing recordings of the song in 1971 alone, including two (Andy Williams and Johnny Mathis) who titled their albums You've Got a Friend. The song was also recorded in 1971 by Dusty Springfield for her third album for Atlantic Records, but a dispute with the company meant the album was unreleased. The song was left unissued until 1999, when it was issued as a bonus track for the Rhino Records deluxe re-release of Dusty in Memphis.

• Labelle covered the song on their 1971 self-titled album.
• Country singer Lynn Anderson on her 1971 album How Can I Unlove You.
• Barbra Streisand on her 1971 album Barbra Joan Streisand.
• Pop singer Andy Williams on his 1971 album You've Got a Friend.
• Johnny Mathis on his 1971 album You've Got a Friend.
• Country singer Anita Kerr on the 1971 album Daytime Nighttime.
• Country music singer Skeeter Davis on her 1971 album Love Takes A Lot Of My Time.
• Canadian singer Anne Murray on her 1971 album Talk It Over in the Morning, later re-released on What a Wonderful World (1999).
• French singer Claude François on his 1971 album Il fait beau, il fait bon (title: "Un jardin dans mon coeur")
• French singer Sylvie Vartan, as "Un jardin dans mon cœur", on her 1971 album Sympathie arranged by her British musicians Micky Jones and Tommy Brown. Vartan also recorded a Spanish version "Tu amigo fiel".
• Michael Jackson on the album Got to Be There with Motown Records in 1972.
• Aretha Franklin recorded a live version of the song for her album Amazing Grace (1972) as a medley with "Take My Hand, Precious Lord".
• A live version was recorded by Donny Hathaway on his 1972 Live album and the posthumously released These Songs for You, Live!.
• Mina recorded an Italian version on her 1972 album Cinquemilaquarantatre.
• Texas singer Trini Lopez recorded a Spanish-language version ("Tu Amigo Fiel") on his 1972 album Viva.
• Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald on her 1974 album Ella in London.
• English singer Petula Clark on her 1974 album Live in London.
• Lucero sings a Spanish version on her 1986 Lucerito album.
• Al Green on his 1987 album Soul Survivor.
• British indie rock group The Housemartins on their post-breakup greatest hits album Now That's What I Call Quite Good (1988).
• American actor/singer Scott Grimes on his self-titled 1989 debut album.
• British group Maggie Pie & The Impostors alias Wet Wet Wet on their 1992 cover album Cloak & Dagger.
• Rhythm and blues singer LaVern Baker on her 1992 album Woke Up This Mornin'.
• Gospel singers The Blind Boys of Alabama on their 1993 album Bridge Over Troubled Water.
• Israeli singer Ofra Haza on her 1997 album Ofra Haza.
• Acid jazz and alternative hip hop group Brand New Heavies on their 1997 album Shelter.
• Pop singer Billy Crawford on the Japan edition of his 1998 self-titled album.
• Tom Jones on his album ...Sings the Ballads (1999).
• Reggae musician Jimmy Cliff on his 1999 album Humanitarian.
• English actress Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden, EastEnders co-stars performed the song on Windsor's 1999 album You've Got a Friend.
• Cliff Richard on his 2001 album Wanted.
• Gospel singer Susie Luchsinger on the 2003 album You've Got a Friend.
• Serbian pop singer Bebi Dol on her 2006 cover album Čovek rado izvan sebe živi.
• Bossa nova singer Lisa Ono on her 2007 album Soul & Bossa.
• Welsh singer Aled Jones on his 2007 album Reason to Believe.
• Barry Manilow and Melissa Manchester on the 2007 album The Greatest Songs of the Seventies.
• Country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and pop singer Emily Osment on his 2007 album Home at Last.
• "You've Got a Friend" is also the most covered English pop song ever in Hong Kong pop music history: Agnes Chan (1971, Will The Circle Be Unbroken), Joe Chen (1972, Joe Chen's 1st), Frances Yip (1970s, All I Ever Need Is You), Jenny Tseng (1982, Star On Jenny), Elisa Chan (1994, Impossible), Albert Au (2001, Top Folk), Leslie Cheung (2002, Best of Leslie Cheung's English Collection), Ada To (2003, 人間定格), Chet Lam & Kay Tse (2006, Camping in Hong Kong Live), Mimi Lo (2007, You're My Everything), Susan Wong (2007, Someone Like You), Peter Cheung & Andrew Cheung (2007, Duets), Khalil Fong & Fiona Sit (2007, This Love Live 2007)
• Joanna Wang on her Things We Do for Love album.
• Jazz singer Stacey Kent on her album The Boy Next Door (2008).
• Punk music band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their 2008 album Have Another Ball.
• Yo La Tengo as an iTunes bonus track on their 2009 album Popular Songs.
• Billy Crawford on the 2009 album Groove with his partner Nikki Gil.
• Andrea Corr offers the song as a downloadable bonus track for her 2011 album Lifelines.
• In 2015, popular TV series Glee covered the song as a mash-up with Alanis Morissette's "You Learn" in the third episode of their sixth and final season, "Jagged Little Tapestry".

Instrumental covers

• Jazz saxophonist Bob Belden on his King tribute album Tapestry.
• Jazz clarinetist Acker Bilk on his album All The Hits Plus More.
• Pianist Peter Nero on his album Peter Nero's Greatest Hits.
• Italian singer Lucio Dalla recorded an instrumental version (playing clarinet) on his 1981 album Lucio Dalla (Q Disc).
• Easy-listening artist Mantovani on his 1992 album Magical Moods of Mantovani.
• Guitarist Alex De Grassi on his 1999 Taylor tribute album Alex de Grassi's Interpretation of James Taylor.
• Jazz pianist Xavier Davis on his 1999 album The Dance of Life.
• Jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal on his 2005 covers album Got You Covered.
• Saxophonist Michael Lington on his 2006 renditions album A Song for You.
• Mnozil Brass on their 2009 album What are you going to do the rest of your life
• George Donaldson, a current Celtic Thunder member, recorded an acoustic guitar version in 2013.

Live covers

• Japanese pop singers Pink Lady on their 1980 American variety show Pink Lady and Jeff.
• Alanis Morissette covered the song at the Children's Miracle Network Telethon in 1992.
• R&B singer Erykah Badu at the 2010 NBA All-Star Weekend
• American Idol season ten contestant Scotty McCreery performed the song during the music of Carole King week.
• Lady Gaga performed the song at the 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year event

References

1. ^ "Tapestry". The Mojo Collection (4th ed.).
2. Harvey Kubernik (2008). "Troubadours - Carole King's Monumental Tapestry Album | American Masters | PBS". pbs.org. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
3. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 239.
4. Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1971
5. Interview with Mary Hopkin, Record Collector nr. 108, August 1988
7. Perone, J.D. (2006). The Words and Music of Carole King. Greenwood Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 9780275990275.
8. ^ Halperin, Ian (2003). Fire and Rain: The James Taylor Story. Citadel. pp. 128–129. ISBN 978 0806523484.
9. White, T. (2009). Long Ago and Far Away. Omnibus Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780857120069.
10. ^ Dean, M. (2003). Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. pp. 254–255. ISBN 0875862071.
11. ^ Landau, J. (April 29, 1971). "Tapestry". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
12. ^ Mason, S. "You've Got a Friend". Allmusic. Retrieved 2014-04-22.
13. Gerson, B. (June 24, 1971). "Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 2014-04-13.
14. Glatzer, Jenna (2005). Céline Dion: For Keeps. Andrews McMeel Publishing. ISBN 0-7407-5559-5.
15. Jaspers, Sam (2006). Ultratop 1995-2005. Book & Media Publishing. ISBN 90-5720-232-8.
16. "A Song for You overview". Allmusic.com.
17. "Michael Lington - A Song for You". SmoothViews.com.

External links

• Template:MetroLyrics song

• 1971 singles
• 1997 singles
• 1998 singles
• Carole King songs
• James Taylor songs
• Andy Williams songs
• Michael Jackson songs
• Donny Hathaway songs
• Roberta Flack songs
• Celine Dion songs
• Barbra Streisand songs
• Gloria Estefan songs
• Emily Osment songs
• Billy Ray Cyrus songs
• McFly songs
• Trini Lopez songs
• Grammy Award for Song of the Year
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Billboard Adult Contemporary number-one singles
• Number-one singles in Denmark
• Songs written by Carole King
• Warner Bros. Records singles
• Song recordings produced by Lou Adler
• Song recordings produced by Peter Asher
• 1971 songs