Song 73: You've Got a Friend

I liked 'Tapestry' a lot but 'You've Got a Friend' was not my favourite by any means. Probably I first heard it on TOTP2 in the mid-90s and I just thought it was a bit ... basic.

Nice, solid fare.

The history of it is very pleasing, that it was written in response to the line in James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' "I''ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend", that both Taylor and King recorded it and both are synonymous with it. Something pretty cool is that 'Tapestry' and 'Blue' were recorded simultaneously in the same studio (Mitchell guested on King's album, with James Taylor connecting the two).

But you know how it is with 'Tapestry'. Gradually it all seeps in to you. It's such an entirely lovely album that even the songs you initially find a bit boring you end up knowing inside out.

And every song will have its time eventually if you give it long enough.

'You've Got A Friend' had its time and I will love it forever. It may be that I have sung it more than any other song. It felt like a lifetime but it was actually only a year or so. A year or so when I learnt a new skill which was the most important and subtle skill I had. A rocking good skill. Rocking.

'You've Got a Friend' became my rocking tune. That and 'Row Row Row Your Boat'. I tried loads of others, nursery rhymes and pop songs, I sang everything from 'Into Your Arms' and 'Blowin' in the Wind' to 'Ten in the Bed' and 'Old MacDonald'. But overwhelmingly, night after night, the ones I would turn to once, twice, however many times, were 'Row Your Boat' and 'You've Got a Friend'.
Whether it was the sound, the pitch, the tempo, it worked for her and it worked for me. Walking up and down the corridor, not allowed to sit down, singing and hoping, hoping it stuck.

Now she goes to sleep without needing to be rocked. It's still not always a walk in the park, it still needs music, but my days of singing 'You've Got a Friend' night after night are gone. Did I get sick of it? No, I did not. Did I get sick of 'Row Row Row Your Boat'. Maybe a little.