This has been quite a momentous week forCarole King. Our favorite Jewish songstress, who was born Carol Klein in New York, turned 79 on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, she was提名for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — as a performer; she has already been inducted as a songwriter — the very same day that her legendary album,挂毯，转了50.克维尔的原因很多！
挂毯是一位历史制作专辑：它连续五年待了广告牌图表 - 超过任何专辑，直到阿德利的21。It won four Grammy awards and sold over 14 million copies.
挂毯is an absolute treasure, it’s hard to think of a more flawless album — every song is catchy, moving, and inspiring. It’s a full rollercoaster of emotions. For so many of us — young and, well, older — these songs are more than just titles on an album. They’ve been companions through heartbreak, challenges, and yes, through many joyful moments (and yes, many episodes ofgilmore女孩—more on that in a bit!). The legendary album has truly woven itself into the fabric of our lives (pun intended).
King was 29 when挂毯出来了，这是她的第二张工作室专辑。这三首歌与她的前丈夫和歌曲创作合作者共同编写了格里戈夫州，他是她两个较老儿的父亲。这些歌曲中的两个，“（你让我觉得）一个自然的女人”和“明天会爱我，”已经被普及艾瑞莎富兰克林和夏令人（分别），但国王给了他们自己的原始，情感，摇曳的曲折。
Jewish lyricist Toni Stern also collaborated on two songs on the album, “It’s Too Late” and “Where You Lead.”
但专辑中的大部分歌曲由国王自己撰写，包括不可能的 - 不跳舞 - “我觉得地球移动”，渴望“到目前为止，”和肯定，精彩Beautiful，这是一个成功的标题Broadway musicalbased on King’s life.
人们可以写数百分之一的关于专辑中每首歌的重要性，但我今天将专注于“你领导的地方”，这成为标志性的主题gilmore女孩, the oft-binged mother-daughter show from Jewish showrunnerAmy Sherman-Palladino(who went on to give usMaisel Marvelous夫人).
It was actually another Jewish songstress who helped popularize “Where You Lead” —芭芭拉·史翠珊. That’s right, Babs covered the song not once, but twice, and both versions made the U.S. charts — her original 1971 version made it to #40, while a medley of the song with “Sweet Inspiration” made it to #37 the following year.
For years, though, King herself abandoned the song. As her daughter, songwriter and singer Louise Goffin toldBuzzfeed在2016年，她的妈妈不想再唱了它，因为“它有这些”忍受你的男人的歌词，她并没有再感受到了。她不觉得这是一个赋权的歌曲。“
“我记录了它后挂毯album, we women decided that we didn’t actually need to follow our men anymore,” King herself explained in an interview in 2004. “But then it got a new lease on life.”
这是如何下来的：2000年，近三十年后发布挂毯，Goffin接到了她母亲的呼唤，问她是否有兴趣重新录制歌曲，因为将成为什么是gilmore女孩.
“She called up and said, ‘Some friends of mine are making a pilot about a mother and a daughter and they asked me if I would sing my song ‘Where You Lead’ with you,” King told Goffin.
Goffin刚刚生了herfirst child — which made the entire recording even more meaningful. They recorded the song in Goffin’s old home in Laurel Canyon, and the father of her child was the one who helped produced the track — it “a family-centered thing in every single way,” she said. The母亲和女儿队changed the lyrics a bit, to make the song more contemporary (“You never know how it’s all gonna turn out, but that’s OK/ Just as long as we’re together, we can find a way,” was a new addition).
“When she was singing it with me, it just gave it a whole new spin,” Goffin说. “She realized she was singing from the point of view from a mother to a daughter rather than a woman to a man.”
That is how the song was born again — as a love letter from a mother to her daughter. It got new lyrics, and new女权主义者meaning — as one that inspired an entire generation.
The story of “Where You Lead” is so emblematic of the power of挂毯, the way its songs are so evocative and immortal. The songs reinvent themselves with every new generation while also forming abond between one generation and another— between daughters, mothers, and even grandmothers.
几年前，当百老汇仍然熙熙攘攘时，我去看音乐剧Beautifulwith my own mother. We were enchanted by this story of acurly-haired Jewish girl谁看起来像我们一样，谁制造了如此强大和不朽的音乐。听着歌曲的表演挂毯，我的妈妈和我以一种我们很少有人粘在一起 - 我们在我们的座位上摇曳到“地球下的脚下”和“自然女人”，我们一起哭泣“美丽”。我们坐在一起，通过这张专辑的快乐和奇迹挤在一起，这是很久以前创造的，但仍然感觉哦 - 太新鲜。
Thank you, Carole, for what you have given us. You music is a gift, especially in tough times like the ones we are living through today.
Header image via Jim McCrary/Redferns
