Carole King

A Reason To Smile

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When we started A Reason To Smile more than four years ago, we had no idea how sorely we would all need a weekly respite from the deranged, whiplash-inducing, march toward chaos we are all living through. And I mean “we.” I always look forward to your comments, so please keep them coming.

Now to this week’s reason to smile … 52 years ago tomorrow, on a cool, overcast day, Central Park hosted one of its first free popular music concerts. The concert giver was legendary singer-songwriter Carole King. More than 100,000 showed up for King’s return to her native New York after moving to L.A.

We’ve chosen one of King’s other songs, but if you have an hour or so to spare, I recommend watching that concert, which was made into a documentary: “Carole King: Home Again.” It is streaming on PBS. It also gives you the added advantage of supporting your local PBS station, which can really use the help right now. All of the wonderful arts programming produced by public television is now in jeopardy because of the misguided presumptions of the current administration.

King began her career as half of a songwriting duo with her husband at the time, Gerry Goffin. She never intended to become a performer, but after splitting from Goffin, she was encouraged to do so by music producer Lou Adler. Good advice. Her second album, “Tapestry,” released in 1971, was a massive critical and commercial success.

Of all the hits on the album, I am partial to King’s own version of “Natural Woman,” which had been a huge hit for Aretha Franklin several years earlier.

This recording is from a concert tour decades later that King dubbed “Welcome to My Living Room.” She thought of the idea after spending time in a lot of other people’s living rooms while campaigning for Hillary Clinton in 2016.

If you want to enjoy all the songs chosen for A Reason To Smile, you can listen to this Spotify playlist, which is updated weekly.

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No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading, watching, and listening.

Stay steady,

Dan