Carole King’s Tapestry

I was in Hyde Park four years ago grannyactivist.

Oh yes, I loved every track and still sing along. I'd only been married a short time when the album came out, I was living in a city I didn't know 400 miles from my family and friends and these songs helped me to get through a bad time. Wonderful stuff.

Classic album one of my favourites, it has travelled with me through time , from vinyl to tape, then to cd and now streamed to my phone .

Yes and I have had more than one copy.
First a vinyl record, then cassette, and now CD. Unfortunately I wasn’t in Hyde Park, but lucky fans who were - she sounded great.
It’s one of those albums you can sing along and know every word to the wonderful lyrics. ?

X posts Bridie , snap!

I always loved this album, but can't believe it's 50 years old !!!

Yes, I still have the LP
I can't believe it was 50 years ago.

Great album. I wasn't into her at that time. I was 12 and a big glam rock fan. But I found it in my 20s. I've loved her and James Taylor ever since. I've seen him on a number of occasions and he never disappoints. I would have loved to see Carole King.

This was one of my favourite 1970s albums along with Carly Simon, Tubular Bells and Bridge Over Troubled Water.

Oh yes, Tapestry was an amazing album, so many good songs all together. It’s too late, You’ve got a friend, It might as well rain until September etc.
Brilliant songwriter too. Was she married to Gerry Goffin? Didn’t they write Up on the Roof and One Fine Day, and loads of others.
Thanks for the memories, grannyactivist.

I have already mentioned it on GN, but for those who missed it I'm happy to tell you about my connection to James Taylor and Carly Simon - one of those unbelievable, but true tales.

Anyone want to know?

Songs that are still performed today because they are timeless.

Yes please!

Ooh yes please!

Gagajo... Me too amazing!

Yes, I've still got the album and I'm a James Taylor fan too.

Love to know grannyactivist. I didn’t get to Hyde Park but saw the musical Beautiful. Amazing . Not sure if she wins over Carly Simon- probably equal all time favourites.

I too was at Hyde Park - what a great day! We had a thread about it at the time.

Tapestry at 50 - where does the time go?

Yes Tapestry is an old favourite of mine. It brings back memories of a happy time.

In the mid 80s I had just remarried and was living in Didsbury, a leafy (slightly posh) Manchester suburb. My eldest daughter went to the local comprehensive school that had a dynamic headmaster and he arranged for a school exchange trip to Martha’s Island in America. A very unusual destination for a school exchange.

We had to fill in a form about our background, family make up, lifestyle etc. that was used to ‘match’ the children to their exchange family and then our children were to visit America and the host’s child would, in turn, visit us.

The first we knew of the agreed match was a note from the school informing us that we would be hosting a girl named Sally Taylor. Then we received a hand written letter from the host, Sally’s mum, a week or so before the exchange was to take place.

I read the letter, re-read it, read it again and then passed it to my husband and asked him to confirm that the signature really did say........Carly Simon. Now, my husband is ten years younger than me and at first could not understand why I almost went into a swoon. I had to piece it together for him that Sally Taylor must be the daughter of THE James Taylor and THE Carly Simon.

So yes, my daughter did stay with both Carly Simon and separately, her ex husband James Taylor on Martha’s Vineyard and then their lovely daughter, Sally, came to stay with us. Subsequently James Taylor did a tour in the UK and Sally and her brother Ben literally turned up on the doorstep with a personal invitation to attend his concert as his guests and spend time in the Green room afterwards. Sally and Ben were (I’m sure still are) really exceptional human beings - children any parent would be proud of.

How on earth we were matched with that family I have never been able to fathom. We lived in an area where a lot of the children lived in huge houses and had wealthy families, unlike us who were as poor as church mice and squeezed (with a homeless lodger) into a 3 bed semi.

So, that’s my James Taylor/Carly Simon tale. Couldn’t make it up it’s so bizarre.

What a story! Thank you for sharing it with us! Did you meet James Taylor?
Didsbury is indeed a lovely place. I had a flat on Barlow Moor Road as a student in the late 60s, and worked at Withington hospital for a while in the 70s, renting a bed sit off Burton Road.

My favourite album.

grandmajet on that occasion I was actually booked on a residential training course, which I could easily have got out of, but my sister was a HUGE James Taylor fan so I sent her in my stead. My husband really enjoyed the evening (front row seats) and said he’d thoroughly enjoyed chatting to him and my sister dined off the story for years! ?

Much as being at a James Taylor concert would have been nice, for me it was far better to have spent the evening before with Sally and meeting her brother, Ben. She was incredibly mature and a fabulous storyteller. She shared a story about a missing fish that still makes me smile when I remember it. She kept in touch for quite a while after staying with us.

An amazing story grannyactivist I enjoyed learning your connection with these super stars I bet you couldn’t believe your eyes. You must have given Sally a wonderful time for her to come and look you up afterwards, you should be very proud.