Just two songs back, we saw how Carole King put a double sided hit at number one. That record was “It’s Too Late”/”I Feel the Earth Move.” Both of these songs were from Carole’s album Tapestry. A third song from Tapestry now joins the other two at the number one spot. “You’ve Got a Friend” was written by Carole King and was included on the Tapestry album sung by Carole, but was never a hit for her. Instead, she gave it to her friend James Taylor who recorded it and it became James’ only number one of his career.

Carole later said that the song came as close to inspiration as anything she had ever written. She said it felt like it wrote itself and that some outside force was coaching her when she put the words and music down on paper. She was friends with James Taylor but didn’t write the song for him. She really didn’t have anyone in mind when she wrote the song. James heard it and told her, he wanted to record it.

James Taylor was born in 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a doctor and later became dean of the medical school of the University of North Carolina. His mother was a lyric soprano. She intended to become an opera singer, but when she got married and started having kids, that dream kind of fell by the wayside.

James learned to play the cello as a child, but soon switched to the guitar, on which he became very proficient. James had some trouble with mental illness (depression and drugs) during the Sixties, but after a couple stays in the hospital was able to shake it off temporarily. By 1970, he had a fairly severe heroine problem. He was a member of several groups before just going solo and recording as James Taylor.

He moved to London in 1968 and it was there that he got to know Peter Asher, half of the duo Peter and Gordon who had a number one in the United States in 1964, “A World Without Love.” They went on to become part of the British invasion and hit the charts here in America over the next three years. When Peter Asher met James, he was working as a producer and in 1970, started producing James. The first single they released together was “Fire and Rain” which is song about James’ drug problems. It reached number three in the United States. Peter heard “You’ve Got a Friend” and liked it a lot. It was recorded and the rest is history.

“You’ve Got a Friend” won Grammy Awards for both James and for Carole King. James won for Best Male Pop Performance and Carole for Song of the Year. It debuted on the America charts on June 19, 1971 and spent just one week at number one. James would never have another number one, but he became one of the most beloved singers in the country and is still considered today, one of the best.

This is the best video I could find of the song. It cuts off the last five seconds or so which kind of sucks, but as I said it was the best I could find.