Blog 3782 – 03.30. 2026
The Inspiration Behind A Song
I am a long time James Taylor fan and yesterday I watched an interview that late night talk show host Stephen Colbert had with him recently. Stephen Colbert asked about his long time collaboration with singer/songwriter Carol King and James Taylor shared the back story of what he referred to as the best song written by a human being, You’ve Got A Friend.
Carol King had written songs for many other performers. Her second studio album released in 1972 is called Tapestry. She and James were touring together and one night she shared a new song with him that she had just written and he loved it immediately and memorized the words and tune. A few days later at a recording session where he was recording songs for his third studio album, Mudslide Slim, also released in 1971, he has several minutes left at the end of the session, and decided to record a quick arrangement of Carol’s new song. He only had time for one take. He knew that Carol had intended to record it first, but just could not pass up the chance to record it himself. Later when he told her what he had done he expected her to be upset with him, but she said that it was fine that she had written the song for him. She went on to say that the inspiration for the song was a line from Fire and Rain on his second album Sweet Baby James:
“I’ve seen times when I could not find a friend.”
Carol King wrote You’ve Got A Friend for James Taylor because she wanted to let him know that winter, spring, summer or fall that he had a friend. That is why I try each day to post a few encouraging word to remind each and all who read them that you’ve got a friend in me.
Your friend and fellow traveler,
David James White
theencouragingword 