It's Too Late

1971 was the year of Carole King’s Tapestry.  I was 17, working at Oak Street Beach where you’d hear the songs coming from everybody’s radio on the beach, and from the dashboard radio of the family car.  Carole King was 29 that year.  This was the year of hit songs like American Pie, Imagine, Maggie May as well as classic albums—The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers, Joni Mitchell's Blue, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On.  Some argue that 1971 was the greatest musical year of the 20th century.  

It takes your breath away to imagine all of this amazing music coming out through the radio.  Creativity and imagination were unhinged and we were the lucky recipients of all of that.  I like to think that all those songs went into my inner jukebox.  We all have one.  It’s there that the songs roll around, fill the day, fill your imagination, make you feel something deeper, sometimes they won’t let go.  And they’re all there waiting to be played again.

As musicians, we count our lucky stars that we get to not only listen to them, but play them as well.  Although some songs feel out of reach—like they are the domain of their creators.  Purple Rain by Prince comes to mind, or Blue by Joni Mitchell.  Other people can try them, but no one can really cover those songs.

For years I listened to Tapestry without ever thinking about playing those songs.  Those were Carole King’s songs, and certainly songs from a female perspective mostly.  But as I worked on the craft of instrumental fingerstyle guitar, I realized that I could step into that world. 

So here’s my rendering of Carole King’s It’s Too Late.  We removed the singer and the band, and replace it with guitar and cello only.  If it’s really working well, the words to the song run through your mind as you listen.  It released today on Spotify etc.  The record, Great American Jukebox,  which is all covers of hit songs releases on April 22. All of this is available now at Bandcamp. There is an album release concert at the Old Town School on June 13.