On Goffin and King

I apologize in advance because for the rest of the day and surely for several days afterward your head will be full of the songs of Gerry Goffin (1939-2014) and Carole King (b. 1942) — I mean more than usual. King’s birthday is February 9; Goffin’s, February 11.

Goffin and King were Jewish kids from Brooklyn who met and came together as students at Queens College. King (who has perfect pitch) had been musical since early childhood; Goffin (who previously attended the U.S. Naval Academy) had written lyrics since boyhood for his own amusement. They were a natural artistic pair as well as a romantic one. Not long after uniting they made Louise Goffin (b.1960) and tied the knot formally. Louise went on to a great music career in her own right. Nepo baby? Sure. But nearly everyone gets ahead with the help of contacts and connections. Carole King had dated Neil Sedaka in high school (she’s the Carole of “Oh! Carol”), and the young Goffins were college pals with Paul Simon. What goes around comes around!

Sedaka hooked them up with producer Don Kirshner, who put them under contract. Goffin and King were instant successes as Brill Building songwriters, becoming one of the most successful songwriting teams in show business history. In addition to being catchy as hell, many of these songs, while undoubtedly sounding wide eyed and innocent to contemporary listeners, explored grown-up themes that were ground-breaking for their time. Case in point one of their first big hits “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” (#1, 1960, The Shirelles), which expressed post-coital regret, and legit worry on the part of the female protagonist. Others included “Take Good Care of My Baby” (#1, 1961, Bobby Vee), “Chains” (1962, The Cookies, 1963 The Beatles), “The Loco-motion” (#1, 1962, Little Eva and also #1, 1974 Grand Funk Railroad), “Go Away Little Girl” (#1, 1963, Steve Lawrence and #1, 1971, Donny Osmond), “Up on the Roof” (#5, 1963, The Drifters), “One Fine Day” (#5, 1863, The Chiffons), “I’m Into Something Good” (1964, Earl-Jean of The Cookies, later a #13 hit for Herman’s Hermits). The pair also wrote several songs with Phil Spector.

Throughout the early years, King also pursued an unsuccessful solo career as a recording artist, and Goffin collaborated with several other songwriting partners, including Barry Mann (“Who Put the Bump in the Bomp, Bomp Bomp?”, #7, 1961), and Jack Keller (“Run to Him”, a #2 hit for Bobby Vee in 1962). The prelude to their eventual break came in 1964 when Goffin’s affair with Jeanie Reavis (Earl-Jean McCrea) of The Cookies resulted in an extra-marital pregnancy. This would place a strain on any marriage or partnership, but the pair managed to hold it together for another few years, something for which I’m sure the public was immeasurably glad.

During the last phase of their partnership Goffin and King tacked in the direction of the counterculture. Thanks to the Kirshner connection several of their songs graced Monkees records. The single “Pleasant Valley Sunday” went to #3 in 1967. The Pre-Fab 4 also recorded “Take a Giant Step” (1966), “Sometime in the Morning” (1967), and of course “The Porpoise Song”, theme song for the 1968 movie Head. Other late work included “Don’t Bring Me Down” (#12, 1966, The Animals), “Goin’ Back” (UK #10, 1966, Dusty Springfield, later recorded by The Byrds), and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (#8, 1967, Aretha Franklin).  

The couple broke up in 1968. Goffin had gotten deep into psychedelic drugs, which would effect his mental health for years to come. Meantime, King continued to grow as an artist. She began to write her own lyrics and resumed her solo performing career. Working with producer Lou Adler she turned out several hit LPs during the 1970s, starting with Tapestry, one of the top albums on 1971, yielding the hits “It’s Too Late” (#1), “I Feel the Earth Move” (#1), and “So Far Away” (#14). Another of its songs “You’ve Got a Friend” became James Taylor’s only #1 single later that year (Taylor played throughout Tapestry as a session musician). The album also included King’s versions of her earlier hits “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” and “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” and the song “Beautiful”, which would later be the title tune of the 2014 Carole King Broadway juke box musical.

Later hit singles for King include “Sweet Seasons” (#9, 1971), “Been to Canaan” (#25, 1972), “Jazzman” (#2, 1974), “Nightingale” (#9, 1975), and “One Fine Day” (1980). And of course, as someone who was ten years old in 1975 I have to endorse the animated musical TV special Really Rosie, created by King in collaboration with Maurice Sendak, which is cherished by my generation about as much as King’s pop songs.

Meantime, Goffin pulled himself together and wrote with other collaborators, such as Michael Masser, with whom he wrote the theme to Mahogany (“Do You Know Where You’re Going To?” a # 1 for Diana Ross in 1975; and “Saving All My Love For You”, written for Marilyn McCoo and Billly Davis Jr in 1978, later a #1 hit for Whitney Houston in 1985. The last of his four wives was a sister of Taxi’sJeff Conaway.

In 1996 Allison Anders wrote and directed Grace of My Heart, a fictionalized bio-pic about King starring the terrific Illeana Douglas. King also wrote the theme song to The Gilmore Girls (2002) and appeared as a recurring character on the show. Other tv guest shots included parts on The Mary Tyler Moore Show,Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, and The Tracey Ullman Show, as well as movies like Murphy’s Romance (1985) and a couple of Broadway shows.

The other night when I was giving my talk to the Guides Association of New York City, talk of Tin Pan Alley led to talk of the Brill Building, as it inevitably does. And I never think of the Brill Building without thinking of Goffin and King. After all, how could ya?

For more about show business historyconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, And please stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.