Song of the Day 8/10: Carole King, “It’s Too Late”

Yes, we take requests — we don’t always fulfill them, but we take them — and Jason330 suggested this as the response to the UN report on climate change that concluded we’re already fucked. Might as well stay in bed all morning — not just to pass the time, but to minimize your carbon footprint, too.

Carole King’s “Tapestry” album, credited as a cornerstone of the L.A.-based singer-songwriter movement, was full of hits, none bigger than this one, which held the No. 1 spot on the charts for five weeks in spring 1971. Naturally, it started out as the B-side (though promoted as a double-A side) of the single “I Feel the Earth Move,” a fine song but not one that won the Record of the Year Grammy. Technically that award honors the producer, in this case Lou Adler. The version King recorded as a demo, released to the public in 2012, isn’t all that different.

Adler just gave the song the smooth jazz treatment, highlighted by a Curtis Amy sax solo, that came to signify L.A. as much as the sensitive troubadour did. BTW, Some people think King is singing about the end of an affair with James Taylor, and she is — but not her own. Lyricist Toni Stern, a Laurel Canyon buddy of King’s, dated Mr. Sensitive for a while, and wrote this shortly after it ended.

King’s version of the song is almost upbeat, making her sound as if she’s okay with the end of the relationship. That’s not how male soul singers covered it — they went for regret. In Philadelphia. Kenny Gamble gave it to soul man Billy Paul and backed him with a slithery, midnight-in-the-lounge groove.

Across town, Thom Bell gave it to the Stylistics. He slowed it down even more and featured Russell Thompkins’ falsetto and tight, syncopated horns and strings.

Nobody stretched out the song like the Isley Brothers, who used it as a showcase for Ronnie’s vocals and Ernie’s guitar, and made it a showstopper in concert.

No matter how you slice it, the message should be clear — it’s too late.