Music Musings: "along the rutted road"

"Music is playing inside my head/Over and over and again/My friend, there's no end/To the music"

Today is Carole King's birthday. She is 68. For more years than I can recall, her music played inside my head. Childhood was the transistor radio dangling from my bicycle handlebars broadcasting shiny pop music from the Brill building to the brick ranchers of my neighborhood. Certainly never knowing Carole's contribution to Little Eva, the Crystals, Bobby Vee and Neil Sedaka- the soundtrack of my life. "Oh, Carole"- you were always there! In February, 1971, the monumental Tapestry was released. I was a senior in high school and I played that LP on the stereo every single day much to my parents' dismay. Tapestry remained on the Billboard charts for six years-a record broken by Michael Jackson. It swept the Grammy Awards winning in every nominated category winning world wide acclaim. Carole King declined attending the Grammy ceremony opting instead to stay home with her children. According to Sheila Weller in her book GIRLS LIKE US, Carol Klein changed her name to Carole King, romanticizing fame at age 14, then ran from fame most of her life. She saw herself as a wife and mother first; just like the work a day songwriting in the Brill Building. However, composing her own music & lyrics, performing them with honest emotion made Carole King the Earth Mother to a generation of women. "Oh, Carole"! Happy Birthday!