It’s amazing to me that a song I’ve heard many times only made sense to me one Sunday afternoon at Dado Tea in Harvard Square. Growing up my stepfather would sometimes listen to the soft rock station and they would play this song. When we would go to Bellingham, MA to visit his mother and sister, Diane, I would always ask Diane if I could look through her record collection. I liked looking at the art work and reading the liner notes especially the ‘Thank You’ section. The artist would thank family, friends, use nicknames or inside jokes and sometimes list other musicians that have influenced them. The album cover to Tapestry always fascinated me, Carole King’s long wavy, blonde hair sitting near a window with the sunlight pouring on her. Her clothes are just so laid back, jeans and a shirt, nothing provocative and sexy. Her songs and voice were the focal point
My interest in her grew when I purchased 80’s teen sensation (and my favorite cast member of Kids, Inc) Martika’s first album. I saw Martika perform on American Bandstand and Dick Clark asked her about covering Carole King’s I Feel the Earth. I made sure on the next visit to Bellingham that I asked Aunt Diane to play that record for me. She did and the songs didn’t make any sense but Carole King’s voice stuck with me.
Over the years I would hear her songs on the radio or in movies, but on a Sunday in January 2009, that song played in the café I was reading in. At that moment hearing So Far Away my heart felt like it was going to burst. Each note, each word made me want to cry. That feeling of longing, that loneliness being away from the one you loved I felt all of it. Although I’ve heard the song a billion times the circumstances in my life made me aware of its meaning. I had just broken up with Ben. I was in Boston, MA he was in Williamsburg, VA and despite all of our problems I was still very much in love still longing to be with him. I tried to imagine the person Carole King was writing about and if they broke up or remained together. Sadly, Ben and I didn’t make it as a couple, but that song will always be a reminder of that relationship, that sincere moment in which I continue to long for the love of this man.
