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Tapestry

Written and composed by Carole King

My life has been a tapestry
of rich and royal hue,
An ever-lasting vision
of the ever-changing view.
A wondrous woven magic
in bits of blue and gold,
A tapestry to feel and see
impossible to hold.

Once amid the soft silver
sadness in the sky,
There came a man of fortune,
A drifter passing by.
He wore a torn and tattered cloth
around his leathered hide,
And a coat of many colors
yellow, green, on either side.

He moved with some uncertainty
as if he didn't know,
Just what he was there for
or where he ought to go.
Once he reached for
something golden
hanging from a tree,
And his hand came down empty.

Soon within my tapestry
along the rutted road,
He sat down on a river rock
and turned into a toad.
It seemed that he had fallen
into someone's wicked spell,
And I wept to see him suffer
though I didn't know him well.

As I watched in sorrow
there suddenly appeared,
A figure gray and ghostly
beneath a flowing beard.
In times of deepest darkness
I've seen him dressed in black,
Now my tapestry's unraveling,
He's come to take me back.

He's come to take me back!

(piano music fades)

Notes 簡介

Album cover of 'Tapestry' by Carole King in 1971, featuring the song Tapestry. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
1971年 Carole King 的《Tapestry》專輯封面，收錄同名歌曲 Tapestry。 點擊放大(再擊關閉)
"Tapestry" is a song featured in an album of the same name, released by Carole King in 1971. On the album cover, she was sitting on a window sill, holding a tapestry which she wove herself. At her feet was her pet cat named Telemachus.
《Tapestry》是 Carole King（卡洛爾·金）同名專輯中的一首歌曲，於1971年發行。在專輯封面上，她坐在窗台上，手執自己編織的花毯，腳前是寵物貓 Telemachus。

Carole King Carole King（卡洛爾·金）

Born Carol Joan Klein on 9 February 1942 in New York to a middle-class Jewish family, Carole King is an American songwriter and singer. She is one of the most prolific female musicians in the history of pop music.

In 1968 Carole King moved to Los Angeles, where she met James Taylor and Joni Mitchell as well as Toni Stern, with whom she collaborated on songs. Her first solo album Writer was released in 1970. This was followed by Tapestry in 1971, an instant success. With a collection of catchy melodies and engaging lyrics, the album held the number one spot on the Billboard album chart for 15 weeks, and remained a best seller for more than 300 weeks.

In a 1972 recorded conversation with Lou Adler, who produced the Tapestry album, Carole King recounted how this song led to an album,

It is typical of the magic that seems to surround that album, a magic for which I feel no personal responsibility, but just sort of happened, that I had started a needlepoint tapestry a few months before we did the album, and I happened to write a song called 'Tapestry,' not even connecting the two up in my mind. I was just thinking about some other kind of tapestry, the kind that hangs and is all woven, or something, and I wrote that song. And, you being the sharp fellow you are, (giggles), put the two together and came up with an excellent title, a whole concept for the album.
原名 Carol Joan Klein 的 Carole King，1942年2月9日出生於紐約。在中產猶太家庭長大，是美國詞曲作者和歌手。她是流行音樂史上最多產的女音樂家之一。

1968年，Carole King 移居洛杉磯，遇上 James Taylor 和 Joni Mitchell 以及 Toni Stern，並與他們合作創作歌曲。1970年發行她的第一張個人專輯《Writer》，隨後於1971年發行專輯《Tapestry》，一舉成功。憑藉朗朗上口的旋律，和引人入勝的歌詞，這張專輯在 Billboard 專輯排行榜上，高踞首位達15週，並佔據暢銷榜300多週。

《Tapestry》專輯由 Lou Adler 製作。在1972年與他的錄音對話中，Carole King 講述這首歌曲如何促成一張專輯：

很典型的，此曲彷彿是圍繞著專輯的魔力，可謂無心插柳，天意安排。製作專輯之前幾個月，我開始編織針繡花毯。剛巧完成一首歌曲《Tapestry》，甚至沒有將兩者聯繫起來。我一心在想其他類型的花毯，那種掛起來、全是編織、或者什麼的，但我寫了那首歌。不過，你靈機一觸（咯咯笑），把兩者放在一起，想出絕佳的標題，一個完整的專輯概念。

Tapestry Tapestry（織錦、花毯）

In 2016, a spectacular concert at Hyde Park celebrated Carole King's masterpiece Tapestry. Click to enlarge (click again to close)
2016年，在 Hyde Park 舉行一場壯觀的音樂會，慶祝 Carole King 的傑作《Tapestry》。 點擊放大(再擊關閉)
Carole King uses the idea of a tapestry throughout this song, which is why the entire song reads like a fairy tale. Stories are very similar to tapestries in the sense that they are also woven to captivate an audience. The more creatively woven stories are, the more engrossing and captivating they are.

With her Jewish origin, Carole King is familiar with The Bible. There are many biblical references in the lyrics, including:

In this song Tapestry, the melody is an exercise in improvisation and freestyling. The lyrics is a retelling of her life’s journey, a metaphor between life episodes and a tapestry. She did not really burden herself with making sure the wording of this song makes sense. Rather it comes off like the talented musician's own version of Alice in Wonderland.

Carole King wrote this song with help from songwriter Gerry Goffin. They were married to each other from 1959 to 1969.

At the 1972 Grammys awards ceremony, this iconic album won "Album of the year" and female "Best Pop Vocal Performance".

On 3 July 2016, to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Carole King's masterpiece Tapestry, a concert was held in Hyde Park for more than 65,000 fans. This was her first British concert since 1989 and featured the first ever live performance of her entire album. The unforgettable and critically acclaimed concert was recorded in "Carole King Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park", a CD/DVD edition.

寫這首歌時，Carole King 妙用花毯的概念，使整首歌讀起來，像童話故事。故事與花毯非常相似，都是為吸引觀眾而編織。故事編得越有創意，就越引人入勝。

由於猶太血統，Carole King 非常熟悉《聖經》。歌詞中字句，不乏出自聖經，包括：

《Tapestry》一曲，調子是即興創作、和自由風格的練習。歌詞複述自己的歷程，是人生片段和花毯之間的隱喻。她並沒有費心，確保歌詞有意思。相反，這位才華橫溢的音樂家，寫出個人版本的愛麗絲夢遊仙境。

詞曲作者 Gerry Goffin 協助 Carole King 創作這首歌。從1959年至1969年，二人是夫妻。

1972年格萊美頒獎典禮，這張標誌性專輯，贏得「年度專輯」和「最佳流行女歌手」兩項大獎。

2016年7月3日，為慶祝傑作《Tapestry》誕生45週年，Carole King 在 Hyde Park 舉辦一場音樂會，超過65,000名歌迷參加。這是自1989年以來，她的第一場英國音樂會，也是整張專輯的首次現場演出。這場令人難忘且廣受好評的音樂會，錄製成 CD/DVD 版《Carole King Tapestry: Live in Hyde Park》。

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