Carole King had already written a bunch of singles that had been recorded by others with great success. Her solo career, however, needed just such a hit. Instead of reaching back into her catalog of smashes to record, she penned a new track that did the trick.
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“I Feel The Earth Movie” helped introduce King to the wider world as an artist as the lead single off her 1971 album Tapestry. Mission accomplished, as the song rumbled all the way to the top of the pop charts.
Writer Becomes Performer
Carole King saw the writing on the wall. With the success of artists, both solo acts and within bands, penning their own songs through the 60s, the halcyon days of the behind-the-scenes songwriter were waning.
This time period coincided with a big life change. In 1968, King split up from her husband and frequent co-writer Gerry Goffin. She made the decision to leave the comfort of the Brill Building writers’ scene in New York City and head out to Los Angeles, her young daughters in tow. And she decided she wanted to perform her own songs.
She first recorded an album with a band that included a young guitar player who went by the name Danny Kootch, later known as West Coast session legend Danny Kortchmar. Kortchmar would also play guitar on King’s solo debut, Writer, in 1970. And he’d be aboard for the follow-up as well, a little album known as Tapestry.
A Borrowed Piano
King didn’t ever intend to become a solo hitmaker. She just wanted to concentrate on making albums. But teamed with producer Lou Adler, King hit upon a bit of a more commercial sound on Tapestry. The new songs she was writing matched her knack for pop hooks with a more personal outlook.
“I Feel The Earth Move” found her singing with candor about sexual attraction. To get the sound she wanted, King had to do a bit of studio-hopping. In the studio next to her, Joni Mitchell was making the album Blue. When Mitchell was away for a bit, King headed into the other room to make use of a particular Steinway that offered the tone she wanted for the song.
King’s label heard a hit in “I Feel The Earth Move”. It didn’t hurt the song’s commercial prospects that its B-side, “It’s Too Late”, also started getting major airplay. Those two songs comprised a single that turned into a no. 1 hit. And that started the ball rolling on the Tapestry phenomenon that helped instigate the peak of the singer-songwriter era.
Behind the Lyrics of “I Feel The Earth Move”
“I Feel The Earth Move” describes how deep desire can untether you from your moorings. “I feel the earth move under my feet / I feel the sky tumblin’ down,” King sings about seeing her lover. His “mellow” visage rocks her world: “Oh, darlin’, I can’t stand it / When you look at me that way.”
“I know that emotions / Are somethin’ that I just can’t tame,” she explains about the effect he has on her. Toward song’s end, King leaves behind the song structure and simply repeats the phrase “all over” several times, lost in imagining the intimate moments they’ll be spending together.
The music to “I Feel The Earth Move” adds to the effect, as the churning piano groove mirrors the intensity of the lyrics. Carole King proved with the song that she could interpret her material as well as any of the dozens of artists who’d scored hits with her originals in the past.
Photo by Ian Dickson/Shutterstock
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