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Thu 12 March 2026 20:30, UK
So many songwriting duos of the 1960s are heralded as the greatest of all time, crafting songs in an era booming with ready-made rock stars.
We largely remember those pairings who wrote songs for themselves and basked in the limelight of their own creativity, but there are also the unsung heroes of the time, like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who lurked in the shadows and laid down musical genius for their peers to enjoy. There’s no doubt that unsung heroes are exactly what King and Goffin were, as while nearly half a century on, we may finally be singing their praises, as the time, their existence belonged in between the glittering spotlight of their fellow rockstars.
The likes of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and The Beatles were all rightly being heralded as the musicians of a generation, but King and Goffin were watching from afar, not questioning how they could emulate the artistic brilliance of their spotlighted peers, and instead wondering which of them should be the orator of their next great hit.
Because in that decade, King and Goffin gave both Aretha Franklin and James Taylor their respective biggest hits. ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ and ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ cemented the legacy of both Franklin and Taylor, while simultaneously proving that King and Goffin were more than just musical support acts; they were the backbone of a songwriting era that has since been unmatched.
However, it was their very first hit, a song that the pair gifted to The Shirelles, that the iconic songwriter Randy Newman regarded as the very peak of their career, and one that arguably proved they were the very best songwriters of the entire era.
He claimed, “I think you could make a pretty good case that Carole King and Gerry Goffin were the best popular songwriters of the last half of the 20th century. I love ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’ Everything she sings is deeply felt.”
When King finally stepped out of the shadows and embarked on her solo career in the 1970s, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’, along with Franklin and Taylor’s hits, rightly made it onto her own discography. Her epic album Tapestry proved that she wasn’t just one of the best songwriters, but a worthy performer too, feeling the emotion of the words laid down with an unmatched nuance. But while the lyrics feel inherently linked to her own emotional experience, the reality behind their writing only goes to prove how formidable a partnership she had with Goffin, for it was he who actually wrote the lyrics.
King clarified his unique ability to tap into the heart of people’s and, more specifically, women’s experiences, by saying, “What made him so extraordinary as a lyricist was his ability, in really simple words, big ideas, big feelings, big thoughts. He had the ability, he’s a straight man, to get inside a woman’s head and say the things a woman was thinking.”
Together, they had all the songwriting bases covered and delivered hits that would stand the test of time. But if King’s performance of ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow?’ proved anything, it was that they should have fronted King’s performance of her songs a lot earlier.