The most sexual song on the album, this piano-driven cut is the first track on Carole King's classic Tapestry album, which spent nearly six years on the album charts, thanks in large part to women who bought the album en masse. While the song had a sexual feel, King never used sex appeal in her marketing, which earned her a great deal of respect with women who could relate to her songs and outlook. The earthquake metaphor can be seen as King's coming out, opening her album with confidence and setting the stage for a new sound. With a piano hook and very forthright lyrics, it certainly made a statement.
There is some confusion over whether this song was a #1 hit. The facts are that given its upbeat nature, King's record label selected "Earth Move" as the A-side to Tapestry's first single. However, after a few weeks of continuous airplay many DJs began to give the slower, lamenting B-side "It's Too Late," an equal amount of spin. Soon, it came to the point where "It's Too Late," dominated and ended up topping the charts by May of 1971. Billboard has since declared the record a double A-side and it is generally listed as such in books and articles that both songs reached #1 on the Hot 100 chart.
This was used in the movie Terms of Endearment. It was also used in an episode of the TV show Eli Stone.
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