Tapestry

Lou Adler, who owned King's record company Ode Records, produced the Tapestry album, taking care not to overproduce it. In a 1972 recorded conversation with Adler, Carole King said of this song: "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."

Tapestry was a groundbreaking album, which helped popularize the singer/songwriter genre. It stayed on the American album charts for over six years, selling over 24 million copies worldwide. Until 1976, it was the largest-selling album ever, and until March 29, 1980 when Dark Side of the Moon marked its 303rd week on the Billboard album charts, it had the longest stay on the Billboard Top 200. Tapestry won 1971 Grammys for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance.

The photograph on the album sleeve featuring Carole King seated on a window sill was taken at her California home. She recalled to The Daily Telegraph April 22, 2009: "This really was my living room in Laurel Canyon. These were my old Indian print curtains and my cat, Telemachus."