卡洛爾·金：音樂才女依然寶刀未老

Carole King是美國最成功的“創作歌手”之一，她的作品再現了上世紀60年代早期的風范。在1971年發布的專輯《織錦畫》（Tapestry）位居歷史上最暢銷的專輯行列中。她與第一任丈夫Gerry Goffin共贏得了4個格萊美獎，并入選歌曲名人堂（Songwriters Hall of Fame）和搖滾名人堂（Rock and Roll Hall of Fame）。她擁有女歌手音樂專輯和流行榜No.1上榜時間最長的紀錄。時至今日，70歲高齡的Carole King不但沒有被喜愛音樂的人們遺忘，而且更是音樂才女的不朽代表。

Interviewer： Shes had 100 hit singles and written songs for The Beatles， Aretha Franklin， Kylie Minogue and Adele. Carole King is quite simply the most successful and prolific female songwriter of all time. In fact， over the last 50 years， her music has been recorded by 1000 singers. For those too young or too befuddled to recall the 1960s and early 70s， the songs of Carole King provide a perfect snapshot of the time. It was an age when love and optimism reigned supreme and the Earth moved in quite wonderful ways.

Ive never have said this at the beginning of an interview， but your achievements are so prodigious I really dont know where to start.

Carol：（Laughs）

Interviewer： Let me name some songs： “Will You Love Me Tomorrow？”， “Locomotion”， “One Fine Day”， “Pleasant Valley Sunday”， “Youve Got a Friend”， “I Feel the Earth Move”， and thats just the tip， just the tip of the Carole King iceberg. Carol： Well， Ive lived， Im now… this year I turned 70， and in all that time Ive been writing songs for a very long time， and the lucky thing for me is that people like them， but thats why theres so many of them.

Interviewer： Carole Kings amazing musical “Dream run”began way back in 1960， when， at only 17 years of age， she wrote “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow？”， recorded by The Shirelles， the first black girl band to top the American charts. It was co-written with her first husband Gerry Goffin. “Will You Still Love Me…” was the first of an astonishing 100 number ones for Carol King， a feat thats unlikely ever to be beat.

Carol： When a person is creative， you must write， you must have some of that. When youre writing and the words just flow out of your pen or your computer or whatever， thats what happens. When Im truly present， I get out of the way and all this stuff comes through.

Interviewer： And that is the question， isnt it？ If we knew where it came from， we would know how to do it and there would be no great mystery to writing a great song.

Carol： But even if I… I am someone who knows how to do it and is lucky enough…

Interviewer： You know how to build it.

Carol： …to have it come through， and I can still feel that sense of “Oh my god， this is so beautiful”， its coming through me and Im watching it at the same time， and Im so moved that I cant sing it. This happens sometimes when Im performing. “Youve Got a Friend” is one of the… the songs.

Interviewer： Well， theres never a dry eye in the house.

Carol： Never a dry eye in the house， and including my own—but I have to， you know， think about something else so that I can stay focused on being the channel for it to get to the people instead of being one of the people affected by it.

Interviewer： In the 1960s， Carole King was part of the “great American hit-making machine”. Song after song written by King and Guffin became signature pieces for the decades biggest names； from Hermans Hermits to Dusty Springfield， and even The Monkees. She was writing the soundtrack for the lives of a whole generation. When we think of Aretha Franklin， we think of “Natural Woman”.

Carol： If I may say， many… many people have sung“Natural Woman”， most better than I. Arethas is the definitive version， and， you know，…

Interviewer： But… but yours aint bad.

Carol： Mine is another thing. Mine is not that great soaring vocal. Its—heres how I can sing this song， and its honest and its real and its authentic， and so thats the appeal of that， but when it comes to just a presentation—Aretha.

Interviewer： When Aretha Franklin sang “Natural Woman”in 1967， it was a tumultuous time in the United States. Aside from the social and political upheaval， the music business was forced to adapt as a new wave of reformers， led by The Beatles， launched an assault on the United States.

Carol： They changed the music business in a big way because， before that， we songwriters could write for artists who needed songs. They didnt need songs， and neither did anyone else in the “British invasion”， as we called it. The Rolling Stones， Gerry & The Pacemakers， all the… all the artists that came over that wrote their own songs. And then there was Bob Dylan coming up on the “folk” side， again a lot of singers writing their own songs， so that was a big change for us. Its like， “Oh， what do we do now？”

Interviewer： You wrote melodies in a sense and cooperated on songs， often， mostly， initially， for other people. Was that a great amount of generosity on your part， or was it…？ If I could sing like you， Im saying， and I had those lyrics， Id be so jealous Id be doing them myself.

Carol： But I never thought of myself as a singer， and I think I grew into becoming one， and， to this day， they may review a performance and say， “Well， her voice cracked on the high notes”. Du-u-uh！ Im not a singer！（laughs）

Interviewer： Had it not been for her long-time friend and collaborator， James Taylor， Carole King might have remained in the shadows， an almost anonymous songwriter. James Taylor， it was， who really convinced you to get out there in the spotlight and be a performer.

Carol： It was more than convinced. He said， “Youre gonna sing up on the roof” and “No， no， no， please， please dont make me”.

Interviewer： You were on tour.

Carol： We， yeah we were on a sort of a mini college weekend tour thing.

Interviewer： Yeah. He dragged you out to sing your song， introduced you as the writer.

Carol： Introduced me， and said，…

Interviewer： And people said， “Ah， did she write that song？”

Carol： And they did do that. They were quite， “a-a-ah”.

Interviewer： Yeah of course they did， and how did you feel about this？ You were white-knuckled.

Carol： I was terrified， and I began to sing， and it was very timid， and then as I， you know， got into it more， I could feel that little shift that， you know， where people were open to the idea， but I had to win them over， but I didnt know how to win them over， so I just sang the song， and there was a shift， and they were with me. And once that happened， I have rarely had moments of lack of confidence.

Interviewer： This new-found confidence encouraged Carole King to record what became one of the biggestselling albums of all time—it sold 25 million copies—the rich collection of songs called “Tapestry” about love and heartache. King has been married four times. She should know a bit about the subject. What are your conclusions about love and its place in the human condition？ Carol： Cant live without it.

Interviewer：（laughing） I cant live with it either.

Carol： Well， sometimes cant live with it， but cant live without it. Love is… its the best， and everybody should have it.

采訪者：她已經擁有100首暢銷單曲，并為甲殼蟲樂隊、艾瑞莎·弗蘭克林、凱莉·米洛和阿黛爾寫歌。簡而言之，卡洛爾·金是史上最成功最多產的女性創作歌手。事實上，在過去的50多年來，她的音樂已被1000位歌手錄制。對于那些太年輕或太糊涂的人去回憶20世紀60年代和70年代初，卡洛爾·金的歌能提供一種完美的時間快照。那是個愛與樂觀占主導地位、世界以相當奇妙的方式發展的年代。

我從未在開始一個采訪的時候說過這樣的話，但你的成就太卓越，我真的不知道從哪里開始。

卡洛爾·金：（笑）

采訪者：我先羅列一些歌名吧：《明天你是否依然愛我》、《舞動》、《晴朗的一天》、《周日愉悅的山谷》、《你得到一個朋友》和《我感覺大地在移動》，那僅僅是一小部分，是卡洛爾·金所寫歌曲中的冰山一角。

卡洛爾·金：嗯，我已經活了……今年我已經70歲了，我一直在寫歌，寫了很長很長時間，幸運的是，人們都喜歡這些歌，所以我能夠寫了那么多。

采訪者：卡洛爾·金那了不起的音樂“夢幻之旅”開始于1960年，當時，年僅17歲的她寫了一首歌曲，名叫《明天你是否依然愛我》，由夏瑞麗樂隊—首個黑人女孩樂隊錄制，占據了美國各排行榜的榜首。