“Beautiful” by Carole King

Carole King first put "Beautiful" out on Tapestry, her award-winning 1971 album, and by her own account she didn't so much write it as catch it. It came to her on a New York City subway ride, when it struck her that the way she saw other people reflected the way she felt inside, and it arrived so easily that only later did she notice its refrain doesn't rhyme.

Rolling Stone's Jon Landau heard an uptempo song, and it plays like a pep talk: beauty here is about what's inside rather than outward looks, the same self-esteem and sunny outlook that run through Tapestry. King sings and plays keyboard over Charles Larkey's electric bass, Joel O'Brien's drums and Danny Kortchmar's congas, with Lou Adler producing and Hank Cicalo engineering. In 2014 it became the title song of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical on Broadway.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.