Song · Carole King
“You've Got a Friend” by Carole King
From the album Tapestry (1971)
“You've Got a Friend” by Carole King appears on 9 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 2001 and 2026. It was first released in 1971 on the album Tapestry. Its best result is #230 on the WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown. In the combined RockLists rankings it is #554 indie & aaa song of all time.
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"You've Got a Friend" sits at the heart of Tapestry, Carole King's second album, from 1971, and it's about as unguarded as a pop song gets: a promise of friendship, plain and simple, sung in a warm, unshowy voice over her own piano. Lou Adler produced, Hank Cicalo engineered, and the band is a close circle, with James Taylor on acoustic guitar, Danny Kortchmar on congas, Charles Larkey on double bass and a small string section of David Campbell, Terry King and Barry Socher.
Taylor cut his own version at the same time, with some of the same players. The song won King Song of the Year at the Grammys in 1972, and her recording went into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 1079 | WFPK | WFPK 2001 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2000 |
| 2004 | 299 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2004) | 885 |
| 2007 | 254 | WTMD | WTMD Top 897 Songs of All Time | 897 |
| 2009 | 261 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Desert Island Songs (2009) | 885 |
| 2012 | 230 | WYEP | WYEP Top 500 Songs Countdown | 500 |
| 2014 | 532 | WXPN | WXPN 885 All-Time Greatest Songs (2014) | 885 |
| 2020 | 587 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2022 | 858 | WYEP | WYEP Countdown to Fall 2022 | 603 |
| 2026 | 282 | WYEP | WYEP Greatest Songs of All Time | 1180 |
Also listed as: You've Got A Friend.
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