"You've Got a Friend" is a song from 1971, originally written and performed by Carole King. It was included in her album Tapestry of 1971, but was made famous by James Taylor's cover version the same year. Taylor's rendition, released as a single from his own 1971 album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The James Taylor version also spent one week at the top of the Easy Listening charts. "You've Got a Friend" won Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance) and King (Song of the Year). Joni Mitchell sings harmony.
The song was recorded also during 1971 by Dusty Springfield, a recording that predates Taylor's version. It was recorded for her third album for Atlantic Records, but a dispute with the company meant the album was unreleased. The song was left unissued until 1999, when it was issued as a bonus track for the Rhino Records deluxe re-release of Dusty in Memphis.
Another live version was recorded by Donny Hathaway on his 1972 Live album and the posthumously released These Songs for You, Live!.
Barry Manilow performs the song along with Melissa Manchester on his album Duets. Japanese singer-songwriter, Onitsuka Chihiro performed the song during her 2008 tour and it also appears in her live DVD "Nine Dirts and Snow White Flickers".
Read more about You've Got A Friend: 1998 VH1 Divas Version, Danish X Factor Finalisterne 2009 Version, Other Cover Versions
Famous quotes containing the word friend:
“I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it and the moss hung down from the branches,
Without any companion it grew there uttering joyous leaves of dark
green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself,
But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves standing alone
there without its friend near, for I knew I could not,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)