Song of the Day # 95 The City

 

I heard this on the same show as Sean O'Hagan too so thanks to Bobby Gillespie.

 

'If you had asked me, just a couple of months ago, what was the definitive version of Carole King's song I Wasn't Born to Follow, I would have pointed you in the direction of the Byrds' acid-tinged cosmic rock treatment. Released in 1968, on the album The Notorious Byrd Brothers, it was used to great effect on the soundtrack of Easy Rider the following year. Then, I might have mentioned Dusty Springfield's blue-eyed soul treatment, which turned up on the Dusty in London album of lost recordings in 1999.

Then, listening to Bobby Gillespie guest-host Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Session on BBC Radio 6 a few months ago, I was knocked sideways by King's own version, recorded when she was fronting a short-lived group called the City in 1969. (Other members included two erstwhile members of the Fugs: Charles Larkey (bass), to whom King was married at the time, and Danny Kortchmar (guitar), who later turned up on virtually every Californian singer-songwriter album of the early 70s.) The song is a revelation, foregoing the cosmic thrust of the Byrds for a gospel-soul plea that is both plaintive and stirring, and reminds you how great a singer – as well as songwriter – Carole King was in her long prime. No matter how well you think you know a song, a great singer can make you rethink its entire meaning. That's exactly what happens here and it is wondrous to behold.'