Single:
It’s Too Late entered the Australian singles chart* on 12 July 1971 and peaked at #6. The song was #34 on the Top 100 of 1971.
Album:
The song is on Tapestry which entered the Australian albums chart* on 19 July 1971 and peaked at #6.
Songwriters:
Carole King, Toni Stern
Producer:
Lou Adler
Record label of Australian release:
A&M / Ode
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
It’s Too Late live: BBC In Concert, 10 February 1971:
Wikipedia:
The lyrics describe the blameless end of a loving relationship.
Music critic Robert Christgau wrote that “if there’s a truer song about breaking up than It’s Too Late, the world isn’t ready for it.”
Toni Stern wrote the lyrics and King wrote the music. Stern told author Sheila Weller that she wrote the lyrics in a single day, after her love affair with James Taylor ended.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It’s_Too_Late_(Carole_King_song)
Songfacts:
Carole King wrote this with Toni Stern, a free-spirited painter and lyricist from Los Angeles who complemented King very well. Said Stern: “I’m sure there was a California quality in me that appealed to Carole. She was moving from a familial, middle class lifestyle to Laurel Canyon, where she started to let her hair down, literally and figuratively. We worked off our contrasts.”
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/carole-king/its-too-late
Lyrics:
Stayed in bed all mornin’ just to pass the time
There’s somethin’ wrong here, there can be no denyin’
One of us is changin’, or maybe we’ve just stopped tryin’
Click for full lyrics
This song is also on our Spotify playlist Bang a Gong – the 70s
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