Album: Tapestry (1971)

License This Song 

• My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
  An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
  A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
  A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold
  
  Once, amid the soft, silver sadness in the sky
  There came a man of fortune, a drifter passing by
  He wore a torn and tattered cloth around his leathered hide
  And a coat of many colors, yellow, green on either side
  
  He moved with some uncertainty, as if he didn't know
  Just what he was there for, or where he ought to go
  Once he reached for something golden hanging from a tree
  And his hand came down empty
  
  Soon within my tapestry, along the rutted road
  He sat down on a river rock and turned into a toad
  It seemed that he had fallen into someone's wicked spell
  And I wept to see him suffer, though I didn't know him well
  
  As I watched in sorrow, there suddenly appeared
  A figure, gray and ghostly, beneath a flowing beard
  In times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black
  Now my tapestry's unraveling, he's come to take me back
  He's come to take me back Writer/s: Carole King
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 4

• Jeff from Baton Rouge, LaCarole King's "Tapestry" is my favorite song from her 1971 album of the same name. The song weaves together (no pun intended) a variety of themes into a cohesive, unifying commentary on life (and, I think, death).
  
  She acknowledges that her life has been one of colorful variety but ultimately something she cannot hold onto. The second verse introduces an anonymous wanderer, someone whom she doesn't know, but all the same, she feels compassion and empathy, as this traveler suffers life's disappointments, misfortunes, and setbacks.
  
  In the last verse, she emphasizes the sudden appearance of a phantom ("a figure gray and ghostly beneath a flowing beard") and recognizes it as one who has visited her in her own despair and depression ("in times of deepest darkness, I've seen him dressed in black"). Yet she has managed to fend him off and reweave her life, metaphorically speaking.
  
  However, life is transient, ephemeral, as she initially acknowledges. At the end of it is death, which reclaims and transports her back to whatever transcendent plane we originated from ("now my tapestry's unraveling; he's come to take me back.")
• Kawa from Tokyo, JapanHi Music fans,
  
  I know that a millions listeners like this album and that it's a great one,too.
  But I was wondering that Why Carole had changed her musical style so suddenly after breaking up her band 'The City' in 1969 and started her new solo career with an album 'Writer' in 1970.
  The City's albim sounds like music based on pop-jazz a bit but album 'Writer' sounds like very pop music.
  I wonder Why! The City's album was released in 1969 and album 'Writer' was released in 1970. So those facks led me to this conclusion!
  Something had happened to her between 1969 and 1970.
  I think what happened to her during the times changed her musical style and made 'Writer' AND 'Tapestry' and big hit and made her famous.
  And the rest is history!
  
  
  To be continued.
• Dan from Greenwood, ScMy take on this song is that the events she describes are part of the tapestry of all of our lives and the fact that it is always moving from one event another. Sometimes we are uncertain of the events ("He moved with some uncertainty"), other time we fail ("once he reached for something golden, hanging from a tree,and his hand came down empty"). Just when we despair of getting better, someone or something comes along and we pick up the strands of our life and start weaving again. This song has encouraged me over the years...nothing is hopeless and our lives keep moving along.
• Ted from Phoenix, Az"Tapestry" is both the name of the album and the name of one of the songs on it. The song "Tapestry" has some very strange lyrics--the narrator sings about weaving a tapestry that becomes unwoven, and then it is somehow saved by a "he" who has come to take "her" back.

More Songfacts:

Open ArmsJourney

"Open Arms" was a pioneering power ballad. Stadium rock bands like Journey shied away from slow songs, but when they reluctantly agreed to record the song, it became their biggest chart hit.

Blue MondayNew Order

New Order got the title for "Blue Monday" from an illustration that read "Goodbye Blue Monday" in the Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast Of Champions. The image refers to the invention of the washing machine improving housewives' lives.

Time In A BottleJim Croce

Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash on September 30, 1973. A few weeks later, his song "Time In A Bottle" hit #1.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow BillThe Beatles

John Lennon wrote "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" about Richard Cooke, a hunter he met at the Maharishi's camp in India. Cooke hasn't shot anything since the camp, except with his camera - he became a freelance photographer for National Geographic.

China GroveThe Doobie Brothers

There really is a China Grove (in Texas), but Tom Johnston didn't know about it when he wrote the Doobie Brothers song.

ZombieThe Cranberries

"Zombie" by The Cranberries is about an IRA bombing in England that killed two children.

Editor's Picks

Ben Kowalewicz of Billy TalentSongwriter Interviews

The frontman for one of Canada's most well-known punk rock bands talks about his Eddie Vedder encounter, Billy Talent's new album, and the importance of rock and roll.

Chris Robinson of The Black CrowesSongwriter Interviews

"Great songwriters don't necessarily have hit songs," says Chris. He's written a bunch, but his fans are more interested in the intricate jams.

Producer Ron NevisonSong Writing

Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Timothy B. Schmit of the EaglesSongwriter Interviews

Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?