The Story Behind The Song: Carole King’s ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’
Carole King’s ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ was written with Gerry Goffin after Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler asked them for a song with the phrase “natural woman” for Aretha Franklin. Franklin’s powerful 1967 recording became the defining version, while King later recorded the song herself, demonstrating how a composition written for another artist became central to her own legacy.
The song emerged from King and Goffin’s prolific Brill Building-era partnership, which produced numerous pop hits in the 1960s. Franklin released it on her 1968 album Lady Soul, and King included her more intimate piano-led version on her landmark 1971 album Tapestry; both versions have helped establish it as a lasting soul and pop standard.
- Wexler’s request prompted King and Goffin to write the song.
- Aretha Franklin made it famous with her 1967 recording.
- King later reclaimed it on 1971’s Tapestry.
New here? Start with this
Carole King’s ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’ began life not as a King recording but as a song written to order. In the 1960s, King worked as part of a songwriting duo with Gerry Goffin, one of many teams based around New York’s Brill Building who supplied hit songs to other performers. Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler approached them asking for a song built around the phrase “natural woman”, intended for the soul singer Aretha Franklin.
Franklin recorded the song in 1967 and released it the following year on her album Lady Soul; her version became the one most people associate with the track and is widely regarded as a defining moment in soul music. King later recorded her own rendition, a more stripped-back, piano-led take, on her 1971 album Tapestry, one of the best-selling and most acclaimed albums of its era.
The song’s history illustrates how songwriting and performing were often separate roles in this period, with writers like King and Goffin creating material for other artists to make famous. It also shows how a song can take on a life of its own, with more than one significant recorded version contributing to its lasting status as a soul and pop standard.