Nightingale (Carole King song)

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"Nightingale"
Single by Carole King
from the album Wrap Around Joy
B-side"You're Something New"
ReleasedDecember 17, 1974
GenrePop / Rock
Length3:36
LabelOde Records
Songwriter(s)Carole King and David Palmer
Producer(s)Lou Adler
Carole King singles chronology
"Jazzman"
(1974) 		"Nightingale"
(1974) 		"Only Love Is Real"
(1976)

"Nightingale" is a song written by Carole King and David Palmer. "Nightingale" first appeared on her top-selling album Wrap Around Joy, which was released in mid-July 1974, but was released as a single in December. The song has since been put on many of her compilation albums, including her certified platinum album Her Greatest Hits: Songs of Long Ago.

The song, like the album Wrap Around Joy, got off to a slow start, but eventually charted high. "Nightingale" peaked at No. 9 in the Billboard Hot 100, on March 1, 1975, and spent the week before at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart.[1]

Recording[edit]

While Carole King is the lead singer of this song in the 1974 version, her daughters Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin sang backup. At the time, they were children.

Reception[edit]

Billboard stated that "Nightingale" is a return to her earlier style compared to her previous single "Jazzman" and has "fine soft melodies set off by her distinctive vocalizing."[2] Cash Box said that the "solid hook cements the powerful combination of sharp lyrics and catchy musical feel."[3] Record World said that it "combines melodic beauty with momentum extraordinaire to come up with a performance in super league with [King's] recent chart-topper 'Jazzman.'"[4]

The song is a critical part of the plot in "The Night Bird", a psychological suspense novel by Brian Freeman. In the novel, the song is used as a trigger to awaken hypnotically suppressed phobias in psychiatric patients, causing them to commit suicide.

Charts[edit]

Chart (1974–75) Peak
position
Billboard Hot 100 9
Billboard Easy Listening[1] 1

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 136.
  2. ^ "Top Single Picks" (PDF). Billboard. December 21, 1974. p. 69. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  3. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. December 21, 1974. p. 24. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  4. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. December 28, 1974. p. 1. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
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