At Just 17, Carole King Wrote A Nearly Perfect Song That Artists Jump To Cover

Music has always seemed to flow so effortlessly from Carole King. As just 17, the masterful singer-songwriter had already written a hit for the Shirelles, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," with her first husband, Gerry Goffin. The Shirelles took the love song, which sounds even sweeter today, to No. 1 in 1961. Thus began decade after decade of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" covers all the way to the present — 521 official covers and counting.

It took a decade for Carole King to record her own piano-and-acoustic-guitar version of her song on her second album, 1971's "Tapestry." She'd stepped out from the background and away from her marriage when she and Goffin divorced in 1968, and continued writing songs that were vastly more mature than her age would ever indicate. "Child of Mine," a love song from a mother to a daughter, was a song from the '70s that nailed the meaning of life. Before then, she'd penned tracks like 1967's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" for Aretha Franklin (covered 250 times), the catchy 1962 No. 1 hit "The Loco-Motion" (covered 205 times), and 1961's "Take Good Care of My Baby" (covered 106 times, including by the Beatles). 

Such a track record demonstrates how gifted and effortless of a songwriter King was and is. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" is practically a perfect song, and artists rushed to cover its plaintive plea to keep a relationship alive.

Much like Joni Mitchell penning one of folk rock's most-covered songs at the age of 23, Carole King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" is in part so impressive because she wrote it when she was so young. It sounds like a young person's sweet, innocent song, too, no matter its mature qualities. No doubt this is a big part of its universal appeal. The lyrics are just distinctive enough to be non-derivative ("Is this a lasting treasure / Or just a moment's pleasure?"), just like the music is just complex enough to not be overly basic. It's also easy to play on a variety of instruments, especially the guitar. In the end, there's little to improve about the song. 

That's probably why a who's who of singers, especially soul singers, have flocked to cover it. Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, the Righteous Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, Roberta Flack, Neil Diamond, and Amy Winehouse all did their own renditions of the song. They largely did straight covers, with little in the way of inventiveness; why mess with perfection, right? "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" works best when the singer is in the forefront and would lose its refined simplicity if it was overdone. As it stands, Winehouse's 2004 version, remastered by Mark Ronson in 2011, is probably the most musically creative, with an elongated intro, brass accompaniment, and background "ooo ooo" singers. 

Funny enough, the Shirelles were reluctant to accept the song from King way back in 1960 because they thought "it sounded too country," as Rolling Stone quotes King. If they hadn't, someone else would've nabbed it. It's just too good.