The themes are messy, the emotions are torturous, but the music is positively fine. “It’s Too Late” by Carole King is all about an experience anyone who’s loved and lost can relate to, but it has a thematic twist that makes it stand out in a sea of heartbreak ballads.
With a resume like King’s, it can be easy for even the standouts to get lost in the flow of success. After all, King wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. But it just so happens “It’s Too Late” was revolutionary not just in its perfectly sensual, intimate, tender delivery but also its approach to the topic of separation, with the woman initiating the breakup, while King herself wanted to show separation as something almost inevitable.
Carole King wove a tapestry of emotions with “It’s Too Late”
Released in 1971 as part of her second album Tapestry, “It’s Too Late” quickly rocketed to number 1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts. While King had full dominion over the music, Toni Stern penned those aching lyrics that, half a century later, are as perfectly timeless as ever.
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Turns out those heartfelt emotions in the lyrics came from a very real place. Stern had written the lyrics in just one day, not long after her relationship with singer-songwriter James Taylor came to an end.
Stern and King worked together several times, especially throughout the ’60s and into the early ’70s. Sadly, Stern died in January 2024, but the story of her successful and influential life endures in As Close as I Can, a 2017 book of her very own poetry.
The lyrics alone could be talked about all day
Sometimes, something seemingly great doesn’t work out—even when it’s that magical feeling called love. That’s actually okay. But it sure can hurt along the way, and that’s okay too. “It’s Too Late” as told by King and Stern doesn’t shy away from this idea, that pain and acceptance can coexist with every other emotion under the sun, and that sometimes horrible events don’t have any one party to place the blame upon.
Indeed, part of the goal, so to speak, of “It’s Too Late” is to detail the blameless end of a relationship. But it was also radical in a subtle yet effective way, as music critic Dave Marsh argued that the song was feminist for having the woman break up with the man.
In terms of honors, the song was inducted into the Music Hall of Fame in 2003, and it’s included in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. That sounds about right; after all, it’s never too late to enjoy this emotional ballad.
