A Natural Woman by Carole King

Author:Carole King [KING, CAROLE]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: BIO000000
ISBN: 9781455512591
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2012-04-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Addition, Family Style

As the tour drew to a close I was a mass of conflicting emotions. I was excited about going home to my girls, but I had enjoyed performing with James and Jo Mama so much that I was sad to think that we wouldn’t be doing those shows anymore. Others must have been thinking along similar lines, because the energy level at the last show was even higher than usual. If the decibel level and range of emotions had been elevated before, they were off the meter that night.

And then the tour was over.

As soon as I walked in the door of the house on Wonderland Avenue, my sadness disappeared. The enthusiastic greeting I received from Louise and Sherry mirrored my own delight at seeing them. Our dogs’ wagging tails and “Pet me! Pet me!” noses under our elbows only added to the joyous confusion of our arrival. My first thought on awakening the next morning was heartfelt gratitude that I was free of the airport–soundcheck–gig–hotel routine. I eased back into domesticity as seamlessly as if I’d never been gone.

Before Tapestry was released in March 1971, I had told Lou that I would do the tour, but I wanted no part of the public relations machine in which recording artists were expected to help the record company generate sales. Lou respected my wishes. He fielded all requests and kept me from having to do interviews. Just when I was thinking how happy I was to be enjoying a comparatively simple life, my twenty-nine-year-old body announced a major new development. I was expecting my third child.

My twenty-four-year-old husband was over the moon. This would be his first child. With two children already in our household, adding a baby wouldn’t cause as big a change as it might have for a couple with no children, though we definitely would need to move into a bigger house. The word “simple” no longer described our life. Before I could fully absorb the implications of this new development, Peter called to say that he was thinking of bringing the James Taylor–Carole King–Jo Mama show to his country of origin. Would Charlie and I be available that summer to travel around the United Kingdom?

We would.

Though we had to find a new house and prepare for a baby, Charlie and I were young enough to think we could do it all. During my previous pregnancies I had worked in the studio literally up until the day of delivery. As long as I didn’t leap around onstage, the baby and I would be fine. And because the UK bookings coincided with the girls’ summer vacation, Sherry and Louise, now nine and eleven, could come along.

James also brought someone important to him. In one of my memory snapshots of the UK tour, Joni Mitchell is sitting on a long wooden bench in the hospitality area backstage with one leg drawn up under her as she sketches line drawings of Louise and Sherry. On another bench Louise

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