Five decades of singing together, and the magic is still there. Carole King and James Taylor, at 71 and 65 years old, brought smoldering power to their duet of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” at her MusicCares Person of the Year gong. As a top commenter said, “We all get old. But OMG, they can still bring it!!” This timeless song ain’t getting old any time soon either! And when you have James Taylor’s delectable backing vocals and acoustic guitar in the mix, then this Carole King hit has never sounded better.

James has said that he and Carole share the same “musical DNA”. That was on full display in this intimate duet. Taylor’s acoustic playing so tastefully intertwines with Carole’s piano parts. The guitarist is sparing with where he adds his harmony vocals, but when he pipes up, it brings things to the next level. The Music Man readers may note that when the pair close out the duet at the four-minute mark, you can see how touched Carole is that James appeared for her here, and what an incredible job he did.

Carole and James sang “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the 2014 MusiCares Person of the Year event, of which she was the recipient. When the performance emerged on YouTube several years later, fans loved the collab and added comments such as “Been around forever, still sound great… Real talent does not go away” and “I can’t listen to this performance without crying!!”

Originally an R&B tune, “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” has gotten a number of amazing reworks over the years. Taylor Swift gave the most iconic cut of the tune when she sang a brooding synthpop arrangement of the hit for Carole King’s 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. It has to be said, nobody can work a room like Tay Tay! Seeing Carole’s emotional reaction from the front row at the end of the performance was very poignant.

“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” will forever remain in the hearts of Carole and her fans, as it is her first ever hit song. The New York City singer-songwriter penned the ballad with her then-husband Gerry Goffin for a 1960 release. She provided the music and he wrote the lyrics.
The New Jersey girl group The Shirelles dropped the first recording of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” as a single in November 1960. It hit number one in the US and number four in the UK. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that Carole later released her own version of the tune in 1971 as a deep cut on her second studio album Tapestry.