Taylor Swift and every female singer songwriter working today for the last five decades should be observing this week as a holy holiday. Fifty years ago today, Carole King released “Tapestry.” Yesterday marked the 50th anniversary release of Carly Simon’s first of many hits, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be.”

In April, we’ll have have the 50th celebration of Joni Mitchell’s “Blue.”

1971 was a watershed year for pop composers. The entire year consisted of classic after hit, on the singles and album charts. The year began with George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass.” The other Beatles followed suit with Paul McCartney’s “Ram” and John Lennon’s “Imagine” all over the radio. The man who connected Carole, Carly and Joni, James Taylor, would hit in May with “Mud Slide Slim” and his own version of Carole’s “You’ve Got a Friend.”

What a time! And those lists don’t include the Rolling Stones’ “Sticky Fingers” or Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World”– a song we just heard day and night in commercials– or Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On'” or Rod Srewart’s “Maggie May.” Almost the entire foundation for the popular music we know was laid in 1971.

“Tapestry” was released in February, but didn’t make it to number 1 right away. But when it did, the run was extraordinary. Carole took number 1 on June 19th. “Tapestry” stayed there until September 25th. It wasn’t like Carole came out of nowhere. For seven weeks a little earlier in the year, Janis Joplin’s “Pearl” had had an incredible run at number 1, spurred by the performer’s death the previous fall and a monster hit single, “Me and Bobby McGee.”

When “Tapestry” took off, Joni Mitchell was already a well known quantity. She’d written the Judy Collins hit, “Both Sides Now.” She was a sucess d’estime with songs like “The Circle Game.”  Everyone knew her from “Big Yellow Taxi” and “Woodstock.” Joni wouldn’t be a commercial success until 1974, and “Court and Spark.”

No, at that moment in February 1971, it was all about Carole and Carly. While “It’s Too Late” and “I Feel the Earth Move” went up the charts as a double A-side– two sides of a single getting number radio play simultaneously — Carly Simon came floating up on the air on a cloud. “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard it Should Be” was so confessional and autobiographical, it seemed, everything stopped when it played. You literally said to people, “Listen to this,” when it came on the radio.

The “Carly Simon” album is good, but it’s not the best one Simon released in 1971. Like Taylor Swift now, Carly was prolific and determined. In late summer she issued “Anticipation,” maybe 2,000 times better than its predecessor with the title track hit and ten other endlessly memorable songs like “Legend in Your Own Time.”

It was still 1971. Before the year ended, Carole rejoindered with her excellent “Music” album and the game was on. For the next six or seven years, Carly, Carole and Joni, and many others created the canon of singer songwriters. A year later, Simon would drop “No Secrets” with “You’re So Vain,” and turn a corner into blockbuster-hood. Produced by Richard Perry, it remains the signature single of the 70s. The lyrics are still be debating. The production equals the best of Phil Spector and Wagner.

Here’s something you may not know. Carly told me when I interviewed her in 1989 that she and Carole almost made an album together. Carly wrote the lyrics but nothing came of it in the end.

I’d like to say I heard about all this, or read it somewhere. But I must admit, I was there. I was turning 14 and music was literally flowing from everywhere. Did we know it would become classic? Yes, I think so, instantly, we knew we had this run of quality and adventure and experiment not just with these people but with Santana, and Eric Clapton and Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway, not to mention two Aretha Franklin albums, and so many more. It was a magical time in creativity.

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UPDATE 2/9: LOL. This is the Supremes album now at number 7 on iTunes as a consequence of Mary’s passing. So Mary has gotten the last laugh. Her voice is heard more clearly than ever on this remix, the way it was supposed to be.

I first published this in 2004. If you’re interested, “Diana Ross and the Supremes Number Ones” is still available 16 years later on Amazon as a CD, download or on streaming. The Spotify stream follows below. As Universal engineer Suha Gur told me then, this was the real mix of the Supremes where you could actually hear Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. Over the year, Diana Ross’s voice had wiped out her comrades. This is such a pleasure. Before it’s lost to history, take a listen. I wish oldies stations used these tracks.

One note: in the streaming version, it’s just the first 13 tracks. From then on, starting with “Someday We’ll Be Together,” Mary and Florence are not on the recordings. For that song, Diana recorded her final Supremes song with other singers behind the backs of her friends. “Stoned Love” is with Mary, but not Diana. The other songs pinned to this collection were Diana Ross solo hits.

On a new Supremes greatest-hits CD issued by Universal Music, Diana Ross’s
lead vocals have been mixed in with those of Mary Wilson and
Florence Ballard, the two other Supremes, giving the latter two
women their first due in 40 years.

Universal, which owns Motown’s catalog, makes no mention of the
substantial change in the liner notes for “Supremes Number Ones.”
But the new edition, released in time for the Motown 45th
anniversary in May, is supposed to replace all previous versions of
Supremes greatest-hits packages for new generations of buyers.

On previous editions, and in all the “classic” versions, Ross’ voice
was always mixed much farther forward than Wilson’s and Ballard’s.
The result was that the other women’s voices were sometimes not
heard clearly. But now, on songs like “Reflections” and “Where Did
Our Love Go?” the other two original Supremes sound, well, Supreme.

Universal engineer Suha Gur, in taking direction from the catalog’s
producers, told me he wanted to improve the sound of previous
releases.

“I kept saying, ‘Why didn’t they do this in the first place?'” Gur
said yesterday. “When we put them up and heard what the tracks
sounded like.”

Gur used the master tapes from Motown, which were multi-tracks with
Ross’ voice often on different tapes than Wilson’s and Ballard’s.
The vocals were all separated from the instrumentals, which gave him
a lot of latitude in moving things around.

“Some people can’t stand it because they weren’t the original
versions,” Gur said. “A small percentage of hardcore fans have
complained.”

Gur, by the way, reports to two producers, who instructed him to
improve the old records’ sound.

But I can tell you, this is one of the few times you should go out
and re-buy an album. Hearing Wilson and Ballard clearly shows they
were not just Ross’ backup singers, and that the Supremes were very
much a group dependent on three voices.

And no, so far no one at Universal Mastering has heard from Miss
Ross on this subject. But give her time.

It only took 50 freakin’ years: Carole King was finally nominated to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today. It’s the actual 50th anniversary of “Tapestry,” her groundbreaking mega selling album that ushered in the era of singer-songwriters.

The Rock Hall will also also consider Tina Turner, and Dionne Warwick, each of whom has careers going back 60 years. Like Carole, they were all eligible the year the Rock Hall began in 1988. If they don’t all get in now, this whole thing is really more of a joke than we thought.

Other nominees for induction include Todd Rundgren, whose landmark album “Something/Anything” came out in 1972, the New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Iron Maiden (haha), The Go Go’s, Devo, and Kate Bush.

Just to make things interesting, they’ve also thrown in Chaka Khan, who’s been on the nominees list many times and should be be in, and Mary J. Blige. The group is rounded out by Fela Kuti, why I do not know.

Both Carole and Tina are already in, technically. Carole’s in as a songwriter with ex husband Gerry Goffin. Tina’s in with ex husband Ike Turner. Neither is in as a solo artist even though that’s their biggest success.

Jay Z is also nominated even though he has nothing to do with rock, or even R&B, except that he’s sampled a lot of the songs.

Public voting will be strong for Jay Z, Foo Fighters, and Rage Against the Machine. The Rock Hall only has itself to blame for years of neglecting all those groundbreaking women– Carole, Tina, Dionne, and Chaka.

Still ignored is Carly Simon, whose first album was released 50 years ago yesterday and is just as important as Carole and Joni Mitchell as a trailblazer and influence.

Final inductees will be announced in May, and there will be a ceremony somewhere at some time later this year.