I Feel the Earth Move

"I Feel the Earth Move" is a song written and recorded by pop singer-songwriter Carole King, which first appeared on her album Tapestry. Additionally, the song is one half of the double A-sided single, the flip side of which was "It's Too Late". Together, both "I Feel the Earth Move" and "It's Too Late" became among the biggest mainstream pop hits of 1971.

"I Feel the Earth Move"
Artwork for U.S. vinyl single, also used for the other side of the release
Single by Carole King
from the album Tapestry
A-side	"It's Too Late"
Released	April 16, 1971 (1971-04-16)
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:00
Label	Ode
Songwriter(s)	Carole King
Producer(s)	Lou Adler
Carole King singles chronology
"He's a Bad Boy" (1964) "It's Too Late" / "I Feel the Earth Move" (1971) "So Far Away" / "Smackwater Jack" (1971)

Jon Landau's review of the Tapestry for Rolling Stone praised King's voice on this track, saying it negotiates turns from "raunchy" to "bluesy" to "harsh" to "soothing", with the last echoing the development of the song's melody into its chorus.[1] Landau describes the melody of the refrain as "a pretty pop line".[1] Forty years later, Rolling Stone stated that King's "warm, earnest singing" brought "earthy joy" to the song.[2] Music journalist Harvey Kubernik wrote that "I Feel the Earth Move" was "probably the most sexually aggressive song on the Tapestry album" and a "brave" opening to an album whose mood is mostly "mellow confessionality".[3] AllMusic critic Stewart Mason describes the song as "the ultimate in hippie-chick eroticism" and writes that it "sounds like the unleashing of an entire generation of soft-spoken college girls' collective libidos".[4]

Author James Perone praised the way the lyrics and music work together.[5] As a prime example, he notes the syncopated rhythm to the melody on which King sings "tumbling down".[5] This rhythm, putting the accent at the end of the word "tumbling" rather than at the beginning, produces a "musical equivalent of a tumble."[5] Perone also notes that the fast tempo allows the listener to feel the singer's excitement over being near her lover, and that the lyrics also express sexual tension even though that tension is left implicit.[5] Perone attributes some of the song's success to producer Lou Adler's decision to highlight King's piano playing in the mix, giving it a different feel from the guitar-based singer-songwriter approach King took in her prior album.[5] Mason also attributes the song's success to the "piano-led groove" and to King's vocal delivery.[4]

King's version of "I Feel the Earth Move" peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated June 19, 1971. It remained there for five consecutive weeks.[6] It also peaked at number 6 in the United Kingdom.

Given its upbeat nature, Ode Records selected "I Feel the Earth Move" as the A-side to Tapestry's first single. It achieved airplay, but then disc jockeys and listeners began to prefer the slower, lamenting B-side "It's Too Late". Both sides received airplay for a while, but eventually "It's Too Late" dominated. In fact, on the concurrent Cash Box singles chart, which still tracked the progress of both sides of a single separately, "It's Too Late" spent four weeks at number 1 while "I Feel the Earth Move" did not chart at all. Regardless, since Billboard had declared the record a double A-side and their chart gradually became seen by many as the "official" singles chart, it is generally listed in books and articles that both "I Feel the Earth Move" and "It's Too Late" reached number 1.

Together with "It's Too Late", "I Feel the Earth Move" was named by the RIAA as number 213 of 365 Songs of the Century.