I Feel the Earth Move

"I Feel the Earth Move" is a song written and recorded by pop singer-songwriter Carole King. A track on King's album Tapestry, the song is one half of the double A-sided single, the flip side 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 for the year 1971.

A showcase for King's upbeat piano style, "I Feel the Earth Move" has lyrics with the same percussive feel:

I feel the earth - move - under my feet

I feel the sky tum-b-ling down - tum-b-ling down

I feel my heart start to trem-b-ling -

Whenever you're around

Jon Landau's review of 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]

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

On Tuesday, March 18, 2008, King performed the song on The Colbert Report.

Personnel

• Joel O'Brien: Drums
• Charles Larkey: Electric Bass
• Danny Kootch: Electric Guitar
• Carole King: Keyboards, Vocals

Martika version

Released in autumn 1989, "I Feel the Earth Move" was the third single from Martika's self-titled debut, Martika. "I Feel the Earth Move" reached the number 25 on the pop charts in the U.S., and number 7 in the UK and number 2 in Australia. The high energy music video was shot during the promotional tour for this album. The song's tenure on the U.S. charts was cut short when radio stations pulled it from their playlists in the wake of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

Track listing

For the cassette or 7" single:

• Side A – "I Feel The Earth Move"
• Side B – "Quiero Entregarte Mi Amor" (Spanish Version "More Than You Know")

Other versions

Peggy Lee never recorded "I Feel the Earth Move" for an album, but performed the song live.^[2]

Loretta Swit performed the song on The Muppet Show in 1980.

Young American actress/singer Mandy Moore had a go at the song on her somewhat popular 2003 album Coverage; it was considered a good enough effort to be included on her subsequent albeit disowned The Best of Mandy Moore collection and on the 2005 benefit album Love Rocks.

Australian songstress Delta Goodrem featured the song on her 2005 Visualise Tour.

Jazz/funk guitarist Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones recorded an instrumental version of this song.

Japanese singer UA recorded a version of this song (in English) included on her "COLONY" single. It was also part of her live album FINE FEATHERS MAKE FINE BIRDS.

In the episode "Praying For Time" of Eli Stone, in a vision seen by the title character, Taylor Weathersby (Natasha Henstridge) and Maggie Dekker (Julie Gonzalo) sing it, signifying what may be an upcoming earthquake in San Francisco, as well as giving Eli an insight into his lovelife.

Tori Amos has added parts of this songs as a bridge to her song Take to the Sky (a B-Side from her debut Little Earthquakes) in live performances. Most recently, on her Sinful Attraction Tour in Sydney on November 16, 2009, but also at the Dranouter Festival on August 8, 2008, and many times during her 2003 Tour. She comments on this on her book Piece By Piece.

Rock band Super 400 recorded a version at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee for their 2009 album "Sweet Fist."

In 1989, I Feel The Earth Move was scheduled to be the debut single for English boy band Big Fun, but was pulled at the last minute in favour of Blame It On The Boogie, a cover of The Jacksons hit, written by Mick Jackson (no relation). The Big Fun version of the song appeared as a bonus track on the CD and Cassette versions of their 1989 album "A Pocket Full Of Dreams".

In 2010, Chinese singer Olivia Ong recorded a cover for her album Olivia.

In 2011, Casey Abrams and Haley Reinhart sang a duet of this song in American Idol (Season 10)

Usage

The first 22 seconds of the Carole King version is used for the earthquake room exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon, USA.

During an NHL game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center, an earthquake occurred. During the first break-in-play after the earthquake, the Kings DJ played Carole King's "I Feel The Earth Move".

The song was used in Japan for a Toyota RAV4 commercial in 2001.

On the popular NBC sitcom Will & Grace, the character Jack McFarland sings a piano solo version of this song as a part of his one-man cabaret.

References