Since reading through the Songs About Other Musicians thread, I find the song from post number 81 running over and over in my mind.
I have listened to it dozens of times since it was posted (and still couldn’t quote one single line from it accurately), but earlier today I actually looked up the song and realized there were references to both Carly Simon and Carole King. That reminded me of this thread because while I know they are two different people who might not even resemble each other – I couldn’t differentiate their works if you held a gun to my head. I decided I had better correct this deficit in my knowledge base so I opened a new tab and typed in the name Joni Mitchel who isn’t even one of the two in question. Eventually, I embarrassingly typed in all three names scolding myself for my ignorance on the topic of 1970’s female songwriters.
I was shocked to learn that there exists a biography shared by all three women:
https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Like-Us-Simon-Generation/dp/0743491483
So I did end up feeling a little bit vindicated; I might not know all of what makes them different, but I do know enough about what makes them similar to put them into the same category. I did know that Carole King was the one who was on Gilmore Girls.
(And to be honest, my confusion on this matter dates back to the first time I viewed the movie Love Actually when the Emma Thompson character talks about [some female American songwriter] teaching a cold British woman how to love.)