From TAPESTRY REVISITED
Written by Carole King
“Tapestry Revisited” was released in 1995 as a tribute to one of the best selling albums of the seventies, Carole King’s “Tapestry.” Many big names were recruited to sing new versions of songs like “I Feel The Earth Move,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got A Friend,” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” These are timeless melodies that marked a huge influence on the pop singers and songwriters of the past thirty years. Among the stars involved in this project were Richard Marx, Amy Grant, Faith Hill, The Bee Gees, Manhattan Transfer and Céliné Dion who, with David Foster’s help, gave new life to the immortal melody of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” Other winning moments on the record are Grant’s “It’s Too Late” produced by Keith Thomas, Marx’s “Beautiful” and, especially, the Arif Mardin produced “You’ve Got A Friend” by Bebe & Cece Winans with Aretha Franklin.
Foster arranged and produced “So Far Away,” a beautiful song performed by Rod Stewart. Here the Scottish singer gives a restrained but effective performance that matches well with King’s melancholy lyrics. David Foster contemporized the tune with his typical use of keyboards and synths while Michael Thompson’s elegant guitar almost duets with the singer throughout the song. “So Far Away” was released as a single and went to #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts. David Foster and Rod Stewart first collaborated in the seventies when the Canadian musician was one of the top session guys in the music world. He played on Stewart’s hugely successful albums, “A Night On The Town” and “Foot Loose And Fancy Free.”
Listen
[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/so_far_away.mp3|titles=So far away|artists=Rod Stewart]
Lead Vocal: Rod Stewart
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Michael Thompson
Synclavier Programming: Simon Franglen
Produced & Arranged by David Foster
Lyrics
So far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know that your just time away
Long ago I reached for you and there you stood
Holding you again could only do me good
Oh how I wish I could
But you’re so far away
One more song about moving along the highway
I can’t say much of anything that’s new
But if I could only work this life out my way
I’d rather spend it being close to you
But you’re so far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know you’re so far away
So far away, yeah you’re so far away
Travelling around sure gets me down and lonely
Nothing else to do but close my mind
And I sure hope the road don’t get to own me
There’s so many dreams that I’ve yet to find
But you’re so far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know
You’re so far away, you’re so far away
You’re so far away, you’re so far away
Oh I need to get in touch with ya baby
You’re so very, very, very far away
You’re so, so far away