As is tradition with American Idol theme weeks, the legacy of Carole King did not escape unscathed. But, hey, Casey got sent home in the end, so that’s fair compensation!

Age-wise, Season 10 contestants are the farthest removed from the singer-songwriter’s heydey. And there’s a sizable chunk of the at-home audience that had no clue as to who Carole King is, or cared to know, even after the brief bio piece rolled at the start of Wednesday’s show.

“It’s Too Late,” my favorite of King’s tunes that she herself recorded, was relegated to the end of the group performance last night. But even that mismatched set of singers with such different vocal styles couldn’t mess up the song from her 1971 masterwork, Tapestry, still the longest charting album by a female solo artist.

“It’s Too Late” debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 8, 1971, as a double-A side with “I Feel The Earth Move.” A little more than a month later, “It’s Too Late” reached #1, spending five weeks in the top spot. The song predates my existence, and we didn’t have the Tapestry album at home, but at some point, for whatever reason, “It’s Too Late” was lodged in my subconscious jukebox. Every once in a while, it’ll just start playing in my head. Not the most uplifting of tunes, mind you, but still marvelously melodic.

“It’s Too Late” was one of two songs on Tapestry that King wrote with Toni Stern. The other, “Where You Lead,” you might know better as the Gilmore Girls theme song, re-recorded as a duet with King’s daughter, Louise Goffin.