Songwriterobit: Gerry Goffin

Gerry Goffin has died.

What a songbook.

Although not always an uncontroversial songbook.

Talking about He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss to NPR in 2011, Carole King said that the Gerry Goffin had heard a friend use the phrase; a survivor of domestic violence herself (although not during her marriage to Goffin), King told NPR she wishes they'd never written the song.

That a reputation as a great songwriting team could survive writing the line "a chugga chugga motion like a railway train now".

Gerry Goffin's private life wasn't always easy - his mental health was disrupted by incidents bookended by bad trips and electroconvulsive shock therapy; his marriage to King was less resilient than their songwriting partnership. Oddly, this was all considered perfect material for a Broadway musical.

Gerry Goffin died June 19th; he was 75.