Fresh Air from WHYY

A new "best of" collection, The Soul Years, showcases the soulful vocals and composing skills of soul and R&B singer and composer Bobby Womack — and has become a favorite of many critics.

When Carole King's album Tapestry came out in 1971, it became one of the best-selling albums of all time and marked her as one of pop's most talented songwriters. King's masterpiece has been reissued as a 2-disc Legacy Edition by Sony. Music historian Milo Miles takes a look at the landmark work.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the life and language of the late comedian George Carlin, who died last month. In the 1970s, Carlin observed: "There are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them you can't say on television. What a ratio that is: 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad." Then he proceeded to say them.