Disliking the arguably servile stance of the song as written by King so far, Stern swiftly conceived lyrics for its bridge which she felt expressed a more empowered narrative voice.
[1] Inspired by the Book of Ruth, where it says: "Where you go, I will go",[2] [citation needed] "Where You Lead" was described by Rolling Stone critic Jon Landau as an "ingratiatingly witty song that seems to parody the romantic extremes of some of Carole's earlier work.
[3] Author James Perone states that a superficial reading of the lyrics could suggest that the song reinforces stereotypes that a woman should not put her desire for a career ahead of pleasing her husband.
King addressed her choice to sing the latter day version of "Where You Lead" at Hyde Park with the introductory comments: "The next song I don’t perform very much.
It came out just before women’s lib, and it’s got kind of a 'Stand by Your Man' lyric so I [soon] didn't exactly feel comfortable performing it", with King then explaining how the song came to be the Gilmore Girls theme.
Despite these shared elements, AllMusic critic Joe Viglione credited Taylor's version with a "totally different flavor" from those of both King and Streisand.