I could live without James Taylor's music. But I don't want to.

[saltpoint]

[Floogeldy]

1. Agreed.

:)

[saltpoint]

3. Hey there, Floogeldy.

Can all 91,000 of us step into your post and crank up that air conditioner?

[Floogeldy]

24. I wish.

The good news is that, by 3:00 this morning, it will be 69 degrees in my bedroom. ;)

Right now, it is 80. :evilfrown:

[saltpoint]

30. O jeez. 80's too high. We'll all come over at 3:00 then.

Hope you're doin' great.

[Guava Jelly]

2. I always liked "Sweet baby James"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAuWn7jrsg4&search=sweet%20baby%20james
nothing i am sure to do with my name being james :)

[saltpoint]

4. People named 'James' got a wonderful gift with that tune, no question.

"...his horse and his cattle are his only companions
He works in the saddle and sleeps in the canyons
Waiting for summer his pastures to change..."

As one very early review put it, you can't fault the lyrics.

[grace0418]

54. That's my favorite song of his. Great to sing around a campfire.

Or to sing a baby to sleep.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

5. Agreed

I've grown up with his music, and anyone who can write something like "Fire and Rain" as young as he did is remarkable.

[saltpoint]

9. Welcome to these boards, lelapin.

Yep. That tune put Mr. Taylor in a lot of people's cerebral cortexes and he hasn't come out since.

A great composition.

[crim son]

6. I could live without the music of Smashing Pumpkins.

And I do. Quite successfully.

[saltpoint]

10. A warm DU welcome, crim son.

I like the Smashing Pumpkins' name.

I don't know their music very well, though.

[crim son]

14. Thanks, Old Crusoe.

I've been around since 2004, though. New username, for personal reasons. A better alternative to leaving DU all together, you know?

[saltpoint]

16. Well, then the welcome is good for you anyway. We like new folks

and old folks both around here.

Unless you're a Republican!

Then all bets are off!

[crim son]

17. Heck NO!!!

That's a stain my character could not bear!

[saltpoint]

19. I was kidding! Honest!

Old, new and forever, welcome.

On Smashing Pumpkins, by the way... forgive my ignorance, but is 'smashing' a verb there, as in "We're going out smashing pumpkins" or an adjective, as in "Those are smashing pumpkins, Eli."

I kind of like it as an adjective for some reason. The people in the UK have great rules for English. I've almost forgotten what real English sounds like after 6 years of George Bush.

[crim son]

25. As fascinating as the band's name is,

I think the music is dreadful, because the lead vocalist sounds like he's in the last throes of a very painful death process. That or he's thirteen, and his voice has just begun to change.

I like the idea that the pumpkins are just oh-so smashing. Really smashing!

[saltpoint]

28. You are casting a more experienced ear their way than I am.

On lead singers, I remember when my grandfather first heard me put on a Bob Dylan record. Early 60s. Some long time ago now.

He was NOT impressed.

[crim son]

34. I don't know how old "Old" Crusoe is. I'm 43.

And I like music of all genres, at least some of it. Just not the mushy cucurbits. You understand.

[saltpoint]

37. 43, eh? You're doin' great. All genres? Most appreciated.

I skip through the stacks and stop at Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson, Joni Mitchell, Nick Drake, The Who, Nina Simone, Maria Callas, Petula Clark, Janis Joplin, The Grassroots, Andre Watts, Mamas & Papas, Emmylou Harris, Stan Rogers, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, any Baroque, choral music out the wazu, Aretha, Jackson Browne, Jethro Tull, and the soundtrack to ROMEO AND JULIET.

Haven't fully warmed up to rap yet, owing to the lyrics that seem misogynist. Polka? Not so much.

[crim son]

40. In agreement there, right down to the polka.

I'd add Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and a whole crowd of other medieval to early romantic classical composers.

You sound very well-rounded. Good for you!

[saltpoint]

42. You know the polka crowd is going to burn our damn houses down

tonight, don't you?

Gather up the stuff you want to keep and stash it in the trunk of the car and get the hell out while we still can!

You mention the medieval music and Mozart. Very fine stuff indeed.

[Ptah]

7. I could, but choose not to.

:thumbsup:

[saltpoint]

11. Hi, Ptah. I took a peak at your profile and saw SW USA -- beautiful

place to be -- I lived in Tempe for a time...

Anyway it looks as if we're on the same page on James Taylor. I've listened to his music for a long time now and I'm not tired of it at all.

[1monster]

8. In my mind, I'm gone to Carolina

Can't you feel the sunshine?
Can't you see the moonshine?
Yes, I'm gone to Carolina in my mind....

love that song

[saltpoint]

12. Me, too. I consider it one of the true masterworks of folk music.

The original recording on Apple had McCartney playing bass.

Taylor's later versions slowed the tempo just a bit and thinned out the instrumentation, but the genius of that song comes through no matter if you played it on washbaord and hyena bones.

It's an all-time favorite with me.

"...still I'm on the dark side of the moon
And it looks like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me if I'm up and
gone to Carolina in my mind."

[lizziegrace]

13. "It's Enough to Be On Your Way"

That one can bring me to tears.

And, we're one of those families "That's Why I'm Here" was written about. I've been to see him so many times in the last 25 years...

[saltpoint]

15. Hi, lizziegrace. "Enough to be On Your Way" is a tremendous piece.

Yo Yo Ma plays on that recording. Well, you can't go wrong with the musicians on that recording. Taylor has a wonderful habit of hanging out with fantastic musicians his whole career.

I love the third verse of that song when he uses that very slight melodic variation at the lyrics, "I stepped out on the mesa and I stumbled on this song." That variation is a grace-note on an already-perfect performance.

It's a knock-out.

[lizziegrace]

18. I didn't know Yo Yo Ma was on that recording.

Sad to think it's about his brother Alex. The man's a treasure. Quiet, unassuming, committed to music in the schools and said he cannot read music when interviewed a couple years ago.

[saltpoint]

21. Taylor evidently asked Yo Yo Ma to play on this recording and Ma

phoned back personally to accept.

I love it that two of my musical champions admire and respect each other. It's a hell of a lift, actually.

And my god that song. Just perfect.

[jobycom]

20. You can have my share.

Not questioning his talent, he just leaves me flat for some reason.

[saltpoint]

22. Well durn, jobycom. I guess we can still be pals.

[jobycom]

23. No prob!

:rofl: You ever feel like that about an artist? You know they are great, but something about them just turns you off to them?

[saltpoint]

27. I know that feeling, sure. Dr. John is that way for me. His fans love

the man to death, and I appreciate that, but I just don't seem plugged in or something.

Misses me completely.

[saltpoint]

26. Two more songs in my head this week: "Millworker" and "Lighthouse."

"Millworker" is from Studs Terkel's Broadway play, WORKING, for which James Taylor penned this song about a woman caught in the textile mills of Massachusetts.

Any pro-labor union Dems out there tonight? "Millworker" is for you.

"Lighthouse" is a personal anthem, on the GORILLA album from the mid-1970s. While disco was thumping on the pop charts, James Taylor was singing:

"Off the coast of Africa
Bound for South America
A world away from here
Is a ship that sails the sea
Is a man who's just like me
And i wish that I was there..."

_____________
Lighthouse

Off the coast of Africa
Bound for South America
A world away from here
Is a ship that sails the sea
Is a man who's just like me
And I wish that I was there

I'm a lonely lighthouse, not a ship out in the night
Watching the sea
She's come half-way round the world to see the light
and to stay away from me

There is a shipwreck lying at my feet
Some weary refugee from the rolling deep
Ah, would you lose it all and fall for me?

(Chorus)
Couldn't we shine?
Roll my golden moments into one
Like to shine like the sun for one more Summer day
Shine like a lighthouse for one last Summer night
Flashing on, flashing, fading away

Well if you feel lost and lonely and don't know where to go
And you hear this song on the radio
Or even if you're feeling healthy and strong
You might like to sing along

And just because I might be standing here
That don't mean I won't be wrong this time
You could follow me and lose your mind

- Chorus -


Off the coast of Africa
bound for South America
A world away from here
Is a ship that sails the sea
Is a man who's just like me
And I wish that I was there

[tinfoilinfor2005]

29. Tunnels.

I keep his CD in the car when I'm going on a car trip and we have to drive through tunnels. It is the only music that keeps me from panicking in the tunnels. Strange, huh? :)

[saltpoint]

33. Whoa, that's excellent. I hear you on tunnels. Especially after the

incident this past week in Boston.

Which is where James Taylor was born, I think. Boston. Then raised in Carolina. Something like that involving those two places.

There is a calming aspect to his singing. I can see what you're talking about.

[Gormy Cuss]

31. Knockin' Round the Zoo n/t

[saltpoint]

35. "...there's bars on all the windows...

and they're countin' up the spoons, babe..."

Great song.

He taps into an energy with that that turns a kind of ordinary blueser into something really potent.

Knocks me between the eyes.

"...there's a chick who's paid to be my slave
Watch out, kootch..."

[Gormy Cuss]

36. I bought that album after Sweet Baby James

and was totally blown away by it.

[saltpoint]

39. It's still kind of a secret album, almost -- not very many people have

heard it.

But it's full of nooks and crannies and mysteries and many beautiful sounds.

I remember the first time I heard it, and the track "Circle Around the Sun" came on.

I'd never heard that song before, ever.

And this recording stopped me in my tracks.

[Katina]

32. Shed a little light....

Let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

(chorus)
Shed a little light, oh lord
So that we can see
Just a little light, oh lord
Wanna stand it on up
Stand it on up, oh lord
Wanna walk it on down
Shed a little light, oh lord

Cant get no light from the dollar bill
Dont give me no light from a tv screen
When I open my eyes
I wanna drink my fill
From the well on the hill

(do you know what I mean? )
- chorus -

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Oh, let us turn our thoughts today
To martin luther king
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood

[saltpoint]

38. An anthem even more than a song. And that chorus sounds to me

like they MEAN it.

Terrific performance. In concert, this is a very popular piece.

And it deserves to be.

[Katina]

41. i saw it done live

and it sent chills down my soul.

I've loved James Taylor since the Sweet Baby James days back in high school. I think one of the reasons I married my husband is because he has the same kind of chiseled face and deep set blue eyes that JT has....corny I know..but 32+ years later, it still works!

[saltpoint]

43. You've seen the song done live? Not bad at all. In the very

early 70s one of my bosses' wives said that she believed that in popular music, only a handful of artists' music would survive for later generations.

I think James Taylor is one of those artists, and "Shed a Little Light" is going to be one of those songs.

[Katina]

44. well, for me

aside from the man still being incredibly sexy, it's all about the harmonies. The music I like best is always about the harmonies, whether they be duets or choral back up. The blend of voices as instruments to move the melody along just gets me.

[saltpoint]

45. Well that composition meets your criteria for sure.

and yes, the harmonies.

The man doesn't mess around when it comes to harmonizing.

[Katina]

46. true enough

which then leads us back to the "old days" of the Byrds, Mama's & Papa's, CSN/CSNY, Eagles, Buffalo Springfield, Poco, etc etc etc....

[saltpoint]

47. Stop it now, you're gonna have me wailing like a junky.

Some very beautiful sounds from that time.

The Byrds' "Turn, Turn Turn" sounded awfully good when they recorded it but it sounds even better tonight. What a fine sound they get.

I was also addicted to Simon & Garfunkel's recordings. Well, I'm STILL addicted to them.

If there was an IV for the ear you could hook me up and leave me to starve. I'd be perfectly happy.

[lizziegrace]

48. Lelapin used to dance to that one when she was very little

and grin...

:)

[saltpoint]

50. I don't blame her one bit. It's a great piece of music. Timely, too,

when he wrote it and right now.

[LostinVA]

49. I love JT

[saltpoint]

53. This week I'm listening to a lot of those middle and early

recordings.

Some fine stuff. And many under-rated tunes. "Looking for Love on Broadway" from the JT album, and "Sugar Cane" from DAD LOVES HIS WORK.

The man can put a song together, can't he?

[zanne]

51. Lost my virginity to "Mud Slide Slim"....

It's my favorite album ever!

[saltpoint]

52. "I'm the one-eyed seed / of a tumbleweed /

in the belly of a rolling stone..."

________

Lost your virginity to MUD SLIDE SLIM AND THE BLUE HORIZON?!

Not THAT is a landmark.

Hot dog.

[saltpoint]

55. ...and also one of my favorite adult lullabyes: "You Can Close Your Eyes"