CALIFORNIA
Capo @ 4 in C/Am
I’m (Am) going back to California
A little place in the San (E) Joaquin
(Am, stepping down A G F# F E)
Where the back pasture builds
To Sierra foothills
And Kaweah tumbles down cool and clean
I’m going back…
Key - G
Texas Water might be the only trio besides The Browns to do this song in the later part of the twentieth century. By Jacque Brel via the Browns.
Here it is by There Browns:
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+the+browns+three…
You are one of the most beautiful people I know. I love your soul. She was an amazing person too, and, yes, had a beautiful voice. Like Reply3m Active James Michael Taylor Lauryl Blossom Thank you for listening. When we sang together all the troubles of our life were forgotten. I love when people who weren't around back then listen to us sing. Our harmonies were as beautiful to us as they were to our listeners.
Key - G
Texas Water might be the only trio besides The Browns to do this song in the later part of the twentieth century. By Jacque Brel via the Browns.
Here it is by There Browns:
https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+the+browns+three…
I wrote this one lonely afternoon in San Anselmo, California at my friend, Eric's house. Missing Peggy.
NIGHT TIME DREAMS
It's a long way to Texas. Further to Tennessee
I'm out here in California with nobody but me
So, I'm thinkin' about…
My daughter, Wyn, sings
a song I wrote in 1977
while I was doing a gig
at the Ramada Inn in
Laredo.
Harmonies are by her mother,
Barbara Anne Taylor and step
mother, Peggy Ann Mitchell.
The guitar solo and keys are
by my son, Rabyn…
After seeing a quick pick up at the Leather Ball Saloon in Dallas one 1974 evening. This is a song from the album, FEATHERS IN THE WING by Snow Geese/Barbara, Michael Jeffrey and me. 1976
(50 years later, I am stunned at the starkness of this…
The story our song that night (Songwriter night, Tuesday, at The Post, where we would divide up into groups and have a new song ready to perform in one hour) was about railroads and a girl from San Antone. When I got home I had the Tejas/Chaos…
The story our song that night (Songwriter night, Tuesday, at The Post)
was about railroads and a girl from San Antone. I had the Tejas/Chaos rhyme and when I rhymed "confetti" with Texas City, I had the local. Once I saw her on that shrimp boat it wrote itself.
The story our song that night (Songwriter night, Tuesday, at The Post, where we would divide up into groups and have a new song ready to perform in one hour) was about railroads and a girl from San Antone. When I got home I had the Tejas/Chaos…
SOMETHING ABOUT THE NIGHT TIME - no Capo or Capo @ 4
(Am)Something about the (Bm)night time makes me feel alive
Makes me want to sing a song. Think about my life
(C)Maybe light a (D)candle. I like lemon grass
(Am)Something about the (Bm…
LANCASTER STREET
Midnight in Cowtown. 90 degrees
Too hot for a blanket. Too hot for a sheet
The trash on the sidewalk is trying to sleep
Breathing the bus fumes on Lancaster Street
Sunshine brings tacos. Sunshine brings beans.
Sunshine…
Connie Pittman Ramsey
Jesus, James! Brilliant. Powerful. Heart-wrenching. Thank you. I had not heard this album!!! I will have to listen later, but thank you, thank you for sharing this one! We should be ashamed. I know I am.
I never sing this song the same two times in a row.
The lyric below is pretty close to how I sing it now.
Listening again, this is an awful version of this song...
I have my recording machine working again...I must redo this.
I PLAY C…
One day as I was turning into my driveway I saw Rita on her porch. She's a lot like me.
AL & RITA Capo @2 in C
C stepping down to F
Al was a smoker. He's dead now, of course
Al has Alzheimer's. Alcohol made it worse
D stepping down…
Randy Brown and I did a little co-write this evening and this is what we came up with...
I MISTOOK IT FOR THE MOON Capo @ 2 Key D (Play in C positions)
I was coasting across West Texas/Had my top down, it was late at night
I caught a coyote…
As for the song, you did a nice job of imagery and I wasn't sure what was really happening. I'm used to the stories being biographical and the "and then he died" threw me a little. I don't think it flows off the tongue like some of your others, but I like it. - Lee Snaples
Randy Brown and I did a little co-write this evening and this is what we came up with...
I MISTOOK IT FOR THE MOON Capo @ 2 Key D (Play in C positions)
I was coasting across West Texas/Had my top down, it was late at night
I caught a coyote…
I just listened to your ' I mistook it for the moon' I wanted to comment and lost the post so I'm commenting g here. You are such an amazing writer. Karen Lee
Randy Brown and I did a little co-write this evening and this is what we came up with...
I MISTOOK IT FOR THE MOON Capo @ 2 Key D (Play in C positions)
I was coasting across West Texas/Had my top down, it was late at night
I caught a coyote…
Randy Brown and I did a little co-write this evening and this is what we came up with...
I MISTOOK IT FOR THE MOON Capo @ 2 Key D (Play in C positions)
I was coasting across West Texas/Had my top down, it was late at night
I caught a coyote…
Randy Brown and I did a little co-write this evening and this is what we came up with...
I MISTOOK IT FOR THE MOON Capo @ 2 Key D (Play in C positions)
I was coasting across West Texas/Had my top down, it was late at night
I caught a coyote…
Thanks for the great comments. It would be fun to spend an evening playing music with you in one of those "Cow Town" bars.
You asked about my musical friends, we all live in the Minneapolis area, maybe within a 20 mile circle. Covid disrupted our activities a lot, and then we all seemed to have major disruptions in our life.
My mother, for example, was on hospice most of last year and passed away at 93 years last fall. We are all coming out of the fog now and trying to get back to music. Tomorrow, Mark Lofgren, and I are meeting at Colleen Dillon's house for an afternoon of writing songs. With any luck we'll be posting something on Alonetone this week.
I volunteer at Presbyterian Homes where my mother was and yesterday we had a little impromptu concert. I played guitar along with the Activity director and one of the memory care residents. Take a listen:
https://mnsongwriters.org/members/greg-connor/mediapress/special-events/rosiebrucegreg/
Let's hope we all get much more active writing and recording this winter.
Gwyn Henry said, "How random, Jim! What precipitated this sharing??? Don't get me wrong, it is very funny.
My reply, "This was about when Peggy, my fuck buddy for 29 years said no more for me. She was giving it to Doug. Not funny to me. So 15 years celebate."
I'M A STRANGER TO ME - capo @ 3 playing in C
I'm a stranger to me
I make the bed where I sleep
I cook the food that I eat
I fold the towel that dries
The tears in my eyes
I'm a stranger to me
I'm a stranger to me
Every morning we meet…
I randomly chose an old album to pick a song from to post and it turned out to be songs one year after Peggy left. I was at my lowest, loneliest, most unconsolable. STRANGER was a song that also spoke to me about my dad having lost my mom. to Gwyn Henry
THE ONLY THINGS
Any road that leads to somewhere
Any thought that comes to mind
Any sight on the horizon
Any friend that's left behind
Any meal that's ever eaten
Any quilt that's ever lined
Any concert that is set thru
Any document that…
"Somewhere between the stumbling and the falling..."
SOMEWHERE
G capo @ 2 - live @ 4
Somewhere between the summer and the winter
The leaves between the tree tops and the fall
Somewhere between my heart and circled letters
Somewhere…
It’s a small town. Woodlake, California. East side of the San Joaquin Valley. 14 miles from where all those “Lindsey” olives you see on your grocery store shelves come from. The Woodlake Echo, says, “In the foothills of the Sequoias”.
FOOTHILLS…
Scott - Thanks for the link. I love how descripted they were i never have smelled the orange blossoms but i bet they are heavenly.
Me -The first time it hit me, I was taking Kay Smart for a ride, top down just west of that bridge at Lemon cove. Nothing else like it.
Scott -
Enter
Scott
Scott Carson Ausburn
I bet ; ) Nothing like smell to jog your memories. I usta be in love with this girl named Belinda that lived up the street from my Grandmothers. We would go bicycle riding often. Her front yard had plum trees that smelled heavenly when the were in bloom. Now every time i smell a plum tree bloom it takes me back to the good times i had with Belinda and wondering what ever happened to her.
Me -So sweet. Peggy wore Sweet Honesty perfume. I’m sure if I met some girl with that I would be shaken.
Refuge into the imagination:
Is it crazy?
Is it survival?
Is desire to survive crazy?
THERE SHE WAS Key - G 102811
G
She'd been gone for three years now so he'd been on the road
Playing every truck stop bar and every song he…
I have a video called THE BROKE PIANO on line at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JON_poM_sdY
Ironically, it does not include this song.
Key D
D (figure is D D sus, D D sus)
I am a BROKE PIANO. Got no damper and no keys
G…
Gwyn Henry
I go farther and farther into my appreciation of you songwriting skills... lyrics poetic... ex Broke Piano.. The line that got me this time was "The only things that moves my strings is when somebody breathes" I once interviewed a popular musician in Tulsa, John D.Levan, in the late 70s. When I asked him where he got his ideas for songs, he laughed and said, "Heck, you just turn your head, and thre's a song!" Your line is saying the same, only more intensely... it's the inclusion of "human breath". goes even deeper.
I have a video called THE BROKE PIANO on line at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JON_poM_sdY
Ironically, it does not include this song.
Key D
D (figure is D D sus, D D sus)
I am a BROKE PIANO. Got no damper and no keys
G…
Gwyn Henry
That one would be my fav of all I have seen! They are all great, but my fav... will never forget you underneath that (was it a piano bed?) So many metaphors played into that... and don't we all just want to revert to childhood at times and go hide under the bed, take a crayon, etc.
jmt - You are broadening my vision of the video. Yes. Under the bed was always a place of mystery and imagined safety.
I have a video called THE BROKE PIANO on line at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JON_poM_sdY
Ironically, it does not include this song.
Key D
D (figure is D D sus, D D sus)
I am a BROKE PIANO. Got no damper and no keys
G…
Gwyn Henry
That one would be my fav of all I have seen! They are all great, but my fav... will never forget you underneath that (was it a piano bed?) So many metaphors played into that... and don't we all just want to revert to childhood at times and go hide uner the bed, take a crayon, etc.
key - C
I’m clinging to the memories as the world falls apart
The falling leaves, dead Everleys are pulling at my heart.
My quest for rationality, I can’t even start.
So, I’m clinging to the memories as the world falls apart
I’m clinging…
One day I was up on my ladder, cleaning the leaves out of the gutters when I realized why I was there, doing that.
YOUR VOICE
I hear your voice and I go get my ladder
I pull on my gloves. I climb up to the gutters
When the leaves gather…
Kat Angel
Wow! Through your words, I heard my mother, my father, my sisters and brother, my grandma and grandpa, myself talking to my husband, my best friend. I suppose we are all that predictable in time and in retrospect. You made me think and travel through time.
SOMETHING ABOUT THE NIGHT TIME - no Capo or Capo @ 4
(Am)Something about the (Bm)night time makes me feel alive
Makes me want to sing a song. Think about my life
(C)Maybe light a (D)candle. I like lemon grass
(Am)Something about the (Bm…
One day I was up on my ladder, cleaning the leaves out of the gutters when I realized why I was there, doing that.
YOUR VOICE
I hear your voice and I go get my ladder
I pull on my gloves. I climb up to the gutters
When the leaves gather…
One day I was up on my ladder, cleaning the leaves out of the gutters when I realized why I was there, doing that.
YOUR VOICE
I hear your voice and I go get my ladder
I pull on my gloves. I climb up to the gutters
When the leaves gather…
Belinda Stephens - Lovely, James. Who are you singing about?
James Michael Taylor
Belinda Stephens Specifically, Peggy. But we all have the voices of our parents and children and other loved ones that we live with.
One day I was up on my ladder, cleaning the leaves out of the gutters when I realized why I was there, doing that.
YOUR VOICE
I hear your voice and I go get my ladder
I pull on my gloves. I climb up to the gutters
When the leaves gather…
My motto is INWARD THRU THE FOG. One day about a month ago, Laura 'Taylor' Whitfield told me I should, "write that song." Thinking back on a fog-bound night in California, I wrote it. Norman Pilcher, a friend from Texas, and I were headed north…
Comments on James Michael Taylor's stuff
Robert White Thanks James! I just sang that song with you! Easy Tune to Learn "California 3"
OH MY GOSH!!! That's really special!!! Isabelle Massimo
You are one of the most beautiful people I know. I love your soul. She was an amazing person too, and, yes, had a beautiful voice. Like Reply3m Active James Michael Taylor Lauryl Blossom Thank you for listening. When we sang together all the troubles of our life were forgotten. I love when people who weren't around back then listen to us sing. Our harmonies were as beautiful to us as they were to our listeners.
Lane Beauvais That's great! I was pleasantly surprised by the stealth modulation at the end!
Leslie Young James Michael Taylor Beautiful. I love the ladies that sound like bells.
Leslie Young James Michael Taylor Beautiful
Deanie Hamilton Berry James Michael Taylor, that was great and you may be right.
Fabulous James - Keith Hass
The story our song that night (Songwriter night, Tuesday, at The Post) was about railroads and a girl from San Antone. I had the Tejas/Chaos rhyme and when I rhymed "confetti" with Texas City, I had the local. Once I saw her on that shrimp boat it wrote itself.
Classic! — Wade Jackson
Lovely piece James. Nicely done. — Wade Jackson
Connie Pittman Ramsey Jesus, James! Brilliant. Powerful. Heart-wrenching. Thank you. I had not heard this album!!! I will have to listen later, but thank you, thank you for sharing this one! We should be ashamed. I know I am.
Stefan Prigmore James Michael Taylor thank YOU for writing such a powerful song and for letting me sing it
https://www.facebook.com/richard.vannoy.77/videos/1278352819609892/ Violet's Al & Rita live...
As for the song, you did a nice job of imagery and I wasn't sure what was really happening. I'm used to the stories being biographical and the "and then he died" threw me a little. I don't think it flows off the tongue like some of your others, but I like it. - Lee Snaples
I just listened to your ' I mistook it for the moon' I wanted to comment and lost the post so I'm commenting g here. You are such an amazing writer. Karen Lee
Steve Satterwhite this. is. great.
hownice…really
Lazarus Knight I don't quite understand what happened, but that doesn't diminish my appreciation of this song.
Thanks for the great comments. It would be fun to spend an evening playing music with you in one of those "Cow Town" bars. You asked about my musical friends, we all live in the Minneapolis area, maybe within a 20 mile circle. Covid disrupted our activities a lot, and then we all seemed to have major disruptions in our life. My mother, for example, was on hospice most of last year and passed away at 93 years last fall. We are all coming out of the fog now and trying to get back to music. Tomorrow, Mark Lofgren, and I are meeting at Colleen Dillon's house for an afternoon of writing songs. With any luck we'll be posting something on Alonetone this week. I volunteer at Presbyterian Homes where my mother was and yesterday we had a little impromptu concert. I played guitar along with the Activity director and one of the memory care residents. Take a listen: https://mnsongwriters.org/members/greg-connor/mediapress/special-events/rosiebrucegreg/ Let's hope we all get much more active writing and recording this winter.
Comments made by James Michael Taylor
It would be cool to put the GHOST TOWN songs in a collection. A great subject with so much sadness... You really capture it here.
Gwyn Henry said, "How random, Jim! What precipitated this sharing??? Don't get me wrong, it is very funny. My reply, "This was about when Peggy, my fuck buddy for 29 years said no more for me. She was giving it to Doug. Not funny to me. So 15 years celebate."
I randomly chose an old album to pick a song from to post and it turned out to be songs one year after Peggy left. I was at my lowest, loneliest, most unconsolable. STRANGER was a song that also spoke to me about my dad having lost my mom. to Gwyn Henry
I also like These are the Only Times I Think of You... You are so prolific and so consistent in quality of work. Gwyn Henry
WoW! What an interesting counterpoint: slow recitation with snappy drum track.
Really snappy and tight. What an interesting lyric.
That pain is incredible and I understand it Alene Brandt
Scott - Thanks for the link. I love how descripted they were i never have smelled the orange blossoms but i bet they are heavenly. Me -The first time it hit me, I was taking Kay Smart for a ride, top down just west of that bridge at Lemon cove. Nothing else like it. Scott - Enter Scott Scott Carson Ausburn I bet ; ) Nothing like smell to jog your memories. I usta be in love with this girl named Belinda that lived up the street from my Grandmothers. We would go bicycle riding often. Her front yard had plum trees that smelled heavenly when the were in bloom. Now every time i smell a plum tree bloom it takes me back to the good times i had with Belinda and wondering what ever happened to her. Me -So sweet. Peggy wore Sweet Honesty perfume. I’m sure if I met some girl with that I would be shaken.
I sang this song at a Sunday night songwriter contest at The Playground in Fort Worth. No cigar.
Gwyn Henry I go farther and farther into my appreciation of you songwriting skills... lyrics poetic... ex Broke Piano.. The line that got me this time was "The only things that moves my strings is when somebody breathes" I once interviewed a popular musician in Tulsa, John D.Levan, in the late 70s. When I asked him where he got his ideas for songs, he laughed and said, "Heck, you just turn your head, and thre's a song!" Your line is saying the same, only more intensely... it's the inclusion of "human breath". goes even deeper.
Gwyn Henry That one would be my fav of all I have seen! They are all great, but my fav... will never forget you underneath that (was it a piano bed?) So many metaphors played into that... and don't we all just want to revert to childhood at times and go hide under the bed, take a crayon, etc. jmt - You are broadening my vision of the video. Yes. Under the bed was always a place of mystery and imagined safety.
Gwyn Henry That one would be my fav of all I have seen! They are all great, but my fav... will never forget you underneath that (was it a piano bed?) So many metaphors played into that... and don't we all just want to revert to childhood at times and go hide uner the bed, take a crayon, etc.
Bobby Huskins I like this a lot! Thanks for sharing.
Kat Angel Psychedelic sound. Felt like a brain massage.
Kat Angel Wow! Through your words, I heard my mother, my father, my sisters and brother, my grandma and grandpa, myself talking to my husband, my best friend. I suppose we are all that predictable in time and in retrospect. You made me think and travel through time.
Kat Angel James Michael Taylor great song. I love the melody and the words
Joseph Brunelle Haunting Sentimental heart on the sleeve and knot in the pine
Belinda Stephens - Lovely, James. Who are you singing about? James Michael Taylor Belinda Stephens Specifically, Peggy. But we all have the voices of our parents and children and other loved ones that we live with.
David Young Wow! Beautiful song! One of your best.
Leslie Young Evocative song.