The Winnowing Wind
I feel the wind blow thru me
Oh, please don't let it undo me
Let it level and true me
The Wind. The Winnowing Wind
And here I stand, alone, against the wind,
And, who am I to think that I
Can stand alone against the…
The Winnowing Wind
I feel the wind blow thru me
Oh, please don't let it undo me
Let it level and true me
The Wind. The Winnowing Wind
And here I stand, alone, against the wind,
And, who am I to think that I
Can stand alone against the…
FOR A PENNY
From the moment Toy saw the light
he was the center of attention.
In a room full of sunlight and 'Welcome,"
he was a new dimension.
Tiny traveler, arriving wet
Peggy hardly breaking a sweat
Toy was born in the middle of the…
TWO POUNDS - (Diethylstilbestrol Daughters)
"DES, which was once prescribed to prevent miscarriages, caused obesity, rare vaginal tumors, infertility, and testicular growths among those exposed in utero." http://www.motherjones.com/environment…
...after reading John Steinbeck's IN DUBIOUS BATTLE and watching the John Ford movie of GRAPES OF WRATH. The opening and closing statements are quotes from the Preacher in the movie.
A friend said he wanted to do a video of this track. I…
Tony Desmuke
I still think "In Dubious Battle" is one of the best songs that you wrote. If nothing else, the production was incredible. We still listen to it occasionally.
...after reading John Steinbeck's IN DUBIOUS BATTLE and watching the John Ford movie of GRAPES OF WRATH. The opening and closing statements are quotes from the Preacher in the movie.
A friend said he wanted to do a video of this track. I…
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…
LAMENT FOR WILD BILL in C - Capo @ 3
The moon shone like diamonds on mirrors in puddles shaped like horse's feet
Deadwood was quiet. The smoke had all settled. The blood was dry.
Young Jack McCall sat awake in his cell, alone and quiet…
One night I was singing Wild Bill at Fort Worth Live and there was so much talking that I stopped in the middle. No one had any idea what I had just done. The silence just meant, "Clap now."
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…
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.
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…
Just in time for St Patrick's Day . . . . And with any luck we might have a bonus "LIVE" Leprechaun track coming soon. The Minnesota Coffee table met and recorded a fun version last night.
________________________________________
I was…
We have a great bunch of singer/songwriters and their beloved here in Cowtown. You would love being here and you would be loved. Your little creative contingency feels like a more intimate group and more involved in projects together. It gives me the sense of warmth on a winter day in an old log cabin, too cold to go out so you all just make the best of it. I wonder what kind of treats you all bring. What kind of liquids you share... How far you travel to get together. We had what we call a house concert night before last at one of "our" houses. Levi Ray and his dad and husband/wife duo. We all put some money in the kitty and each played for about an hour. After, we always do a little song circle for the rest of us. Tamales, chips and salsa, ice water and wine, cheese cubes and cookies. I would guess many of us drive 15/20 miles. Starts about 7 and we get home about midnight. We also have a weekly, Wednesday evening song circle around a fire pit in the patio at a biker bar called Dirty Water. Everyone plays along. Girls and guys. Some of us go back many years.
If Texas Water had heard this when we were in our hayday (sic) we would have done this one up in three-part harmony. I'm sitting here singing along. Great song for a Fort Worth Saloon.
In 1984 George Sluizer, a Dutch director filmed RED DESERT PENITENTIARY in and around Sweetwater, Texas. This is the theme song of the lead character, Danny McMann. I played that role in the movie and wrote the music to the film.
Video at:https…
IF I WAS A LUTHERAN - capo @ 2 in C
If I was a Lutheran I might have married Dodie Harris
Learned hill-side irrigation and I'd have learned to weld
And all the city fathers would have slapped me on the shoulder
And all the city mothers wished…
I wrote this song after planting and fertalizing a crop of sudan grass just to have the sun shine down with no relief on it for 100 days and no rain. We, Texas Water, were heading home one night AFTER A GIG at Gringo's in Grapevine when the…
I wrote this song after planting and fertalizing a crop of sudan grass just to have the sun shine down with no relief on it for 100 days and no rain. We, Texas Water, were heading home one night AFTER A GIG at Gringo's in Grapevine when the…
Barabara's voice was perfect for your song, " Sweet Rain". Her voice reminds me of a cross between Linda Rondstat and an old friendgiel of mine.... Lazarus
I wrote this song after planting and fertalizing a crop of sudan grass just to have the sun shine down with no relief on it for 100 days and no rain. We, Texas Water, were heading home one night AFTER A GIG at Gringo's in Grapevine when the…
I wrote this song after planting and fertalizing a crop of sudan grass just to have the sun shine down with no relief on it for 100 days and no rain. We, Texas Water, were heading home one night AFTER A GIG at Gringo's in Grapevine when the…
Capo @ 2 in D (E) Dropped D tuning
Actually, it was almost two years. 1965-67.
Leavenworth, Kansas U S Army prison. I played the organ at the daily Protestant chapel. Took dictation and typed letters for the Protestant chaplain. Wrote 2-page…
That's the date I recorded it. My prison number was 41515. My army number was RA 19845014.
Enter
You sent
RA stood for Regular Army.
Enter
You sent
It interested me from the 1st that it started with 1984.
Capo @ 2 in D (E) Dropped D tuning
Actually, it was almost two years. 1965-67.
Leavenworth, Kansas U S Army prison. I played the organ at the daily Protestant chapel. Took dictation and typed letters for the Protestant chaplain. Wrote 2-page…
Hauntingly True
Prison is exactly like that.
Fantastic Song
Another #1 Hit
Enter
Kat
Love love love It!
Enter
Kat
Kat Angel
112814 .. was that ur of number?
Comments on James Michael Taylor's stuff
David Young We both loved it! Very beautiful!
Paul Smith Very cool
Listened and such a biographical song, really captured me. Rahim Quazi
Kat Angel Interesting song 🙂
Tony Desmuke I still think "In Dubious Battle" is one of the best songs that you wrote. If nothing else, the production was incredible. We still listen to it occasionally.
Tony Desmuke Definitely. One of your best.
There She Was definitely captures that longing that the imagination tries but fails to satisfy Lazarus
One night I was singing Wild Bill at Fort Worth Live and there was so much talking that I stopped in the middle. No one had any idea what I had just done. The silence just meant, "Clap now."
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
That pain is incredible and I understand it Alene Brandt
I love broccoli! In any form
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.
Comments made by James Michael Taylor
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.
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.
Lazarus Knight I don't quite understand what happened, but that doesn't diminish my appreciation of this song.
We have a great bunch of singer/songwriters and their beloved here in Cowtown. You would love being here and you would be loved. Your little creative contingency feels like a more intimate group and more involved in projects together. It gives me the sense of warmth on a winter day in an old log cabin, too cold to go out so you all just make the best of it. I wonder what kind of treats you all bring. What kind of liquids you share... How far you travel to get together. We had what we call a house concert night before last at one of "our" houses. Levi Ray and his dad and husband/wife duo. We all put some money in the kitty and each played for about an hour. After, we always do a little song circle for the rest of us. Tamales, chips and salsa, ice water and wine, cheese cubes and cookies. I would guess many of us drive 15/20 miles. Starts about 7 and we get home about midnight. We also have a weekly, Wednesday evening song circle around a fire pit in the patio at a biker bar called Dirty Water. Everyone plays along. Girls and guys. Some of us go back many years.
If Texas Water had heard this when we were in our hayday (sic) we would have done this one up in three-part harmony. I'm sitting here singing along. Great song for a Fort Worth Saloon.
Em LeFever Comedy so dry, you might forget to laugh.
Markolapogous Saurus I really like this.
Barbara White Lane Oh how I miss her voice.
Barabara's voice was perfect for your song, " Sweet Rain". Her voice reminds me of a cross between Linda Rondstat and an old friendgiel of mine.... Lazarus
Very rich and beautiful - Kat Angel
Tim Tandy Wonderful song on so many levels - the lyrics, melody, harmonies, instrumentals. Mighty fine.............and timely!
That's the date I recorded it. My prison number was 41515. My army number was RA 19845014. Enter You sent RA stood for Regular Army. Enter You sent It interested me from the 1st that it started with 1984.
Hauntingly True Prison is exactly like that. Fantastic Song Another #1 Hit Enter Kat Love love love It! Enter Kat Kat Angel 112814 .. was that ur of number?