VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
I wrote this song with Lisa Aschmann. CAPO @ 3
Video - https://www.facebook.com/100001011201926/videos/1285714588695761/
HICKORY STIX
Dm Am
Billy Mac and Don McCray drive to work each dawn at six
Down the mountain to the factory, makes…
Tim Tandy
Hickory Stix has always captivated me. Dang, I gotta start getting out to open mics again. Might even get the chance to sing that high harmony on the "oohs!"
SLAUGHTER MOUNTAIN
My mom’s dad was a coal miner. Her mother died of TB when she was a kid. When she was twelve, her dad, dying of black lung, slit his throat with a butcher knife. That left her with a cripple little brother to take care of…
Peggy taught me an Eagles song toward the end off our life together. I think it was NEW BOY IN TOWN. (I had no idea what she was telling me.) I took the chord progression from that song and wrote this. Peggy said that was cheating.
WATERMELON…
OH JIMMY
capo @ 4 or 5 live
C Am F G
On page thirty of the yearbook he found a picture sweet
A girl named Marie Angel, in school right down the street
Dm walk down G
He didn’t notice…
Yes, it is obvious to anyone who actually listens to follow the story. The killer line ... the picture that finishes breaking what's left of the listener's heart is "but Jimmy bought the yearbook, and he hold it now and then". Lazarus Knight
capo @ 4 Am - 3/4 time (starts on A)
Am G Am G Am
Last night I said Good bye to Rose but long ago I learned.
The things that last we seldom know and think a bridge is burned.
Bb…
brush up on "Lest night I said goodbye to Rose" I know that's not exactly the title, but I think many people would like that song like I do. Lazareth Knight
OH JIMMY
capo @ 4 or 5 live
C Am F G
On page thirty of the yearbook he found a picture sweet
A girl named Marie Angel, in school right down the street
Dm walk down G
He didn’t notice…
SLAUGHTER MOUNTAIN
My mom’s dad was a coal miner. Her mother died of TB when she was a kid. When she was twelve, her dad, dying of black lung, slit his throat with a butcher knife. That left her with a cripple little brother to take care of…
COWTOWN
In a court yard down the alley
There's a grave yard, weeds and litter
Memories, undisturbed, await their doom
Beneath the glitter of COWTOWN
You take a building, old and crooked
Long ago the life forsook it
Paint it up and name…
I was talking about the Wight Hotel, directly across the street from The White Elephant. The things you mention were going on when The Beer Garden 1st took over that rat hole between the Elephant and the steak house.
Yeah, there's an "Indian" graveyard somewhere out there at the Stock Yards.
COWTOWN Key Em
Em C D Em
In a courtyard down the alley there’s a graveyard…
Tim Tandy
This one really grabs me, Jim. I enjoy the "play like" aspect of the Stockyards District today, but I KNOW what was real and what wasn't. When I grew up in East Fort Worth in the 50's thru the 70's, the Stockyards were a working affair. Everyone downwind got the dust and rancid odors that were a mixture of cattle manure, blood and guts, and rendered fat. Get up close, and you added in the panicked sounds of cattle going up the ramps to slaughter. The buildings along E and W Exchange were mostly delapidated flop-houses, and I recall there were usually destitute men in soiled undershirts leaning out the upstairs windows smoking cigarettes and taking it all in. When the slaughterhouses shut down and the development folks took over, they neatly "packed up" the ambience of the historical "Hell's Half Acre" - gambling halls, saloons, cheap hotels, bordello's and the site of gunfights such as the famous Luke Short/Jim Courtright affair - which had been razed in the 60's and replaced with the Water Gardens and Convention Center as an act of "urban renewal", and "relocated" them to the Stockyards. I really don't object to all of it, but just wish they were a bit more open about what's shit and what's Shinola, ya know? All the tourists crowd E Exhange at the appointed hour and hoot and holler and excitedly REAL Wild West every day when the "cattle drive" occurs. Oh, well, as Bruce Willis' character in "Die Hard" liked to say, "Yippi-ki-yay, MF!"
was a Texan.
Quannah Parker was the son born to Cynthia Parker, a white girl, stolen by Comanche raiders who grew up to be the wife of the chief. Quannah, in turn became the leader of his tribe. Eventually, Cynthia returned to her people. This…
Quanah is my fav. it triggered feelings between my son and me, the question of when are you enough to claim your ancestors? Tears did flow on listening.Beautifully performed by Barbara and beautifully written.
When this happened I couldn't get home before I had the song half written. What a lonely feeling.
NOBODY KNOW ME IN TOWN ANY MORE Key of G
G Em
There’s a bird in the gutter that…
Sad, and that was 11 years ago. How does it feel now ... like more of the same? It seems to me like your not just accepted but held in high esteem at the places where I've seen you perform. Lazarus Knight
Gramma's Shampoo
Gramma's shampoo is washing my hair
And I hope it will notice that gramma's not there
It's the kind that knows just what to do
Says it right there on the bottle, shampoo
"Automatically adjusts to your hair's cleansing needs…
This little miracle is a performance art piece, in addition to being a song track on an album. I can see this as an interlude in a dramatic stage play. Highly creative and outside the box here. And those harmonies are so tight you couldn't get a sliver between them! Amazling!
The lyrics of this song,
as they pertain to plot,
are my exact memory of the event.
I had spoken to the kid maybe a minute before the "action" started about how the pressure of the water was very strong. He was nestled down with his back…
Terry Rasor
I remember those daze Michael, y’all were awesome and I’m glad and proud to have known you all and have you at my Raz On The Braz festival so many years ago! Love ya my friend!
Roland Brown
Sorry to hear about Barbara. Texas Water was as good as you say. I’m thinking about adding “I’ll Be Glad to Let You Love Me” to our band’s set list.
One of the beautiful things about artists and songwriting is taking “fact & fiction”, and whipping them together in ways outsiders usually don’t know which is which or possibly nothing at all. This is something I’ve always admired regarding your craft!
- Scotty Lee Shuffield…Tyler, TX.
THE DUST ON THE PIANO
Capo at 2 in Dm
Dm C (2) or Em D
He used to play piano because it made her smile
Dm C (2)
She could be in any room. He'd sit and play a while
F C Bb (G)Dm or G D C Em
He didn't need to see her. He knew she loved…
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…
"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…
Sequoia Memories...Capo @ 5
C
Off the coast of California
Where the dolphins ride the waves
We stood and watched them from the cliffs above
Until the sunlight went away
Then we slept in ancient shadows
Underneath the redwood trees…
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https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
Dene Colwill
You are truly one of the greatest song writers of this decade. Right there with Paul Simon and Gordon Lightfoot in my opinion. All I can say off that sadness and anger is still strong pray to God for peace as only he holds the way to you being able to let b it go. You can't change other people or events that have happened, but you can learn to forgive and change how YOU react to them. If you ever feel nobody cares or will listen, call me. I'll find time and make the time to meet with you or listen over the phone. Don't let depression or anger beat you down for too long old friend.
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Reply2h
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James Michael Taylor
I write songs to explain my situation to myself. Considering it all I might just be the happiest person I know.
"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…
Lazarus Knight
Sometimes you post a song with a link that brings up an album. I don't always listen to the full album because of the rush of life. But I'm trying to remember one of the very recent ones ... I think it (the song)_ was called "Sometime". It is so beautifully poetic and the feeling is passed along so gracefully. It is truly an expression of sweet sorrow, or more accurately, a sweet expression of the numbing pain of loss. It is the thing that my story songs just don't quite do. Lazarus Knight
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
"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…
Tim Tandy
The mood of this song reminds me of John Denver's "Perhaps Love." He explained that he wrote it when he was no longer in a relationship but that, while there was sorrow and pain, there was also the beautiful memory of love to see him through. You've captured the bittersweetness -so different from melancholy - of the best haiku poems.
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
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…
"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…
Jere Reiser
Beautiful and Haunting.
It is not we, who summon ghosts from the past. Rather it is we who haunt our past. It's like going back to the present.
In some instances, I suffer from being the perpetrator and can't avoid picking at the scab.
But that's just me.
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
"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…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
VIDEO - https://www.facebook.com/100001468692811/videos/1120270078888215/
https://www.facebook.com/true.taylor.3/videos/397153049918748
GHOST TOWN capo @ 2 in C
C Em F G C
I…
Years ago I was riding around on the raggedy motorcycle I had at the time and spotted this girl in a Chevy pickup at the Dairy Queen. She was cute and I pulled in. We talked and laughed and seemed to get along well. Through the years I'd run…
Comments on James Michael Taylor's stuff
David Young Very sad song but your lyrics are wonderfully written, as always. You are a musical treasure!
Kat Angel Heartfelt and beautiful.
Leslie Young Sad song.
Bruce Balmer I like the parallel sixths in the backing vocals.
Tim Tandy Hickory Stix has always captivated me. Dang, I gotta start getting out to open mics again. Might even get the chance to sing that high harmony on the "oohs!"
Rose Jeffus - I agree. (with Lane. "I declare this album your #1 compilation."
Watermelon Wind is a good one too. Really inspiring images Lazarus Knight
Yes, it is obvious to anyone who actually listens to follow the story. The killer line ... the picture that finishes breaking what's left of the listener's heart is "but Jimmy bought the yearbook, and he hold it now and then". Lazarus Knight
brush up on "Lest night I said goodbye to Rose" I know that's not exactly the title, but I think many people would like that song like I do. Lazareth Knight
Oh Jimmy rings of a certain kind of pain that you've captured perfectly. Lazarath Knight.
Lane Beauvais By the power invested in me, I declare this album your #1 compilation.
I was talking about the Wight Hotel, directly across the street from The White Elephant. The things you mention were going on when The Beer Garden 1st took over that rat hole between the Elephant and the steak house.
Tim Tandy This one really grabs me, Jim. I enjoy the "play like" aspect of the Stockyards District today, but I KNOW what was real and what wasn't. When I grew up in East Fort Worth in the 50's thru the 70's, the Stockyards were a working affair. Everyone downwind got the dust and rancid odors that were a mixture of cattle manure, blood and guts, and rendered fat. Get up close, and you added in the panicked sounds of cattle going up the ramps to slaughter. The buildings along E and W Exchange were mostly delapidated flop-houses, and I recall there were usually destitute men in soiled undershirts leaning out the upstairs windows smoking cigarettes and taking it all in. When the slaughterhouses shut down and the development folks took over, they neatly "packed up" the ambience of the historical "Hell's Half Acre" - gambling halls, saloons, cheap hotels, bordello's and the site of gunfights such as the famous Luke Short/Jim Courtright affair - which had been razed in the 60's and replaced with the Water Gardens and Convention Center as an act of "urban renewal", and "relocated" them to the Stockyards. I really don't object to all of it, but just wish they were a bit more open about what's shit and what's Shinola, ya know? All the tourists crowd E Exhange at the appointed hour and hoot and holler and excitedly REAL Wild West every day when the "cattle drive" occurs. Oh, well, as Bruce Willis' character in "Die Hard" liked to say, "Yippi-ki-yay, MF!"
Quanah is my fav. it triggered feelings between my son and me, the question of when are you enough to claim your ancestors? Tears did flow on listening.Beautifully performed by Barbara and beautifully written.
Sad, and that was 11 years ago. How does it feel now ... like more of the same? It seems to me like your not just accepted but held in high esteem at the places where I've seen you perform. Lazarus Knight
This little miracle is a performance art piece, in addition to being a song track on an album. I can see this as an interlude in a dramatic stage play. Highly creative and outside the box here. And those harmonies are so tight you couldn't get a sliver between them! Amazling!
Terry Rasor I remember those daze Michael, y’all were awesome and I’m glad and proud to have known you all and have you at my Raz On The Braz festival so many years ago! Love ya my friend!
Roland Brown Sorry to hear about Barbara. Texas Water was as good as you say. I’m thinking about adding “I’ll Be Glad to Let You Love Me” to our band’s set list.
One of the beautiful things about artists and songwriting is taking “fact & fiction”, and whipping them together in ways outsiders usually don’t know which is which or possibly nothing at all. This is something I’ve always admired regarding your craft! - Scotty Lee Shuffield…Tyler, TX.
Joe Brunelle - I like this, Jim
Comments made by James Michael Taylor
David Young Wow! Beautiful song! One of your best.
Leslie Young Evocative song.
John R. Thielges I think you bring poetry to grief; in an unique way. "Help" and hickory sticks. Thank you.
Raechel Frice James Michael Taylor the story telling aspect of your songs/lyrics remind me of John Denver. This is meant as a compliment.
Paul Smith James Michael Taylor I freaking love your music.
Randy Brown I think everyone was hesitant to encourage the final solution. I love the melody and the sadness of the lyrics.
Dene Colwill You are truly one of the greatest song writers of this decade. Right there with Paul Simon and Gordon Lightfoot in my opinion. All I can say off that sadness and anger is still strong pray to God for peace as only he holds the way to you being able to let b it go. You can't change other people or events that have happened, but you can learn to forgive and change how YOU react to them. If you ever feel nobody cares or will listen, call me. I'll find time and make the time to meet with you or listen over the phone. Don't let depression or anger beat you down for too long old friend. Like Reply2h Active James Michael Taylor I write songs to explain my situation to myself. Considering it all I might just be the happiest person I know.
Lazarus Knight Sometimes you post a song with a link that brings up an album. I don't always listen to the full album because of the rush of life. But I'm trying to remember one of the very recent ones ... I think it (the song)_ was called "Sometime". It is so beautifully poetic and the feeling is passed along so gracefully. It is truly an expression of sweet sorrow, or more accurately, a sweet expression of the numbing pain of loss. It is the thing that my story songs just don't quite do. Lazarus Knight
Brian Gagnon I fought this feeling by staying angry. 30+ years later, I'm still angry.
Tim Tandy The mood of this song reminds me of John Denver's "Perhaps Love." He explained that he wrote it when he was no longer in a relationship but that, while there was sorrow and pain, there was also the beautiful memory of love to see him through. You've captured the bittersweetness -so different from melancholy - of the best haiku poems.
Tim Tandy Whew.............
Haunting. A different take on driving a dark desert highway, cool wind in your hair....Tim Tandy
Jere Reiser Beautiful and Haunting. It is not we, who summon ghosts from the past. Rather it is we who haunt our past. It's like going back to the present. In some instances, I suffer from being the perpetrator and can't avoid picking at the scab. But that's just me.
Ken Gaines Well, my friend, I'm glad you haven't ridden that bullet yet. Meanwhile, I miss swapping songs with you.
I dig it - Raechel Frice
David Young Very sad song but your lyrics are wonderfully written, as always. You are a musical treasure!
Kat Angel Heartfelt and beautiful.
Leslie Young Sad song.
This sounds like more verses to Hey, Regina...
What a sweet song. That guitar figure really catches the time...