M E L I S S A Key of G
These are letters I like to say - M E L I S S A
These are notes I like to play……
Letters that sparkle. Notes that jingle
Make a little song in my heart
There’s a song in my heart today - M E L I S S A
I wish…
I took this bus trip from Forth Worth, Texas to Wheeling, West Virginia and on the way home I jumped off in Cincinnati and bought a ticket to Nashville... Lots of stuff happen when you are on a bus and in bus stations for over 60 hours.
Here…
There is nothing like the presence of a horse. The quiet understanding. The gentle strength.
Woodlake, California...1961. I had a horse. She was my friend.
There were times in my teens when Babe was the only being that did not judge me…
REMEMBERING BABE: I had NOT heard this one! I'm glad I insisted!!! Gotta be among the best of... my favs... I don't have to tell you, this is poetry. And your delivery... refreshingly original. In "stand up" readings, or "slam" poetry, there is a "style" of cadence that hearkens back to the Beats, and most poets fall into it, and it always annoyed the hell out of me. This is DRAMATIC ACTING, folks, c'mon! I
like the slow, unhurried, thoughtful way you spoke as the poem's Voice; how you mixed up the rhythm, unexpected hesitations, and rapid rushes. And esp the long pauses in unexpected places, as tho the Voice was thinking about the exact right word to use next to express what he wanted to say.
I've been trying to work on my delivery for my planned re-entry (after covid) into the local poetry reading community. It is terrible... isolation in quarantine can do that! So I've been practicing w/ video and putting music behind me for good measure.Anyway, I found some good tips here. Thank you. 🙂 I really love R.BABE The ending works really well, something that's sometimes difficult. Gwyn Henry
I wrote this at my dad's urging. He likes it. We sing it together. I have YouTube Video of it up.
EULOGY
He grew up in Clinton, Oklahoma
Red dirt back yard, Gramma's place
Honey suckle in a dust bowl
Life as hard as limestone lace…
".. you had me right off the bat--"Red Dirt" for me, classic Ok City area!; plus "honeysuckle dustbowl" (so beautiful) and "limestone lace" --each image is 2 completly different things contrasted to make a third. Lovely. Oklahoma evocative! " Gwyn Henry
(I Almost Washed the ) DISHES
I almost washed the dishes
I almost ran the water
Maybe tomorrow
Maybe Saturday
What does it matter to me
I almost washed the dishes..
(C) 2020 Royal T Music
NO NEW LOVE
Ain't no new love like an old love in this town
Ain't no new love like an old love to take and turn my heart around
Stop it on a dime when you said that you'd be mine
Ain't no new love like an old love in my heart
Ain't no…
I had forgotten what a damn fine album this is! But... ??? 2005? Really? OMG... has it really been that long? Kinda makes the line... "Ain't no fool like an old fool" fit me even better than it did... sigh
FIREFLIES. capo @ 2
F walk down
We (C) spoke of them as (C/B) sweethearts
There (Am) in the Southern (F) sky
(C) Saturn, just a (G) twinkle, bold (F) Jupiter near (G) by
I (Am) guess we didn't (Am/G) notice
as they (Am/F)drifted a…
Pete Thompson on percussion and Angie Thompson on bass. Produced with Pete 123112
HAIRCUT
They sent me a letter. A ticket to ride
Portland to Frisco on that Big Overnight
Brand new clothes. New pants and new shirt
Brand new boots to kick…
Sweet, sweet, sweet, (except for the war and killing part). My fav lines: "...with those sulfurous clicks/
Little red rolls with black spots of bang" Never described better! That's exactly what they were. Gwyn Henry
capo @ 3
Am walk down...
When I was a child we'd drive 200 miles
to Grandma's in the Spring
I'd hop out of the car, run to the back yard.
Grandma had a swing
But the times have changed...
When I became a dad I took all the rope I had…
CATTAILS AND BUTTERFLIES capo @ 4 in C
C G repeat
There was a field around the corner
And a stream flowed cross the field
There were cat tails in the summer time
And monarch butterflies
And tadpoles sprouting wings
E…
DIRTY LAUNDRY Key C
I got a call from Russell. He had to move his junk
He’d filled his car. He’d filled his trunk
Big black bags of something. I said, “What’s with these?”
He said, “It’s dirty laundry.” I said, “That’s crazy.”
So, he…
HOME
(Am D) or (F C)
VERSE 1.
Where the (G) windmill sings to the mocking bird
And the (CM7) prairie wind, without a word
(Am) Whispers thru tall (D) grass, I’ll be (G) home
(F C G) or (Am D)
VERSE 2.
Where the butter cups and…
HOME
(Am D) or (F C)
VERSE 1.
Where the (G) windmill sings to the mocking bird
And the (CM7) prairie wind, without a word
(Am) Whispers thru tall (D) grass, I’ll be (G) home
(F C G) or (Am D)
VERSE 2.
Where the butter cups and…
DIRTY LAUNDRY Key C
I got a call from Russell. He had to move his junk
He’d filled his car. He’d filled his trunk
Big black bags of something. I said, “What’s with these?”
He said, “It’s dirty laundry.” I said, “That’s crazy.”
So, he…
HOME
(Am D) or (F C)
VERSE 1.
Where the (G) windmill sings to the mocking bird
And the (CM7) prairie wind, without a word
(Am) Whispers thru tall (D) grass, I’ll be (G) home
(F C G) or (Am D)
VERSE 2.
Where the butter cups and…
"Mending the web that the horsefly tore..." .what a line..what an image... I love that...really love that image...delicate and hopefull....and magical... Matthew
I wrote this at my dad's urging. He likes it. We sing it together. I have YouTube Video of it up.
EULOGY
He grew up in Clinton, Oklahoma
Red dirt back yard, Gramma's place
Honey suckle in a dust bowl
Life as hard as limestone lace…
HOME
(Am D) or (F C)
VERSE 1.
Where the (G) windmill sings to the mocking bird
And the (CM7) prairie wind, without a word
(Am) Whispers thru tall (D) grass, I’ll be (G) home
(F C G) or (Am D)
VERSE 2.
Where the butter cups and…
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
I've heard a lot of your songs, but never this one that I can recall. Very powerful and touching lyrics. Ashley
😌🥰
Why did you puke? Sorry, in a song fully of details I guess I want another detail.
REMEMBERING BABE: I had NOT heard this one! I'm glad I insisted!!! Gotta be among the best of... my favs... I don't have to tell you, this is poetry. And your delivery... refreshingly original. In "stand up" readings, or "slam" poetry, there is a "style" of cadence that hearkens back to the Beats, and most poets fall into it, and it always annoyed the hell out of me. This is DRAMATIC ACTING, folks, c'mon! I like the slow, unhurried, thoughtful way you spoke as the poem's Voice; how you mixed up the rhythm, unexpected hesitations, and rapid rushes. And esp the long pauses in unexpected places, as tho the Voice was thinking about the exact right word to use next to express what he wanted to say. I've been trying to work on my delivery for my planned re-entry (after covid) into the local poetry reading community. It is terrible... isolation in quarantine can do that! So I've been practicing w/ video and putting music behind me for good measure.Anyway, I found some good tips here. Thank you. 🙂 I really love R.BABE The ending works really well, something that's sometimes difficult. Gwyn Henry
".. you had me right off the bat--"Red Dirt" for me, classic Ok City area!; plus "honeysuckle dustbowl" (so beautiful) and "limestone lace" --each image is 2 completly different things contrasted to make a third. Lovely. Oklahoma evocative! " Gwyn Henry
Love it. Always enjoy your work. Thank you.
I had forgotten what a damn fine album this is! But... ??? 2005? Really? OMG... has it really been that long? Kinda makes the line... "Ain't no fool like an old fool" fit me even better than it did... sigh
Beautiful - Laurie Calinan
Sweet, sweet, sweet, (except for the war and killing part). My fav lines: "...with those sulfurous clicks/ Little red rolls with black spots of bang" Never described better! That's exactly what they were. Gwyn Henry
beautiful, james
Yeah, cool track.
Beautiful - Laurie Callinan
Yep :)
I'll comment on this one :) ... mighty fine song.
Short and sweet!
Colleen Dillon (73.94.253.184) Love this entirely!
The harmonies on this are so awesome!
"Mending the web that the horsefly tore..." .what a line..what an image... I love that...really love that image...delicate and hopefull....and magical... Matthew
Beautiful beautiful song!! Kat Landrove
i like it, but i'd like to visualize a little more of this place. thanks, james for sharing these!!!
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?