EVERYTHING
Everything you know or think you know
Everything you know is wrong
Life ain't no hootenanny
and you don't have to sing along
You can laugh and you can mumble
You can hold your breath
Take a little piece of my heart now honey…
THE LESSON
I saw her in a music store in Fort Worth, Texas
I'd driven in to buy some strings
It was like getting hit by a little fist in my solar plexis
when she said, “Can you help me tune this thing?”
She had a smile. A thin disguise…
TESLA
Who invented remote control? TESLA
Who invented the fluorescent light? TESLA
Who invented the radio? TESLA
And who died alone and forgotten in 1943? TESLA
So, you say now, “Don’t be angry.”
And you say, “Just tell the story…
THE LESSON
I saw her in a music store in Fort Worth, Texas
I'd driven in to buy some strings
It was like getting hit by a little fist in my solar plexis
when she said, “Can you help me tune this thing?”
She had a smile. A thin disguise…
A PICTURE I CAN'T THROW AWAY Key C
Capo @ 4
(Yes. It's a true story. I changed it to 1st person. It was a friend of my brother, Joe's.)
This audio is missing. I will have to find it in the archives or re-record it some day…
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…
STEPPIN' ON SOME TOES Key - Em and E
Em
Well, some folks got big noses
Some folks got big hats
Some folks stand out in the aisle
Make it hard to pass
Am
Some folks they got money
Em
They…
WHERE
Where will I spend the rest of our life?
Where will I live our tomorrow
Our only hope springs from within your sorrow
And if I thot your pain could be bought
I'd start saving today for tomorrow
Where, where
Our only hope springs…
" ...and if I thought, your pain could be bought, I'd start saving today, for tomorrow." My Gawd, My Gawd! Who else but JMT could write such a great line!
This song is akin to REMEMBERING BABE. Another night to Keren's. Almost got caught by the cops. Saw 'em coming so Babe and I hid in the olive orchard until they turned off the spot light and left. THEN, I did what came to be called my Night Ride…
My favorite song by Jane Bowers
She was still alive back when I 1st learned
this song from the Kingston Trio.
I didn't know, back then, that I could have met her.
WHEN I WAS YOUNG by Jane Bowers
When I was young and dreams were new…
Sadly, Annie and Allan are now divorced...
The games are over...
Annie & Allan
Annie and Allan were having a problem
Made a decision to go their own ways
Annie and Allan made an announcement
Not even knowing how it saddened…
I was in Spain, in the Pyrenees, working on THE STONE RAFT. I was the only American, read, "English speaker." I was feeling very alone.
SOLITARY WALK Am
INTRO Am F Am F
Am (walking down) G F G
Tho I follow in the footprints of my friends…
Dear James, thanks for sharing this song that remains me the days we spent together in Pirineos, Spain. Congrats and big hugs from the Summertime at Madrid
The Fading Yellow Ribbon
There’s a fading yellow ribbon
around the oak tree in the yard
Each day they walk out to the mail box
but even walking’s getting hard
And they’re looking for a letter
that they fear will not arrive
It’s a letter…
Well you've made my eyes leak again. I keep listening to your songs and I keep leaking. I might have developed an allergy of some kind but I'll keep listening. Really touching.
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…
Returned today to listen, and so glad I did! It is a wonderful song. I like the timber of your vocals, too. There is a soft edge that serves the song so well because of its subject. I respond too, as an Okie, having lived for 40 years in Sapulpa and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fav lines might be, "Red dirt back yard, Gramma’s place
Honey suckle in a dust bowl
Life as hard as limestone lace
Remembering the red dirt...
Know these accents and sounds like the back of my hand... thanks for posting! --Gwyn Henry
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here's another song from 1994, with a sparkling new "Andrew Russe Band" arrangement fresh from the broom-cupboard.
Like most of my songs, it was written with an acoustic guitar, a pen, and an A4 pad. The ones…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here's another song from 1994, with a sparkling new "Andrew Russe Band" arrangement fresh from the broom-cupboard.
Like most of my songs, it was written with an acoustic guitar, a pen, and an A4 pad. The ones…
Hey, I was just describing the love of my life. The girl I write all those sad songs about...gone, 13 years now and she is still ever-present in my thoughts.
WHEN WE GET TO COLORADO
Capo @ 5 in C positions
C G
Thirty one years in this city
Thirty one yers on this street
Fighting in the morning
Fighting at night
This place has the smell of defeat…
Jim Lamb said, I just listened to James Michael James Michael Taylor’s song, Colorado... just a random selection of his music, I want to do a production of that song... I tell you what, Jeff Prince, you have one extraordinary songwriting friend there!!!
Jeff Prince said, Taylor is the songwriting king of the jungle around these parts
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here is the first reply to In Your Hands.
I say "first" because I've found another one, When I Try To Be Me, that Mrs R says I have to do too... but that's unlikely to be the next one I post because I'm working…
I'll try again. lost the comment. I said, I love the clean guitar and vocal. Why don't we ask more questions. We make such lousy assumptions. Sometimes e find out too late.
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here is the first reply to In Your Hands.
I say "first" because I've found another one, When I Try To Be Me, that Mrs R says I have to do too... but that's unlikely to be the next one I post because I'm working…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
Now here's a bit of an oldie - the second song I ever wrote. In... 1978!
I think I played it once, or maybe twice, at school assemblies. My musical peers and colleagues back then dismissed it as corny/rancid pop music…
Love is always a teeny bopper thing. You capture it here. I have learned never to dismiss a song just because someone dismiss it, too. I had no idea how beloved I PLAY C would become. And thank you for listening commenting on my Shorts.
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And this is the last of the little threesome of In Your Hands, Little Thing, and this one, When I Try To Be Me.
It's in the key of 4th fret and was written just over a month later than the other two, on 19th March…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here's another song from 1994, with a sparkling new "Andrew Russe Band" arrangement fresh from the broom-cupboard.
Like most of my songs, it was written with an acoustic guitar, a pen, and an A4 pad. The ones…
A track over twenty years in the making. I came up with it sitting in front of the TV with an unplugged borrowed Rickenbacker 360 (thanks, Mark). The Santana vibe just happened. I made a four track cassette recording of it just to get it down…
Originally recorded for my 2019 RPM Challenge album, "The Dark Side of the Moo." This is how I cry musically.
I added some verbs, an additional minor organ line, tweaked the bass, and remixed it on 09.05.20.
You know this story the apple tree, the snake.
it takes Hope and latin drums to kill a snake
don't leave home without your hand drum and you will thrive
BEAVERS AND WILLOWS
Capo @ 5 in C
FCG FC FCFG
F C G F C
Like beavers and willows
Bats and mosquitos
F) Toad C) frogs and F) flies (G
DA DA - E Am G C
Algae and oil spills
Shovels and coal hills
Black holes…
Guest (47.189.109.204) said Thursday I love that you don't hold back and anything goes. I never know what's going to jump out of that brain of yours! Love the arrangement, the harmonies and nature! Fun and short. I think I could have gone a little longer, but I'll just play it, awgain or put it on a loop if it will let me!! Write on!!! Thanks for the share!! Connie
BEAVERS AND WILLOWS
Capo @ 5 in C
FCG FC FCFG
F C G F C
Like beavers and willows
Bats and mosquitos
F) Toad C) frogs and F) flies (G
DA DA - E Am G C
Algae and oil spills
Shovels and coal hills
Black holes…
Andrew Russe (86.155.32.98) said Thursday Short but very sweet... These short ones encourage me to add all sorts of extra meaning myself as I'm listening. That's kinda what happens when we listen to songs anyway - no matter how much the lyrics are designed to lead us to certain conclusions or "points of view"... a song never really says what the songwriter thinks it says ... but these short ones encourage this "listener completes the song" process even more, they let my mind run free ... love it.
BEAVERS AND WILLOWS
Like beavers and willows
Bats and mosquitos
Toad frogs and flies
Like algae and oil spills
Shovels and coal hills
Black holes and light
(C) 2020 Royal T Music
Guest (47.189.109.204) said Thursday I love that you don't hold back and anything goes. I never know what's going to jump out of that brain of yours! Love the arrangement, the harmonies and nature! Fun and short. I think I could have gone a little longer, but I'll just play it, awgain or put it on a loop if it will let me!! Write on!!! Thanks for the share!!
BEAVERS AND WILLOWS
Capo @ 5 in C
FCG FC FCFG
F C G F C
Like beavers and willows
Bats and mosquitos
F) Toad C) frogs and F) flies (G
DA DA - E Am G C
Algae and oil spills
Shovels and coal hills
Black holes…
BEAVERS AND WILLOWS
Capo @ 5 in C
FCG FC FCFG
F C G F C
Like beavers and willows
Bats and mosquitos
F) Toad C) frogs and F) flies (G
DA DA - E Am G C
Algae and oil spills
Shovels and coal hills
Black holes…
Comments on James Michael Taylor's stuff
Love the melody and harmonies on this one! Good toe tapping this morning
Love your voice. What a great story.
LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE!!!!!!!!!
Enjoyed this story and the song. Thank you for uploading it!
Wow!
Great lyrics and imagery. Love this. Feels like an anthem!!
Love it Jim!
" ...and if I thought, your pain could be bought, I'd start saving today, for tomorrow." My Gawd, My Gawd! Who else but JMT could write such a great line!
Great song!
lovely....
very very nice !
Dear James, thanks for sharing this song that remains me the days we spent together in Pirineos, Spain. Congrats and big hugs from the Summertime at Madrid
Well that makes me happy.
Besides you that is.
Russ Emerick wondered, who is singing?
Well you've made my eyes leak again. I keep listening to your songs and I keep leaking. I might have developed an allergy of some kind but I'll keep listening. Really touching.
A great day-starter!
Full of drama, sounds like a movie track
That's the way it happened.
Returned today to listen, and so glad I did! It is a wonderful song. I like the timber of your vocals, too. There is a soft edge that serves the song so well because of its subject. I respond too, as an Okie, having lived for 40 years in Sapulpa and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fav lines might be, "Red dirt back yard, Gramma’s place Honey suckle in a dust bowl Life as hard as limestone lace Remembering the red dirt... Know these accents and sounds like the back of my hand... thanks for posting! --Gwyn Henry
Comments made by James Michael Taylor
Exactly!
Hey, I was just describing the love of my life. The girl I write all those sad songs about...gone, 13 years now and she is still ever-present in my thoughts.
Jim Lamb said, I just listened to James Michael James Michael Taylor’s song, Colorado... just a random selection of his music, I want to do a production of that song... I tell you what, Jeff Prince, you have one extraordinary songwriting friend there!!! Jeff Prince said, Taylor is the songwriting king of the jungle around these parts
I'll try again. lost the comment. I said, I love the clean guitar and vocal. Why don't we ask more questions. We make such lousy assumptions. Sometimes e find out too late.
Great clean guitar and vocal. How oblivious we can be. We make assumptions. Why don't we ask more questions?
Love is always a teeny bopper thing. You capture it here. I have learned never to dismiss a song just because someone dismiss it, too. I had no idea how beloved I PLAY C would become. And thank you for listening commenting on my Shorts.
"I want you to be happy I long for you to be free..." That scares me. It sounds like, "Goodbye." Love the clean guitar sound.
Love how you g from the simple to the huge...great guitars. And the lyric, so intense.
I kept expecting a vocalist...
You really capture the sadness...
Yousra Fouani Beautiful.
"Sweet." Deborah Andruscavage
"Insightful and beautiful." Rosemarie Kempton
I like this. I need to learn those chord changes.
LISTE!!
Guest (47.189.109.204) said Thursday I love that you don't hold back and anything goes. I never know what's going to jump out of that brain of yours! Love the arrangement, the harmonies and nature! Fun and short. I think I could have gone a little longer, but I'll just play it, awgain or put it on a loop if it will let me!! Write on!!! Thanks for the share!! Connie
Andrew Russe (86.155.32.98) said Thursday Short but very sweet... These short ones encourage me to add all sorts of extra meaning myself as I'm listening. That's kinda what happens when we listen to songs anyway - no matter how much the lyrics are designed to lead us to certain conclusions or "points of view"... a song never really says what the songwriter thinks it says ... but these short ones encourage this "listener completes the song" process even more, they let my mind run free ... love it.
Guest (47.189.109.204) said Thursday I love that you don't hold back and anything goes. I never know what's going to jump out of that brain of yours! Love the arrangement, the harmonies and nature! Fun and short. I think I could have gone a little longer, but I'll just play it, awgain or put it on a loop if it will let me!! Write on!!! Thanks for the share!!
Greg Connor (208.187.116.207) said Thursday Short and sweet! An impression of a thought to be completed by the listener, maybe.
Colleen Dillon (75.73.189.201) said Thursday Ahhhhhh! The great outdoors....