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
Great guitar sound. Nice mixture of keys and guitar. Nice when the low keys come in. I like the way you change the pace at points. Very the tempo.
Echos of some of my favorite Chopin passages. Just a lovely winding trail. Close my eyes and just drift along. Wonderful combining of guitar and keys...I'm repeating myself. Great change/refresh at 5:30.
Baby can you here the thunder tonite?
Baby can you here the rain coming down, down?
Lately Ive been dreaming of you lying next to me and I realise your gone
And I cant seem to find
A way to stop these tears, from bleeding out this heart of…
An instrumental based on the Arabian-major scale, which I got from Mike Chlasciak's "Exotic Blood" column in the Holiday 2013 issue of Guitar World magazine. Hope you like it.
Asthma is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. In other words, they don't know what's causing it. And haven't been able to come up with a cure either.
- to princess...
This is one of the many songs going round my head from when I was young. No idea whose version I heard and used to sing along to back then, but it was written by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey.
(EDIT: Done some research. It was Dottie West's…
Nice version of a great old song...
Alex Harvey is regarded as the writer around here. Saw him at the Rubaiyat in Dallas back in 1975. More recently , at the Blue Bird in Nashville. He just came in unannounced with his buddies and sort of took over the place. Tanya Tucker was 13 when she recorded this song and it was what made her famous until she got too into her Elvis thing. Then Married Glen Campbell and that went real bad.
Found this old track while backing up my hard drive. It is an alternate tracked played at a slower tempo. I added a quick drum track and ruff remix this morning.
What a funky track. Love it. Really summons Hendrix...
Oh, and while I'm here, what did you mean by, "Nice response to what Adelson is calling for," on FORESTS OF IRAN?
Asthma is thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. In other words, they don't know what's causing it. And haven't been able to come up with a cure either.
- to princess...
They discovered a planet that has no star
Maybe they'll let me name it whoever they are
I know all about a planet without a star
Oh, please let me name it.
I know all about it.
A planet. No orbit. Just lost out in space
No hope or habit…
~For whom who far away~
Also:
"The Red Cow tried to stop dancing but it was no good. "' I can't. It is the seventh day of dancing. And I can't eat. I can't sleep.'
"Hm - very strange." said the King. What does it feel like?"
"Funny…
Perpetual motion of things that will not stop even when we're no longer here. Strange feeling.
---
"Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?" Pointless, really... "Do the stars gaze back?" Now…
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
What a happy tune with just one little cloud. A great little sing along, "blue sky, clouds go by..."
Owie! No beating around the bush here.
Great guitar sound. Nice mixture of keys and guitar. Nice when the low keys come in. I like the way you change the pace at points. Very the tempo. Echos of some of my favorite Chopin passages. Just a lovely winding trail. Close my eyes and just drift along. Wonderful combining of guitar and keys...I'm repeating myself. Great change/refresh at 5:30.
I really like this. Wish you would mix the voice up in the mix. Really engaging groove. Great blend of sounds.
Love it. Immaculate.
I hear this with a cool bass line and choir. Maybe I download it and show you what I mean.
Nice version of a great old song... Alex Harvey is regarded as the writer around here. Saw him at the Rubaiyat in Dallas back in 1975. More recently , at the Blue Bird in Nashville. He just came in unannounced with his buddies and sort of took over the place. Tanya Tucker was 13 when she recorded this song and it was what made her famous until she got too into her Elvis thing. Then Married Glen Campbell and that went real bad.
What a funky track. Love it. Really summons Hendrix... Oh, and while I'm here, what did you mean by, "Nice response to what Adelson is calling for," on FORESTS OF IRAN?
Sweet. "We'll go on and on..." Like that...
Reading your preface and then listening to this piece has me much more aware of my breathing. Slow and deep. Grateful for health.
Cool song and some very impressive moves.
Love the laughter. The funky rawness.
Listening again. This really touches something, with the obvious undertones of the dark side of the moon...
That sound was me clicking my finger nail on one of my guitar strings with added reverb.
...the dark side of Venus.
I'd like to see video with this...
This suggests to me that the universe is a big merry-go-round...
Regarding THE BOOK: You nailed it. Siddhartha, indeed.
Cool song.
Very cool meter and combination of sounds.