After reading the book: The Immortal Life of Henryetta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Google HeLa cells and you'll get the whole story. The most famous cell line EVER.
RUN HeLa RUN
Her name was Henryetta Lacks but she never knew
Her family finally…
I love the way you have made this true story into a song.
Straight to the point lyrics with tremendous backing vocals.
It's a very strong and determined sounding track.
HAPPY
Happy is the anvil as the hammer strikes the blade
A fleeting spark that fades out as the memory is made
Happy is the spark when the hammer strikes the steel
Before the spit has sizzled into a vapor trail
And happy is the planner…
HAPPY
Happy is the anvil as the hammer strikes the blade
A fleeting spark that fades out as the memory is made
Happy is the spark when the hammer strikes the steel
Before the spit has sizzled into a vapor trail
And happy is the planner…
One night after three month of no rain, as we were driving home from singing at Gringos in Grapevine a splash of water hit the windshield.
I said to myself, "Sweet Rain."
I went home and wrote the song. It's on the soundtrack of a movie called…
So in 1951 you lived in the desert just around the corner from where I grew up , except I wasn't there until 1953 at the ripe and smelly age of 1.I think I was considering buying a house out in the same patch of desert you grew up in. Your Dad might of known a Bob Dollins, he worked at Northrop for a short while . What year did you depart?
In 1951 I was eight years old but it's all like yesterday. The tumbleweeds and the horny toads. Flying kites so far into the desert air that I couldn't see them.
Palmdale, California, 1951
Pretty yellow chickens hating in the sun
Fertilizer…
Small world indeed. In 1953 I was 1 and we lived on the base. In old pics the housing were those Quansot Huts. Hell, if you lived out there at 8 years no wonder you got that dreamy like recollection. It be like living on the Moon, had barren can it get, and the bright sun beating down cooking that desert, sonic booms rattleing windows. I know, I don't know when they stop doing it but I remember as far back as 1964 of our classrooms windows rattling and that 's in Palmdale. They test artilliary as well out at EAB. Fortunately I was only 1 year old back then and i was shielded from the sun by my moma's breast and taken out there before I could develope a memory.Funny thing in early '54 my folks moved just off the south end of 15th. I still live close to it. There is no hope for Peace on Earth as long as militaries stand armed and ready.
You captured the mood! Good integration of song voice and guitar. It was warm & tender despite the hard cold reality the song spoke of. Imaginitive lyrics that mixed well with the sweet simplicity of the music.
In 1951 I was eight years old but it's all like yesterday. The tumbleweeds and the horny toads. Flying kites so far into the desert air that I couldn't see them.
Palmdale, California, 1951
Pretty yellow chickens hating in the sun
Fertilizer…
Another Palmdale resident. The horny toads you don't see to much anymore but he tumbleweeds and the wind are still here so kite flying is still around. Hey ,you forgot the rattlesnakes. I don't remember it being so dreamy though. Your song is different and somewhat interesting but I wouldn't vote for it to be the official Palmdale song. I arrived in Palmdale in 1953, maybe that's what it is.
The Cindy I mention in this song is Cindy Sheehan. This was before out trip to Crawford. The rest is pretty self-explained.
HEROS
No, I ain't no hero, I'm just trying to survive
Me and Cindy, just staying alive.
Got a hurt in our heart and…
The Cindy I mention in this song is Cindy Sheehan. This was before out trip to Crawford. The rest is pretty self-explained.
HEROS
No, I ain't no hero, I'm just trying to survive
Me and Cindy, just staying alive.
Got a hurt in our heart and…
In 1951 I was eight years old but it's all like yesterday. The tumbleweeds and the horny toads. Flying kites so far into the desert air that I couldn't see them.
Palmdale, California, 1951
Pretty yellow chickens hating in the sun
Fertilizer…
Sometimes it might be best not to even think about what terrible things might happen. It might be part of setting those very terrible things in motion. How can one know?
I can't remember her name. I saw her at Kerrville back in 2005. A little blond that always wore a leather cowboy had, played keys and wrote music for movies. (Someone remind me.)
COULD SHE KNOW
Could she know I think about her
Thinking…
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…
CHERRY LAUREL - James Michael Taylor - 081111
Dm C B A
There’s nothing quite so slow to grow as a cherry laurel tree
A fingerling beneath an old oak canopy
Presented as a volunteer, that creek bank west of town
One hundred yards from our…
Something of Neil Young for sure, some essence of David Crosby. And that refrain does sound spookily like you got Graham Nash in the studio with you. Nice.
Today I got an email about a lyric contest and the title had to be I WONDER...so I wrote this!
I WONDER by James Michael Taylor
I wonder, I wonder out loud
Why I wander under a cloud
A cloud with it's rain
It's lightning and pain…
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…
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…
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
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
Comments on James Michael Taylor's stuff
I love the way you have made this true story into a song. Straight to the point lyrics with tremendous backing vocals. It's a very strong and determined sounding track.
Wow, JM! Grrreat harmonies, and a master class in lyrics.
nice job... its a snapshot in a snapshot.
So in 1951 you lived in the desert just around the corner from where I grew up , except I wasn't there until 1953 at the ripe and smelly age of 1.I think I was considering buying a house out in the same patch of desert you grew up in. Your Dad might of known a Bob Dollins, he worked at Northrop for a short while . What year did you depart?
These songs with the choir are cool. Are these friends , sounds like you got a regular choir doing back up
Small world indeed. In 1953 I was 1 and we lived on the base. In old pics the housing were those Quansot Huts. Hell, if you lived out there at 8 years no wonder you got that dreamy like recollection. It be like living on the Moon, had barren can it get, and the bright sun beating down cooking that desert, sonic booms rattleing windows. I know, I don't know when they stop doing it but I remember as far back as 1964 of our classrooms windows rattling and that 's in Palmdale. They test artilliary as well out at EAB. Fortunately I was only 1 year old back then and i was shielded from the sun by my moma's breast and taken out there before I could develope a memory.Funny thing in early '54 my folks moved just off the south end of 15th. I still live close to it. There is no hope for Peace on Earth as long as militaries stand armed and ready.
You captured the mood! Good integration of song voice and guitar. It was warm & tender despite the hard cold reality the song spoke of. Imaginitive lyrics that mixed well with the sweet simplicity of the music.
Another Palmdale resident. The horny toads you don't see to much anymore but he tumbleweeds and the wind are still here so kite flying is still around. Hey ,you forgot the rattlesnakes. I don't remember it being so dreamy though. Your song is different and somewhat interesting but I wouldn't vote for it to be the official Palmdale song. I arrived in Palmdale in 1953, maybe that's what it is.
Nice percussion. Strong message!
Most excellent lyrics! I admire those who will stand up and be counted! Great song!
LOL as they say
Wistful though not wishful. The drum is very effective. Doubling the tempo for the spoken parts - excellent!
Your speaking voice is really believable. I like that! Sounds great! A most clever song JM Who's your friend?
Yeah, sure you would! Oh, love it! What a cracking good song.
Yep.
Great fun!
Ah now, yes lovely lyrics! Oh, I knew I had heard part of it before, well, I love the expanded version. (smiley face)
Something of Neil Young for sure, some essence of David Crosby. And that refrain does sound spookily like you got Graham Nash in the studio with you. Nice.
Some classy changes in this, and a really nice lyric.
Raw and gritty and very good
Comments made by James Michael Taylor
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....
kavin. (174.197.77.120) said 2 hours ago You’re a master at layering those vocals man
kavin. (174.197.77.120) said 2 hours ago You’re a master at layering those vocals man