James Michael Taylor

It was quiet today at the dog park.
It was hot.
Everybody found a shady spot…

THE CIRCLE OF NO REGRETS Key C

If my heart be broken let it be by beauty
If my tears be spoken let it be by music
If my silence must be ending let it be by laughing
If my love must say good-bye let it be in dying

If my pockets empty let it be by giving
If my back be breaking let it…read more

How many miles must Guillermo walk?
Before all my good intentions are more that just talk…
How many shoes must his toe wear thru?
How many miles must Guillermo walk?

Thursday afternoon and the bridge is a mess
No chance to pull over so I drive past
His hands are twisted. His gait, a…read more

Me life is different with me mother gone
She has left her son for the great beyond
At the end of the day I must carry on

Life be different with me father gone
When the sun goes down I feel so alone
With me children abed it be time for a song

Hey, Willy Wallikey, Hey, John Doogle
A…read more

Thirty one years in this city. Thirty one years on this street
Fighting in the morning. Fighting at night.
This place has the smell of defeat.
But, when we get to Colorado. When we get to Colorado…

That Bob is a genius. Everyone agrees
But Bob can’t thrive on dust and sneeze
Maybe a…read more

March March 24 COWTOWN 2018

THE BURDEN OF SANITY

As I turned on to Calhoun I could hear the music from the street
A dog piss on a speaker as I found myself a seat
Now, Buster is a caveman all hunched over his bones
Hair matted like a buffalo, like he’d never owned a comb

The years can kill your spirit. The years…read more

DOG PARK

Everybody meet me down at the DOG PARK
If you need me I’ll be down at the DOG PARK
Sunday afternoon and I’m bound for the DOG PARK

Everybody gets along at the DOG PARK
White and black and brown at the DOG PARK
Nobody’s looking down at the DOG PARK

I dream of a world where…read more

Some people have someone to hold them when they are lonely
Some people have someone to call their one and only
Some folks miss the boat, or get a boat that won’t float
Or get a goat that eats their grass
Some people have someone to call their one and only

Some people need someone when…read more

It’s about Fog…
The fog that crept into the window at the Fort Ord stockade back in 1965, when I would skip breakfast and sit in the barber chair and smell the ocean air.

When the leaves fill up the gutters
and the rains begin to fall
And the geese look down for shelter from the squall

And the puddles in the school yard
look like lakes from up on high
And the weaving of their feathers keeps them dry
I’ll be standing in the window by the mirror on the…read more

I’ll always remember what mama said
I’ll never forget what my mama said:
She said, “That’ll be the day when you say good bye
That’ll be the day when you make me cry,”

I’ll always remember what mama said:
“It’s so easy to fall in love
Baby, better take it easy when you’re fallin’ in love…read more

Jolanda
My favorite “biker”

CHAMELEON

She’s a chameleon. “Been there. Done that.”
She’s a chameleon, if you know my Ilene
She’s a chameleon

At first I that that we were twins in spirit
Everything I’d touched, she’d been near it
Shaking her head, “Yes, I know,”
at the end of every story…Woah!
She’s a chameleon…read more

UpSide Down

I think you’ll find a six is a nine when your world is upside down
And history is news to me every time I turn around
And everything is backwards n my mirror
Mmmmm

A lullaby just makes me cry when I sing it to myself
And who will buy that black crow pie when they find it…read more

Born with my left arm over my head, a big blood blister covered my left elbow. .I was extracted from my mother’s body with forceps. Seems that caused a tumor on my right temple which was surgically removed when II was about three. The purple elbow, I last remember being a consideration in junior…read more

Recorded at Texas Central with Pete Thompson turning the knobs. Pete also played the drums and bass. Thank you, Pete.

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…read more

I have always loved this poem by Robert Frost.

If you don’t like me, I understand
If you are tired of me, I understand
This won’t be the first time
It won’t be the last

Yes, you are sorry, I understand
Yes, you feel guilty. I understand
But don’t say, “I love you,”
as you walk out our door.

Dick Dale’s gonna die on stage
He’s gonna die in the middle of a song.
Dick Dale sings Johnnie Cash
He wales on his saxophone
Dick Dale’s doctor warns Dick Dale,
“If you keep it up you won’t last long.”
Dick Dale played surf music
at his doctor’s funeral.

IF I WAS A CATERPILLAR

If I was a caterpillar this is what I’d do
I would promise to get better, all on account of you
I have dreams of velvet wings of gold and purple hue
Change my robe and change my slippers all on account of you
I would dream of golden nectar
gathered for the few…read more

TREES

I love trees
Trees love me
Take my breath
every time I breathe

(Breathe it out
Breathe it in
Trees and me
are a mirrored twin)

© 2017 Royal T Music

IT’S HARD TO REMEMBER capo @ 5 in G
WHILE I’M TRYING TO FORGOT

G C G D G
It’s so hard to remember while I’m trying to forget

G D G C G

Darlin’, I’m sorry…read more

COLORS

Roses are red. Violets are blue
I could name a bunch of flowers and colors too
Roses are red. Tulips are too
But I could never name all the colors that look good on you

CHORUS
There was a time my world was black and white
Back when my heart was black and blue
I couldn…read more

SOMETHING ABOUT THE NIGHT TIME

Something about the night time makes me feel alive
Makes me want to sing a song. Think about my life
Maybe light a candle. I like lemon grass
Something about the night

There’s something about the night that makes me feel aware
Cars all tucked in the driveways…read more

I HATE GOODBYES September 8, 2017 Capo 2 IN D


I go in the back door. Never in the front

All of that attention is the last thing that I want

You know what I’m talking ‘bout the kisses and the hugs

Climbing on the furniture, tripping on the rugs

I get so distracted I can’t even…read more

GHOST TOWN   capo @ 2 in C

I live in a ghost town out on the edge of space
Everything is dusty, but everything is in it’s place
All the doors hang open and when it rains I shake
I live in a ghost town since you went away…

I live in a ghost town somewhere lost to time
Where everything…read more

SOMERTHING TO BELIEVE capo @ 2 in C

C
They’re rounding up the roosters down in Florida
F
Drowning all the snakes in New Orleans
G
The fires are chasing antelopes in Chyanne…read more

THE RAMP

They’re taking down the ramp next door at Rita’s
I’m no fool. I know what’s going on
Either she has died or she’s been taken to a home
where she will waste away

The boards are stacked up in the drive at Rita’s
I will help Al store them in the shed
I’ve been watching Al. He…read more

Pete Thompson at the controls
Texas Central
Today’s goodie…

LANCASTER STREET - Em
James Michael Taylor

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…

Not…read more

I’m so tired I think I’ll get in my car
and go down to Fred’s
Maybe Stefen will sing me a song…
I’m so tired I think I’ll get in my car…

Maybe I could be a potter
Throwing all the words away
Maybe I could learn the language of the clay

Maybe I could be a potter
Sweep the words out of the way
Let my fingers find the music in the clay

A song for Barbara and Jeff…

When love is late it doesn’t matter
It will flow back thru the cracks
Be it truth or idle chatter
Love shines sunshine on the facts
How many chapters in the story
Or how much time it spends
Be it tragedy or glory
It only matters how the story ends
A love…read more

I QUIT

Nobody has to put up with this shit
You can make your stand and tell the world, “I quit.”
You can do it with a gun. You can do it with a corvette
But nobody has to put up with this shit.

© 2017 Royal T Music

IRON

I’ve got iron for my anemia
A bucket trip to Tanzenia
I’ve got a picture of a lion with a bone
A transfusion in Monrovia
Red blood cells in Angolia
And I wonder if I’m going to make it home

Take a week off from my medicine
Doctor said, “Get back in bed, son.”

There are many suns
There are many moons
But there’s only one you.

Moon light lights the path
The planets do the math
All that’s left for me to do is you

I knew it from the moment that we met
You standing there. A scene I won’t forget.
My questions all were answered when we met…read more

DIGGIN’ A HOLE by Jeff Prince

Diggin’ a hole is a natural thing to do.
Out in Odessa digging for Texas crude.
Or up in the Klondike searching for buckets of
gold. There’s plenty a good reason for a man to
be diggin’ a hole.

Diggin’ a hole. Diggin’ a hole
No good reason I know I’m just…read more

Get outta my way, I’m headin’ on down this road
I’m on my way but I got no place to go
I’ve paid my dues. I just want my share
I’ve got the sun in my eyes
and the wind in my hair
But I got nobody

I’ve got no one to run to
No one to see
No one to run to
and no one to run to me…read more

NEW DAY Key A

In the morning when she gets me up
Pours some wake up in my coffee cup
She opens the window, lets the new day in

She says, “Open your heart and embrace it.
Take that frown and erase it.
I whistle a happy song…”
CHORUS

So, when the morning sun breaks thru the clouds…read more

Em
Well, some folks got big noses
Some folks got big ass
Some folks stand out in the aisle
Make it hard to pass
Am
Some folks got money
Em
They say, “That’s just how it goes.”
B7 A
They make it hard for folks like me
Am Em
To keep from steppin’ on some toes

Some folks got big old…read more

Nothin’ much.
Just the most dependable thing in our world.

When I was in college my room mate told me a STORY about a traveler who arrived at the gates of a city in a strange land. Seeing a beggar at the gate he gave him a coin and asked him a question: “What kind of people will I find in your city?” The beggar’s reply was to ask him what kind of people…read more

Rocka my brain. Rocka my soul
Rocka my body in a six foot hole
Don’t leave me here to face this night alone

Rock me in the evening. Rock me at night
Rock my body in the broad day light
But don’t leave me here to face my life alone

You took the key. You took the car
You took the map…read more

GRUMBLE RUMBLE

Grumble rumble goes the sky
Spitting water in my eye
Whhhhhhhhhhh goes the wind
Time to call the children in

That’s no rumble from the sky
Those are guns with barrels that glow
And the freezing water in my eye
It’s spraying from a water hose.

© 2016 Royal T Music

Always Young In My Dreams capo at 5

G      D           G     GbassG#

I’m always young in my dreams
Am AmbassG AmbassF# D
My horse is always Old Shane
Am D D#dim Em

So proud and strong as we canter along
Am D G
I’m always…read more

Howling At The Moon capo @ 1 in E

E E^ E
E A E A E
I pull on my jeans and tighten up my buckle
E^^ B7 B7^ B7
If I’m not crazy now, I will be soon
E A E A E
I close my fist. It whitens…read more

CATFISH FISHIN’
a song by my buddie,
Guthrie Kennard

Three days of rain
Mud between my toes
First day of sun
Cut me a cain pole

I’m goin’ catfish fishin’
I’m goin’ catfish fishin
Catfish I’m fishin
Catfish fish fishin’

Lilly Mae’s in the kitchen
Makin’ somethin’ outta nothin…read more

INFATUATION UNREQUITED

They say it’s just infatuation
I only wish that it was true
Infatuation unrequited
feels like love to me for you

And then they say, “Silence is golden,”
and I don’t know what to do
The Autumn leaves the branches holdin’
Feels like love to me for you

Feels…read more

Irish Potatoes

BAND - FOOTBALL SEASON

Well, it must be football season
The band is on the field
The music trembles in the tree tops
as it tumbles down the hill
It echoes off the black top
as the drummers do their drill
I feel your breath on my shoulder

There’s a bell hangs out the window
When the…read more

I KEEP MY RADIO ON

I keep my radio on
From sunset to dawn
Keeps the spooks at bay
Scares them all away
I keep my radio on

I guess some folks got no problems
Some folks got no regrets
Don’t know how they do it
I’m not there yet

…

I guess some folks got no demons
They never…read more

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
Take a little piece of my mind
Put a little…read more

PAPER BOAT

I’m a paper boat
Down the gutter I float

It’s not clear
who put me here…

ULTRA VIOLET

Maybe I could fill the tank
Head on down. What do you think?
I could be there in about three hours…

You could talk and I could listen
Walk you outta Depression Prison
Turn that thunder storm into an April Shower

We could trip across the pasture
Down to the lake…read more

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
One big question mark hiding in her eyes

I met…read more

My version of a song written by Guthrie Kennard

CATFISH FISHIN’

Three days of rain
Mud between my toes
First day of sun
Cut me a cain pole

I’m goin’ catfish fishin’
I’m goin’ catfish fishin
Catfish I’m fishin
Catfish fish fishin’

Lilly Mae’s in th kitchen
Makin’ somethin’ outta…read more

A PICTURE I CAN’T THROW AWAY Key C

            C         G            C

I have a picture I can’t throw away
C C+ F
A pretty girl with a smile on her face
F C walk down to Am
On the back it just says 1978
C…read more

BEANSPILLER

I’m a beanspiller
I’m a squeaky wheel
I’m the guy that speaks up
and ruins the deal
and when you get hurt
I say,“Ouch!”
I’m the change
you loose in your couch
I’m a leaky faucet
I’m a tree that weeps
I’m a tattle tale
I’m a canary that sleeps
I can see you coming
before…read more

It’s a small town event. 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

There’s a bend in the road
at the…read more

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 our day

Annie and Allan were taken for granted
They…read more

New song from GHOST OF JOHN MURPHY
from the POP GOES THE GHOST album

WHEN LAYLA COMES OVER

When Layla comes over everything stops
When Layla comes over I put on my socks
I put on my shoes. I put on my shirt.
When Layla comes over.

When Layla comes over she plays with my sister…read more

My favorite song by Jane Bowers
Sung by The Kingston Trio many years ago

WHEN I WAS YOUNG

When I was young and dreams were new,
I loved a girl who looked like you.
I saw her face in mountains stream.
I lingered there and lost myself in dreams.

But we were young and tossed away…read more

A Facebook Friend posted a picture of a
sign hanging on a tree that had the words
to the first verse. I couldn’t leave well
enough alone…I Googled the verse and
found it was written by Dallas Clayton.

MESSAGE ON A TREE

“She blew a kiss. It missed my face
It drifted into outer…read more

PRETTY GIRL

Pretty girl, pretty dress
Well, I must confess my heart is in a mess
Pretty girl

Some guys can walk up to a girl
Say, “Hey! I love you
They make it look like something
So easy to do

Pretty girl, pretty dress
Well, I must confess my heart is in a mess
Pretty girl…read more

ANNETTE

The creek’s a risin’ and my line is set
Gonna cash in on my catfish bet
My bobber’s a bouncin’ and I’m gonna get wet

She said she’d fix me dinner if I caught a fish
She might suspect that’s my favorite wish
So, I got myself a bucket and some bait and a net

A net, a net…read more

THIS OLD HOUSE Key C

     C           F               C  

This old house has a mushroom on the lawn
F C

This old house is a raincoat I put on
G C
This old house is just an old house since you’re gone…read more

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 say, “That’s just how it goes.”
B7…read more

HURRY

I’m not in a hurry
I’ve got all day to get there
You don’t have to worry
I learned my lesson out there

I spent all night in Utah
As I make Green River
The chains banged on the exhaust
Til she began to quiver
Asphyxiation creates a situation
Unconscious girl. Dead to the world…read more

My friend, George Sluizer was making a film with River Phoenix and asked me to submit some music to possibly be used in the movie. He didn’t end up sing this but he did use four other of my submissions.

© 2015 Royal T Music

You say, “I hope things are going well for you,” and Have a wonderful day.“ Could we just leave these kind of things out of our conversation? I don’t have wonderful days. I have days I stay distracted enough not to shake with the horror of growing old alone. Going well for me is sleeping until…read more

She broke all the rules

Had to love her.
Can’t recover.
Think I’m gonna tell my mother.

© 2015 Royal T Music

RONDA’S THEME

Ronda. Ronda.
In her faded blue jeans
with her guitar she sings
It’s just one of the things
about Ronda.

Ronda was a little girl
Just like you
Once upon a time
But now, but now
She’s RONDA

© 2015 Royal T Music

I doubled all the lines to help me and a friend learn the song.
There is a shortened version on down the page if you don’t want to have to hear every line repeated.

THE CIRCLE OF NO REGRETS
Capo @ 5 - played in C positions

C F G C G C
If your heart…read more

Girls aren’t like guitars.
They won’t just sit around waiting for you to come up with something interesting to do

Girls aren’t like guitars.
If you’re having problems maybe it’s because
Girls aren’t like guitars

© 2015 Royal T Music

WRITER’S BLOCK

I went out to the stockyards last night. I don’t get out much but I had an invite.
My buddy, Guthrie Kennard was playing.
The place was full. The band was tight. Whitney Raquel opened the night
And the kids from the 2500 Club were out in all their their colors

There was…read more

SNOW MAN

I’ll tell you right now
I don’t cry
You might mistake some sweat
for a teardrop in my eye
But, I don’t cry

In spite of what you might be thinking
I don’t get tired of humble pie
(That’s not a tear drop in my eye)
And don’t you think that I’ve been drinking
I’ll admit…read more

WATER

I was standing there just pumping gas and pissing on my tire
When I dropped my wallet. The situation’s dire
I got water on my wallet and water on my shoe
Standing there at half a tank wondering what to do

It’s kinda hard to zip it up when you’re bending down
The candy in my (coat…read more

THE CIRCLE OF NO REGRETS Key C

C F G C C G C
If your heart must be broken let it be by beauty
C F G C C G C
If thru tears you be spoken let it be by music
Am F C G C
If your silence…read more

IF

If your heart must be broken
let it be by beauty
If in tears you be soakin’
let it be by music
If your silence must be ended
let it be by laughter
If your love must say good-bye
let it be in death

If your pockets must be empty
let it be by giving
If your body be exhausted
let…read more

This is the extended version of the 35 second original…
Guitars and drums are so
helpful when one wants to express
despair and confusion
and despair.

ANY MORE

It was raining in the parking lot
We ran all the way to the door

That’s when you said,
“I love you but I don’t need you…read more

This is the original “song”.

ANY MORE

It was raining in the parking lot
We ran all the way to the door

That’s when you said,
“I love you but I don’t need you any more.”

Svetlana is on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/public/Svetlana-Lazareva

SVETLANA

Svetlana, the prettiest girl in the world
Flew in from Lithuania. Makes me go ho insania
What will I do now? What did I do before?

Svetlania has a video. And about a million photios
What will I do…read more

© 2015 Royal T Music