EXTRA! James Taylor

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Life is for living. Let's partner for all of it. Learn more@edwardjones.com hi, I'm Jane Pauley and this is always Sunday morning featuring a memorable story from our most recent show is a conversation that offers insights beyond the broadcast and this episode a conversation with James Taylor day and I don't sit still very well so I need to have something to occupy me if I'm trying to concentrate on some work done or something before James Taylor can blame. I guess just like his own little fire in the wood stove in his studio in Lenox, Massachusetts, regular day that I grew up in the six fires his kids. James had a suburban childhood we were girls start five is sometimes you blowtorch fire going 71. James Taylor is as busy as ever. Whipple. Accordingly, we sort of set up in the space behind us, whether it's recording and producing his own albums list of songs that are on there was something about the actual thing of having an echo chamber or building his own. Here's the key. I think from an old shipping container. All all over hello Roger well his own creativity. Before long, my folks bought a piece of land down an audio only memoir out on bottom about his early days in North Carolina with parents or siblings kind of isolated out there as kids we seem to have hours of empty time fantasy could last all afternoon. I don't think I would've become a songwriter if I had not had all of those three days let my imagination James Taylor was 19 when he wrote Carolina in my mind during our trip to Spain where he met a girl named Karen something. The first verse came to me as the sun's parents so her son walk away and watch it so watch her watch the morning, I'll take care of me when music no I can't remember the timing of that song probably later that day I sat down hard for me to imagine separate music arrived simultaneously lately and certainly my songs are parked in the to be taken literally day they have points touchstones of reality. But then they very they have their own life to date.

They had off in the wrong direction song song he wrote during those very early years. How sweet baby Jane is source and an I have James Taylor and send along harmonies and sometimes I now realize I was close to my why such sessions and songwriter is a lot lot going on that's so proud of think it came out really well since 2920 I wrote the first both halves of it both versus behind the wheel normal bill in the first case, driving down Carolina after returning from London. Accordingly, for self driving south to see my family and with Carolina and see my my older brother's babies named after the baby James and I wanted to write a song that I could sing to cowboy lullabies is back in those days cowboys were and that's what you sort of gave a little so way and and then the second half is written. Driving on the Turnpike. It's boss looking at in that case I I become. Take a look at what's in front of the talk about music.

Spirituality becomes more costly starts being what it is. The thing about the song is is that it no I can't make any claims for it musically. It just came out the way it sounds. There's no directing that that those are like found items on the beach. You know those harmonic structures in the melody that fits with them like that on the beach but okay but sleep baby James is a very demanding rhyming scheme. It rhymes in about 10 different places as the song goes by. There was young cowboy loose on the range waiting for Summers pastors to change his horse and his cattle or zoning compatible companions who works in the saddle for cattle and he sleeps in the canyons for companions waiting for Summers pastors to change so it's each verse has so six internal rhymes and and and those those so I keep to those throughout the song which is sort of like a game of you know, like like a crossword puzzle going to college.

It would bring your junior year I I think you are probably got in a English 301 writing something that you got college mean for that for that song because while you while you work in college you went to London you sign with the Beatles you recorded an album Carolina on my mind is on that album you came back.

I write sweet baby James down and now it's it's huge. Only, there's the matter of the drug thing sure I'm a little concerned that you are on the road driving to North Carolina in probably had drug thing.

At that point and on to Stockbridge Boston, you probably shouldn't have been driving know that's probably true. I probably should've been driving but you know it's a matter taking the right drugs at the right time what what I know it's you know it's no truck drivers have been known to to to take drugs and their a lot of them up so it's just I feel much better. Thank you. Well you survive it.

You survived it all and my goodness to be to be a popstar rockstar yeah your 60s life these days.

I certainly never saw myself being sold. When I was the song call copper line repeats the line I'm only living till the end of the week and I think that when you're that age you're a combination of feeling like your mortal and you also feel as though you have no future. So I never saw certainly being this agent and still doing what I do at the sites that's remarkable to the teaches that life these days is changed his two oldest children and Sally are established as twins, Rufus and Henry the worst when Sunday morning last visited with the tailors. I now applying to college and he's been happily married to Kim for nearly 2 decades and I think you mean Kim makes a cameo on one of his ventures in progress.

I corralled her into singing on certain friends on top. She said little yes that's right that's really good really know why all this doctoral album is called American Standard collection of songs. He grew up and still love the rain pennies from heaven when you die is a big part of your family.

So I think my mom was so she loved music.

We had a record player family record collection that sounds very much like the one you grew up with and it was just always playing in the house.

We located whether album cover community album cover and in the liner notes in the lyric sheet.

We look at all that you lie on the floor on it, usually on the carpet look out the window look at the center listen to Tom where you look at the album cover and read about no read through a couple of times with them just gaze at the art.

Just listen to music imprinted permanently. Someone I know who I am married to his matter-of-fact made an observation about you that you know a lot of artists own their work from James Taylor song from James Taylor is a gift.

I just I think I I love that. But I think I know what he means there's a generosity and affability humility that says I've got this song now. Would you like to have it. There's it a guitar sitting so close to you when tempted to think that it is decor is fine. This one is the first of this type of guitar that I had and I've had it long enough now that it looks like something from the 1700s looks like a it was made in Venice. I once heard a tape of myself of a live concert that I gave it Syracuse and I sat there and tuned my guitar someone you know they nobody cut it out for some reason I sent them to my guitar from easily 10 minutes on the longer than any song I played. I just don't know how the audience could stand it no I this was in a hotel room and Minneapolis Minnesota when I went there to do a benefit to raise money to reintroduce the wolves to Yellowstone National Park, which has happened was it happened and I think they're they're still there doing pretty well conservation very well, but I came to town.

I checked in my hotel and a guy named James Olson had to left this guitar in my room and I picked it up and I've never put it down since you know James. Also, I do it for what purpose will it's not really tuned is the reason I was putting it down.

When a patient patient is slightly wider than the typical steel string guitar like Martin and it's it's easier for me to play but the tolerances are very close so it's it's it doesn't take a lot of strength or a lot of finger pad to push the push the strings that they know play baseline mostly with like the thumb is the (left-hand piano player in the and that the these three fingers of the of the right hand yeah I mean you know what, I don't think that there's anything unusual about it. There there was a guy named Merle Travis and he had a kind of a sort folk music kind of thing I learned that an some people do it with two fingers and the thumb but I just always did it with three and from that when I when I went to boarding school. I I discovered church music. No, because I had never came from a family of pretty staunch atheists and not atheists, but but very skeptical about organized religion and so I never had any introduction to it all and when I went away to school. We had chapel three times a week and on Sundays, you had to go to church and also and the nearest one was an Episcopal Church that had this great hymnal and I learned all the songs that that I found in the hymnal and that really I think gave me the basis of my when I learned to play. Oh,, Manuel or God rest you Merry gentlemen or you know whatever good King Wenceslaus or something like that than it in learning those it sort of laid down kind of a foundation for for Western Dusek.

I guess I was playing the Samson like Jerusalem know this.

You learn new songs and it teaches you a lot about cords you can get a better primer for Western music. Then the Protestant hymnal. It really is.

So it's all there was going to enter your musical development. It really was as easy as you know all early morning it was as easy as saying: awful lot. It's a song from a cartoon that we that we used to see kids we just want to marry Melody cartoon C on Saturday… And courtroom called Kitty cat college anyway was about these cats were going to college to learn how to swing and in the end it in the professors class and how to swing and this sadly this one Who has no rhythm at all.

You can't get it made to sit in the corner where the dunce cap while everyone goes out to Dan me sitting there and on his was stupid corner and that starts the fall of a clock like this and he gets the rhythm and he says got it now, and he splits and goes down. The trumpet blows everybody all the fall spray out on tour again.

Troubadour still loves what he does. So we see all long with you undeniably revitalize to have the audience react to it song that they came to hear you so some people love it. Other people are worn down for performing the tree Barry mar all my goodness, I want to tell you about our new shout. It's the trees near his podcast and each episode mean a weekly gastric and cover all the quirky find inspiring and informative stories that exist on the because, well, maybe you do too. From the newest interior design trend Barbie car to the right and wrong way to wash her armpit also working on getting the things that you just kind of wrongfully not able to do in daytime television. So watch out. Tristan is ever you get your podcast. It's a good news on the got