James Taylor: “When you’re 20, you’ve just been issued the equipment you’re going to be using for a whole lifetime—the body, the mind, the skills, the talents, the appetites…” It’s also when you face the awful truth about this life: Something’s Wrong.
Continue reading...James Taylor
181: Linda Ronstadt & J.D. Souther, ‘Faithless Love’
Why did J.D. get the eye-conic cover girl and not me? Why, oh why?
Continue reading...139: The Swingle Singers, ‘On the 4th of July’ (James Taylor)
This week we talk about the United States’ bar mitzvah, how we discovered Bach, the history of The Swingle Singers, the marvels of Scandinavian a cappella festivals, and older people falling in love.
Continue reading...132: James Taylor, ‘Enough To Be On Your Way’
Twelve years ago this week my sister Madelaine passed away, long before there was a Sibling’s Day. James Taylor wrote the moving song ‘Enough To Be On Your Way’ as a lamentation for his late brother, Alex. My love for my sister is bigger than any pop song. But in the real world, what comes through the car radio is the soundtrack of our lives.
Continue reading...046: James Taylor, ‘Never Die Young’
“Never Die Young”, for me, is the multifocal prism through which I squint at the golden days of my youth. It contains all the love and pain and hopes and disappointments and optimism and disillusionment that my hoodlum friends and I have traversed, like all golden boys grown old. But we were fortunate enough to be children of a very special time.
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