Saturday, February 23, 2013

Sweet Baby James


We drove all night, arriving around dawn. We staggered wearily into the hotel restaurant, and as I sat there mesmerized by the aroma of coffee, eggs, and bacon, it slowly dawned on me through the fog of fatigue that music was playing in the room.

The first song I was aware of was a slow, quiet song – a mellow-voiced man singing about “Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground”. The album continued to play, and as I listened more closely to the songs, I realized that I was hearing something special but I had no idea who the singer was.

This piece is a chapter in the new book The Toughest Hundred Dollars & Other Rock & Roll Stories by Larry Manch. The book is available for purchase in e-book form at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com.



Larry Manch is an author, teacher, guitar player, freelance writer, and columnist. His books include: 'The Toughest Hundred Dollars & Other Rock & Roll Stories', 'A Sports Junkie', 'The Avery Appointment', 'Between the Fuzzy Parts'.

He also writes about baseball for Climbing Tal's Hill, food and travel on Miles & Meals, and music/guitars on The Backbeat.

He lives in Central Texas with his wife and family.

12 comments:

  1. Fire and Rain takes me right back to when I was a kid with the same impact. JT never gets mentioned amongst great guitarists, but very few of the so called "Greats" can even come close to what JT has carved out to be his very own space. Nice post! Regards//KP

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  2. Great songwriter. Think I'll break out the Greatest Hits right now. Aaron

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  3. Larry, you are a very talented writer my friend.

    Gary Madison
    (astroboy058)

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  4. Anonymous March 25,2013
    Great songwriter. Great composer, Great person. Sweet baby James, and
    You've Got a Friend and yes just thinking of them makes me want to listen
    to your Greatest Hits right now. Thank you Mr.Taylor.

































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  5. One of my favorite albums ever. Thanks for sharing.

    Sarah

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  6. Great article! Captures nicely that first time you hear JT! What is that? Who is that? That is so good. Each song on the album is amazing. And they all fit together beautifully. And that voice, that guitar. Slow it down. Let it linger. That's JT. There's only one. We're so lucky he lasted.

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  7. Love the article and have always loved all of James Taylors songs.

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  8. his music helped me through my own depressions. i wasn't alone when i put on this album and his subsequent ones. how can i ever thank him?

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  9. My favorite album was always "Mudslide Slim and the Blue Horizon". I love most of what James Taylor does...like "In my mind I'm going to Carolina." Thanks for the memories!

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  10. Thank you for this article about this great artist. I've seen James perform 25-30 times. I cannot remember him ever having an off night, whether he performed by himself or with his band. I've always viewed his music as something that had a healing power. when I need to collect myself. James' music does the trick. I had the pleasure of meeting him four years ago where he autographed copies of "Covers". He was very warm and personable and took his time with each fan he greeted. After all the years he had spent in the music business, he seemed so pleased that 300 people had come out to hear him sing and get autographs.

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  11. i´m singer now, and you are my inspiration, always love you....

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