Friday, January 25, 2013

Sweet Baby James

Seeing and hearing James Taylor sing America the Beautiful at the Presidential  Inauguration this past week literally brought tears to my eyes. So simple and so, well, James Taylory, the performance was absolutely wonderful -- even though he sang only one verse and the entire performance lasted little more than a minute!

As I heard him sing, I wondered if forty-three years ago, when his classic Fire and Rain was climbing up the charts, he ever imagined that one day he'd be singing at the second inauguration of the country's first African American president. After all, it was a very different time back in 1970: Commander in Chief Richard Nixon was in the second year of his first term as president, and the word "Watergate" mostly just referred to a hotel in DC!

Taylor's performance this past Monday brought back 40+ years of memories and music -- beginning for me with his album Sweet Baby James in the early 70s, to seeing him live in concert in the 1990s, to watching the PBS special of his 2007 concert at the Troubadour with long-time friend Carol King. And you know what?  It's all good!

I was in seventh grade back in 1970 when Fire and Rain rose to #3 on the Billboard charts. And as a 12-year-old budding young guitarist/singer (And James Taylor wannabe!), I remember distinctly spending hours learning his songs and trying with all my might to sound just like him when I sang -- which, unfortunately, didn't really work. Instead, I simply ended up sounding like "Bill trying to sound like James Taylor," which was not at all the effect I was shooting for, and, frankly, just not very impressive! (Ask my friends at the time -- they'll tell you!)

No doubt about it, James Taylor is a class act -- his music getting better and better down through the years. And so I'll continue to play and sing his music -- mostly in the solitude of my own home -- because it never fails to bring back some great memories.