about James Taylor

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Hi ya?ll

I was revisiting some of my old vinyls yesterday. I have two James Taylor records, both from 1977, JT and Greatest Hits. I like them a lot, I used to listen them a lot as well when I was younger but I didn?t understant english at that time. So yesterday, while listening to Fire and Rain I got curious about that character he mentions in the song, Suzanne...somebody who died and to whom he wrote the song.

Does anybody here know who was she? A friend, a relative, a lover? He also sings..."sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground"...what led me to think that this woman might have died in some airplane crash...well, I?m speculating here, but I would appreciate any help.

Btw, he?s a great singer/songwriter/musician IMO.

:up:
 
James Taylor is AMAZING!!
absolutely genius

has anyone heard his new album? I haven't really heard much about it

as for Fire and Rain
yes, he did lose a lover by plane crash...it's actually an incredibly sad story!! :sad: :sad:
 
Thanks guys for your help. No matter what is the real Suzanne story with him it seems to be a sad one afterall...the reason for a heartreaking song like Fire and Rain.

My boss recentely lended me a James Taylor concert on DVD, from 1998, in New York. Really great. The song he wrote after to his first trip to Brazil is one of the highlights IMO, it?s called Only a Dream in Rio. In the last Rock in Rio festival, in 2000, his show was certainly one of the best presented.

And Basstrap...I think you can listen to the songs of his lastest album here...curious, the release date is August 13th 2002???Today! :) Still haven?t listened, no more time for now...but I?ll be back later ;)

<http://www.jamestaylor.com/main_discog.html>

:up:
 
I always think of the Vietnam War when I hear "Fire and Rain". When I was a kid that song became sort of like a soundtrack for images of the war on TV, much like "Walk On" has become since 9/11.
 
Okay...just checked all the clips..30 sec clips like those from ATYCLB. I liked what I heard so far. And I said that the release day according to the site was today...of course I was wrong, in fact it was yesterday :D

There is a song called Belfast to Boston that surely is not a brand new one but, it was performed in that DVD from 1998 that I mentioned above. It?s really good, with great lyrics. :up:

My fave James Taylor songs are Fire and Rain, Carolina in my Mind, Shower the People, Mexico, Your Smilling Face, How Sweet it Is, Handy Man, Steamroller Blues and of course Only a Dream in Rio and You?ve Got a Friend.

Yours?

:)
 
There you go doing it again

O follower, yesterday I was balanced precariously on a chair going thru my records looking for, well I admit, my Elvis vinyls:D, and I said I have to get these things in some order and more accessible. Lots of fond memories contained in those records.

My sister was 4 years older than me and had a good job and liked to buy records, thank goodness. When I was young she kept me supplied with good new music. She also gave me all the records when she left home. I have Sweet Baby James and Mud Slide Slim. I played Mud Slide Slim a lot back then...I love Joni Mitchell's backing vocal on "Long Ago and Far Away."

I was so young during the Vietnam War and it scared me at the time, probably because I lived near a recreation camp that was used for training and saw soldiers on the beach in full gear with guns, when I was really little and even though it was only training it still left an impression.
I wrote a poem to express something about that but my bro-in -law caught me out plagarising James Taylor lyrics.

"......Twenty men in the night
Twenty men gone to fight....
Nine out of twenty was all that could stay
Nine out of twenty
what a sad price to pay....."

was the bit I "borrowed" woops:)

So yeah I like James Taylor too, beautiful musician.

I:heart: his version of Steamroller:)
 
O follower, what a beautiful musical journey you stared me on with this thread. Today August 18 is very special day for me and it ties in with my old records and finally getting unstuck from the moment.
As always you , with out knowing, move me in mysterious ways.
thank you
Elvisly yours
cass


I thought of something funny my g'friend said on Friday night. It Was getting late, the conversations were getting sadder. I said at one point quietly just to her
"I think I am addicted to the net"
without missing a beat she lowered her voice and said
"That's alright mamma"
in a voice that sounded remarkably like elvis presley. ( if you knew how tiny and squeaky voiced she is:lmao: she really grounds me, it's her mum who may lose her leg this week. damn!! she is a rare gem of a woman and today is the first time I've seen her not smile, )
So I feel OK about it now. Big sis said it is OK.I'm not weird...to them.
 
Hi cass, LOL at your girl impersonating Elvis :)

You know what they say...great minds think alike...I?ve been on this James Taylor revival lately...some good memories from my youth. I realised that these 2 JT LP records I have are the only ones I took with me when I left my parent?s home at the age of 20.

Yesterday I found a great interview with JT, from Boston Globe, "Gentleman James", it?s a recent one where he talks about his life and his latest album October Road...one that I will surely buy because the 30 sec clips sound good enough to me. Well, in this interview he said something that got me thinking...really hard, now that I?m middle age as well...He?s now 54, got married the 3rd time and is currently bringing up his 16 months-old twin boys.

''I do feel that I'm in a new phase of life,'' he says. ''I've gotten used to my life being organized around 18-year stretches. I think of the first 18 years of my life - obviously the most change and development that we go through is during that period of time - as the time that I left home and tried to invent my own way of being in the world, however chaotic. And I think of the second 18 years as being my active addiction, and the last 18 years as being my recovery from it. Many other things happened during that time, but I do tend to think that I've started my next 18 years now."

Later on the same article there is this passage. His wild times as a drug addicted are now gone.

"And Taylor is the first to admit it, especially knowing how close he came to once being a casualty of his drug habit.

'' There have been a lot of people who didn't make it, and I should have been one of them, but I was lucky to escape.''

No wonder he's so grateful these days. ''Gratitude is the only appropriate response,'' he notes."

I think the man is a survivor. Music and love rescued him. Thank God.

Edited to add the link to the article from Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/223/living/Gentleman_James+.shtml

:up:
 
O follower, there you go doing it again.
my first recation was the album title!! October is a big monthe of special birthdays fro me, so someone will be getting the new album from me.

I was trying not to tell the whole story...but WOW!!!
I decided to catalogue me records and then decided to sort them and see if my sister wanted hers back. I can still remember who purchased each one, which ones we went halvies in:)I don't think she'll want them. She and hub insist on good quality sound. They are geeting a DVD player soon, so I'll be up there like a rocket with the Elevation concert...asap.

Anyway I found 2 records, Nils Lofgren and Allan Parsons Project. I thought these belong to David, my high school sweetheart. I should return them. And then I rememebered yesterdays' date!!!! He is one of twins, the most beautiful boys u ever did see.( Inow realise since my sons started playing soccer he looks like a more handsome version of Maradona, a bit) Yesterday was their 42nd birthday...the same age that Elvis Presley died at. It was hard to believe that much time had elapsed.

Anyway, I could go on, but try not to...cut to the important bit.
What to say, I was in a very very bad car accident when I was out with the twins.
Yesterday my 16 year old son was kind enough to listen to my story. i took him on a driving lesson to town and I saw a young mother and a grandmother each carrying a sleeping baby. My son gets a bit embarrassed , my talking to strangers, but I had to ask. Yes they were twin boys, 8 weeks old yesterday. She was glad I stopped to admire them. I should have asked if their names were David and Peter.
So I feel so much lighter, what a weekend..and it started , well I'm not quite sure where, but going thru the old albums has been fun. Thanks follower.
I am tempted to scan some of the covers, Young Tom Petty mmmmm.
You should have seen the look on my husband's face when I said I wanted to go to see Billy Idol :huh: But I think I have found a good avatar on his album cover.
My parents gave me a record each Christams for a while there I now recall..
"Hits 70" "Original Stars, original Hits '71" They have some songs on them I'd long not thought about.

To bring us hurtling into the present. the boys have the new Soulfly album. There are some nice moments on it, a lovely female vocalist, a song called One and a song called Brasil, that he sings in Portugese. AND a reprieve of the song Soulfly whcih I love.The first soulfly song was purely a jam between recording and they felt the presecence of something special ( Max still has featured his murdered nephew Dana on the new album)It's kind of half a mourning , half a celebration tune.His album dedication to his wife and children is so sweet. i can't help but like him. I was right in front ot the stage before they went on a couple of years ago. I could see their wives and one of the kids thru the side of the stage with the band, they looked "normal" well, she had her hair streaked green, but it was the Big Day Out!!! I had purple zinc cream on!!!
yeah my girl...I told you that once. my brother is a sister, she is the second verse of First Time:hug: "That's alright mamma"
music eh? So wonderful.

Elvis has left the building.....
:heart: 2U
 
I bet I regret saying all that , oh but he was so lovely.

My goodness
what a long post
could it be....


a record?!!!!!
 
just an urban legend

Basstrap said:


as for Fire and Rain
yes, he did lose a lover by plane crash...it's actually an incredibly sad story!! :sad: :sad:


actually that's not true at all.

"suzanne" refers to suzanne "susie" schnerr a friend of jt who would hang out with him and his friends in nyc in the mid sixties. she committed suicide when james was in london. after he heard this news he started the outline for "fire and rain".

as for the reference to "sweet dreams and flying machines...", it was also during this time that jt was trying to kick his heroin habit. the verse refers to his depression over not being able to get this demon off of his back.
 
First of all...cass, keep the stories coming ;)

When I opened this topic last week I still hadn?t search the net looking for info on JT, I was just surprised by really "getting" the lyrics of Fire and Rain for the first time without reading it, and I got curious.

Eventually I stumbled on this fan site, really good and updated. So I might have found what I?m looking for...check it out

http://www.james-taylor.com/

Also there is this JT quote from Rolling Stone, 1972, from the link joyfulgirl posted above:

"Fire and Rain" has three verses. The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend. The second verse is about my arrival in this country with a monkey on my back, and there Jesus is an expression of my desperation in trying to get through the time when my body was aching and the time was at hand when I had to do it . . . And the third verse of that song refers to my recuperation in Austin Riggs which lasted about five months."

Finally, the lyrics for Fire and Rain:

"Fire And Rain"
James Taylor

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you fire and rain, now

:up:
 
Follower's Balinese Banquet

Sorry I didn't address your original question. The mention of James Taylor was just so timely with my rearranging the shelves, going thru old records, old times.I was listening to Jackson Browne around then too and John Mayall and David Bowie. Great music back then...

Great music now too :bono: :adam: :larry: :edge:

I:heart: using that row of smilies:angel:
I wish you could join us, I'll tell them...walk on, be strong.
You have definitley helped JT sell one extra album. I lok to forward to hearing it one day.

:hug: to you
 
YOUR Love Has Brougth Me Around

selamat pagi........(I think, they have a different gretting depending on the time of day...I think it's pagi/earlymorning)
As much as the 3 Nyomens' enjoy my charades, I think I should get an Indonesian/English dictionary and learn some of their language.

Silly me , forgot to send the car around to you earlier

Beep Beep....jump in sister
 

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unexpected meetings

I am trying to curaill my personal "cass stories" but o follower, what just happened.
I went along to the luncheon, far more women and children arrived than I expected. I felt so priveleged. I was seated next to a woman I had never met before, very elegant woman. She touched my shoulder at one point and said 'sorry the tears come to my eyes". It is 12 months ago today that her husband died.She came to Australia in 1974 as the wife of an Indonesian diplomat. I told her about the interview with Bono in the Rolling Stone magazine and him saying Bali was the most beautiful place he visited in 2001 (always with the U2, can't help myself, even to 69 year old balinese women). I told her today 21st August was special for him to. Gave us both a moment to ponder.
She later asked, do I sing? not sure why. She told me if you have music you will always be happy. Cool :) very reassuring.She is going back to live in Indonesia at the end of the month, leaving behind her daughter and grandchildren.it was a sad parting. Felt as though I had known her for ages. She wants me to visit her in Indonesia....I WANT to visit her in Indo...one day!!!

On the way home I called in at a Phillipina friends place. She has been frustrated lately, trying to communicate.with the Aussie locals..she said "Australians don't listen!!!" I KNOW!!! I shall endeavour to more now I know ..... just had to tell that story.

PS:I saw the local newspaper photographer(who I know vaguely) walk past and went to ask him to take a photo of us all to keep as memory of the day. I think he is going to write an article about multi-culturalism...you just never know what will happen....
My Philipina friend is so strong..she told me today
"Don't worry about it... but think about it!!!"

And don't get me started on their babies...:heart:

as Pink Floyd once said, when I am at gatherings like that., I..wish U Were here:)

there is a story about an electric storm and what happened when my friend was back in Bali last year, powerful incident.......zip the lip:silent:
Peace
 
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