James Taylor

While in rehab, he had written most of the songs for his second album, his breakout, Sweet Baby James. He enlisted King to play keyboard; he then played on her 1971 album Tapestry. His relationship with Joni Mitchell lasted a year, much of it on the road: she was composing the songs for her classic album Blue – he, meanwhile, was writing his third album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, including the gorgeous You Can Close Your Eyes, written for her.

But behind the scenes, their relationship was struggling. As Taylor’s career took off, his addiction dragged him down again. Mitchell mourned their split on her album For the Roses in the song Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire, a devastating eyewitness account of a person “bashing in veins for peace”. I ask Taylor if he is able to listen to Mitchell’s music from that time. “Blue, oh yes,” he says. “And she sings so beautifully on my songs.”

What about Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire? He goes quiet. “It’s not like listening to me,” he whispers. What is it like? He hangs his head for some time, silent. “I’m not able to listen to it,” he says.

Sweet Baby Junkie

Sweet Baby Junkie

Nobody cares now.

Clearly Miss R2 and R3 cared enough to post twice!

I didn’t know that was written for/about Taylor. It’s an incredible song...

R6 I knew that Joni song was written for him.

I did not, until I read this Guardian article, know that Carole King wrote You've Got A Friend for him after hearing Fire and Rain ("I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend").

R7, they all wanted him. I guess he really was the”handyman”...

I thought he was dead.

Only in my cold, black heart.

‘R9 he had - and still has - what the kids call Big Dick Energy.

With all the junkie issues how has he managed to survive this long?

As a musician, he sounds like an emotional vampire in his relationships.

Never liked him. Horrible whiny voice.

He seems like a sad, sad soul. But thanks for posting OP. The best part of the article:

[quote] I ask if he’s still in touch with Mitchell and his face lights up for the first time. “We’ve continued to have a friendship and, well, I recently sort of re-engaged with Joni, and that’s been wonderful. She came to a show of mine recently, at the Hollywood Bowl, which was an unusual thing for her to do.” Mitchell has been recovering from a period of ill health after a brain aneurysm in 2015. “But she’s recovering, she’s coming back – which is an amazing thing to be able to do – and I wonder what she has to tell us about that.” When you say “coming back” does he mean she’s making music? “Yes, I think she’s coming back musically ... It’s amazing to see her come back to the surface.”

Bump. James produced another guitar-playing son. He sure does stamp ‘em with “the look”

He just seemed to me like the stereotypical awful hetero male Boomer, who parlayed marginal talent into fucking a bunch of women, making a bunch of money, doing a shitload of drugs, generally treating people like shit and doing it all under a peace-love-hippie guise.

They got the Taylor look and voice.

But do the sons have the giant dongage that Daddy does?

He thinks very highly of himself

[quote]The line “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend,” prompted Carole King to write You’ve Got a Friend for him in response.

I don't think this is true. I've seen them both interviewed (separately and together) when they have talked about the song. Neither has ever said that Carole wrote it for him or in response to his song.

Both have said that the first time James heard the song was when Carole was playing at the Troubadour. He says he was blown away by it and asked if he could record it. He said that it was very generous of Carole to say yes, and let him record it even before she did. If she had written for him, he would have heard ti before the general public.

He likes effect an "Aw, Shucks!" persona when he does interviews, but he can be a cold fish in real life.

I know Carly Simon (we're not close, but have spoken many times -- and with Carly, you don't have to be close for her to tell you things) and the things I've heard about how James can treat his relationships with people like a light switch makes me think less of him. I'm sure there are two sides to that story, but I don't have a good impression of him.

Ben Taylor is fucking hot, and I know I'm not the only one who has fondled themselves when watching him play.

[quote]Ben Taylor is fucking hot, and I know I'm not the only one who has fondled themselves when watching him play.

You're not!

James seems like the type that really needed a strong woman to handle him, and this Kim seems up to the job. Of course it helps that he’s older now.

[quote]Of course it helps that he’s older now.

And not a junkie doing speedballs when the kids are in the next room.

He inspired most of Joni's For the Roses LP, which is really better than anything he wrote himself. I don't hate his music, but too much of it seems wilfully anodyne, an attempt to paper over the more tortured or complex aspects of his personality.

R18 pretty much describes every male "boomer" rock star, including the Beatles and the Stones.

[quote]He inspired most of Joni's For the Roses LP

That is such a great album, so we have James to thank in part.

It would be interesting to list all the songs written about him.

Carly Simon, obviously, wrote many.

And Carole King says she wrote this as her "James Taylor" song: