Sweet not-so-Baby James

March 12, 2008 2:15 PM

The press want something that'll sell copy. They pick up on the mental hospital, family stuff, try to invent some category of rock that I belong to, or perhaps they pick up on my drug problem. But it gets to the point sooner or later when you start to think about your kids: "What does your daddy do for a living?" "He plays the guitar and he talks about his drug problems." It's embarrassing to read the drivel that comes out of your mouth sometimes. So I guess maybe the question is, why am I doing this in the first place? And honestly, I suppose I'm doing it because I'd like to promote my record. -1979 . James Taylor is sixty today.
posted by Navelgazer (55 comments total)

I'd love for someone that really digs JT to explain him to me. It's possible that I was too young to get it. But I always thought he had a great voice, did some fairly interesting things on guitar (some particularly high degree of difficulty stuff for a folkie) and had a decent ability to turn a phrase in his lyrics... but I just find his music insipid, cloying and dull.

When I found out he was hooked on smack during his peak years, that rocked my preconceived stereotypes that all junkies were, if not exactly cool, then at least had great taste in music.

Unrelated: I turn 41 tomorrow, and play guitar, but no one has ever heard of me.
posted by psmealey at 2:21 PM on March 12, 2008

Agreed, psmealey. Taylor makes Norah Jones look like Patti Smith. I wish I could find Lester Bangs' essay "James Taylor Marked For Death" online, it sums up perfectly how I feel about him.
posted by Rangeboy at 2:28 PM on March 12, 2008

I'm not a JT fan, but his cameo on The Simpsons was pretty great (on one of the Best. Episodes. EVER.).
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:32 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

but I just find his music insipid, cloying and dull.

Join the club. I think you pretty much have to be in your 50s-60s and not very interested in music outside of what's played on the radio to like him. People who like him, I would guess, like him more for the memories they have associated with his music than the music itself. He's made a career out of making inobtrusive radio background music.
posted by DecemberBoy at 2:36 PM on March 12, 2008

I recommend watching his most recent DVD (and listening to the accompanying CD) -- "One Man Band". It was recorded last year at the Colonial Theatre (Pittsfield, MA) near his home in the Berkshires. "Taylor shar[es] photos, video footage and memories in ways that provide a rich context for his songs."^*

BTW -- "One Man Band" is playing on PBS this month in many markets. Some stations are also showing last year's "A Tribute to James Taylor."
posted by ericb at 2:36 PM on March 12, 2008

Not especially a James Taylor fan, but my best friend was a big fan during my college radio days. His music of choice was Pink Floyd, James Taylor and CSN&Y.

I think, perhaps, the appeal is similar for all three bands (and I'm not saying this is the entirety of their appeal). They all were counterculture acts that went mainstream.

Taylor was basically a peace and love folk musician hippie who didn't basically change his sound for most of the 70's. You got the feeling listening to him or watching him that you were hanging out in a coffee house somewhere in Greenwich Village in 1968 whenever you listened to him.

In a lot of ways, it was comforting, reassuring music.

The only person I knew who loved James Taylor as much as my good friend did had been my cousin when he was a kid. My cousins parents were getting divorced and he listened to a ton of James Taylor for the year or two during and after the divorce. Of course, then he discovered Black Sabbath and that was pretty much it for James Taylor. Manufactured English Rebellion ultimately triumphed over Tepid American Folk Comfort.

Anyhow, in James Taylor's defense, let me say this. He didn't write "House on Pooh Corner" and, for that, I will always love him a little.

That applies to anyone who didn't write "House on Pooh Corner," by the way.
posted by Joey Michaels at 2:41 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

His music has kept me off of Martha's Vineyard like those ultrasonic pest eliminators keep mice out of your kitchen. Happy birthday indeed, your cloying dullness.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 2:44 PM on March 12, 2008

People who like him, I would guess, like him more for the memories they have associated with his music than the music itself.

The only reason I thought to ask in this thread is because Lewis Black does a bit where he talks about being an undergrad at UNC, and that is was one of the most cathartic, religious experiences of his life to see JT play a show in (nearby?) his home town of Chapel Hilll. I had always kind of respected Lewis Black, but at that moment, thought to ask myself whether I were missing something important or else to re-evaluate my assessment of him.

But then, he appeared in that movie "Accepted" with that Mac guy, and I no longer had to think about Lewis Black, but that's a different issue.
posted by psmealey at 2:44 PM on March 12, 2008

Oddly, just a few hours ago, in a film class I teach, I showed a clip of Two-Lane Blacktop, the great Monte Hellman movie in which James Taylor stars. I "let slip" a remark about how much I dislike James Taylor, and that this film is, in my opinion, the only good thing he's ever been involved with.

James, if you're reading this, please accept my bad-mouthing you in front of a roomful of impressionable young folks as a birthday greeting from someone who really, sincerely hates your music.
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:51 PM on March 12, 2008

Lest we forget that the Beatles' Apple Records selected James Taylor as one of the first artists to be released on their label for his debut album (on which Paul McCartney and George Harrison played).
posted by ericb at 2:52 PM on March 12, 2008

I like James Taylor.
posted by ND¢ at 2:54 PM on March 12, 2008

I like James Taylor.

As do I.

I also like his brother's music: Livingston Taylor, as well as that of his (and Carly Simon's) son: Ben Taylor.
posted by ericb at 2:59 PM on March 12, 2008

Here are some lovely Fretkillr versions of James Taylor songs: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, Carolina In My Mind, You've Got A Friend, Sunny Skies, Fire and Rain.
posted by tomcooke at 3:02 PM on March 12, 2008

From a 2001 article:

He doesn't even reject ferocious attacks on his music, as epitomized by Lester Bangs' 1971 critical diatribe " James Taylor Marked for Death," in which the late wimp-rock-hating scribe (and Almost Famous curmudgeon) fantasized about disemboweling the musician with a broken bottle of Ripple. Taylor says he's never read that rant or any other dismissive reviews, but observes, "If you think [my music] is sentimental and self-absorbed, I agree with you. If you like that kind of thing, then listen to it. If you don't, you don't have to remove it from the face of the earth. It's not for everybody. But to me, there's still something compelling about doing it. Regardless of what the guy with the bottle of Ripple feels."

My favorite Lester Bangs review was the one he did of the Human League's Dare album.
posted by pracowity at 3:04 PM on March 12, 2008 [4 favorites has favorites]

With the exception of Fire and Rain, James Taylor is lost on me. But, Fire and Rain is one of the most beautiful songs of loss I've ever heard.
posted by khaibit at 3:05 PM on March 12, 2008

> My favorite Lester Bangs review was the one he did of the Human League's Dare album.

I read that, went looking for the review, and...well played, pracowity.
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:15 PM on March 12, 2008

I like James Taylor.

me too (crawls back in hole).
posted by The Light Fantastic at 3:32 PM on March 12, 2008

I am named for James Taylor.
posted by ofthestrait at 3:40 PM on March 12, 2008

The sentimental factor is a big one with him. If you hear him at a certain age his music can be pretty transformative, but it's hard for me to see how peoplre grow older and don't find it somewhat insipid.
posted by docpops at 3:44 PM on March 12, 2008

Metafilter : "Happy fucking birthday."
posted by Dave Faris at 4:01 PM on March 12, 2008

But I always thought he had a great voice, did some fairly interesting things on guitar (some particularly high degree of difficulty stuff for a folkie) and had a decent ability to turn a phrase in his lyrics...

That makes him better than 99% of practicing musicians.
I like JT, but that's because folky-singer-songwriter is one of my favourite genres. His finger-picking is top-notch...not flashy, but interesting and clean.
I've never seen him live, but footage of his performances show a man who absolutely loves to sing and play...and it comes across in his music.
posted by rocket88 at 4:09 PM on March 12, 2008

I all honesty, the only song of his I really like myself is "Fire and Rain," and even that for me is the John Denver version, but I love that song. I think for me it was hearing it as a kid on trips out to the mountains. Those sorts of circumstances forgive a lot of cloying "sincerity," as does being 5 or 6 years old.

I posted this because, like psmealey, I've never quite understood why he's as big a name as he is, but I respect that for a lot of people he was hugely influential (hence why most of the links are covers) and I just want to understand why, I guess.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:10 PM on March 12, 2008

Music fans talking about light rock are like politicians talking about drugs or crime. Everyone gets in this big frenzy trying to hate it more than the next guy. And, like in politics, the side that's winning the debate gets to redefine the language we use. Thanks to the I-rock-harder-than-you contingent, if you say a song has a pretty tune, it sounds like you're damning it with faint praise.

Well fuck that. James Taylor wrote a bunch of songs with pretty tunes, and that counts as high praise in my book. Some days I'll be right in there listening to the Dead Kennedys with the rest of y'all, but some days I want to hear something that sounds nice.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:22 PM on March 12, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

I was never a big James Taylor fan myself, but here are a few of the cool kids who disagree with Lester Bangs:

David Crosby, The Dixie Chicks, Jacob Dylan, Jerry Douglas, Lowell George, Richard Greene, David Grisman, Emmylou Harris, George Harrison, Levon Helm, Steve Jordan, Alison Krauss, Tony Levin, David Lindley, Branford Marsalis, Paul McCartney, John McLaughlin, Airto Moreira, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Randy Newman, Billy Payne, John Pizzarelli, Bonnie Raitt, David Sanborn, Sting, Steve Winwood, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Yo-Yo Ma. . .
posted by Herodios at 4:24 PM on March 12, 2008

Lester Bangs' 1971 critical diatribe " James Taylor Marked for Death," in which the late wimp-rock-hating scribe...fantasized about disemboweling the musician with a broken bottle of Ripple

Did Bangs really write that? What a dick. What a complete and utter cocksucker. And I don't even like JT.
posted by Tim McDonough at 4:33 PM on March 12, 2008

James Taylor starred in what is one of my favorite movies ever, Two-Lane Blacktop.
posted by ninjew at 4:43 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Count me among the James Taylor fans. To each his own. If you don't like it, don't listen to it. It's very simple. I find his music very comforting and soothing. But, hey, that's just me. When I was in high school a million years ago, I talked my boyfriend into buying "Sweet Baby James". We used to ride to school together with his younger sister. He put the 8-track in, and she said something derrogatory, and my boyfriend took up for me, even though I know he didn't really like it either. We all have different tastes. Just because I don't like something, doesn't mean it isn't good. It just means, I don't like it.
posted by wv kay in ga at 4:47 PM on March 12, 2008

I like him.

I rise to his defense as a fellow Tarheel.

Like any other artist, his work has to be considered in the context of the time in which it appeared. For whatever it's worth, he continues to sell albums and sell out concerts, and again, even though commercial success and artistic quality frequently do not converge, more 'talented' folks have long ago faded away. Every year or two, out comes another album. Examine one, and you'll find variety and growth, experimentation, and occasional surprises.

To those critics who don't perform, write original music or play guitar (or other instruments), the first thing that comes to mind is "Shut the hell up. Who are you?" Where are your fans, records, history, portfolio?

To those who do some or all of them, perhaps you'll agree, his folk style is unusual and decent. He knows more than one fucking chord. Or ten. His variety runs the gamut from sappy crap to the occasional reference to "chicken choking mother fucking" ad libs. Women (admittedly some menopausal) throw underwear at him. (In my book, that's a sign of interest!). Unlike say, Fugazi, he doesn't play his guitar with a belt sander. His idea of music is not Guitar Hero. There are all kinds of chordal voicings, progressions, and sophistication in his tunes.

He came back from smack and owns a goddamned mountain in Massachussets or Connecticutt, I forget which. That's pretty amazing.

He knew the frigging Beatles.

Other quite fine artists do covers of his work. (Go find them yourself! Usually, the elevator has some JT Musak!)

Who else could ever be so firmly associated with the "Fuck me. I'm sensitive." school of music?

Nay, you nerdy dismissers, there is more to this artist that you might want to admit. Don't be too hard on him. There is plenty of room in the entertainment spectrum to allow him to reign supreme in his own section.

Happy birthday, JT!
posted by FauxScot at 4:48 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

What a great interview. Imagine Britt'ny or JLo giving an interview so honest. I'd forgotten how great Rolling Stone once was.
posted by stubby phillips at 5:02 PM on March 12, 2008

To those critics who don't perform, write original music or play guitar (or other instruments), the first thing that comes to mind is "Shut the hell up. Who are you?" Where are your fans, records, history, portfolio?

This is just about the most idiotic way to defend someone from their detractors possible, and it's a shame it gets trotted out so often. Regardless of how one feels about Tayor, people can make comparisons between his work and other works without having to be artists themselves. I haven't been President of the United States, but compared to other Presidents I've known over the years, I can safely determine that Bush is pretty bad. I don't paint, but I can pretty well tell that Thomas Kinkade does some pretty hokey shit. I don't have to admire everything by everybody that does something I don't do.
posted by LionIndex at 5:23 PM on March 12, 2008

I've always wanted to be able to play guitar and sing like he does. His lyrics may seem tepid or something, but considering who else was getting airplay at the time he was pretty damn good.
posted by snsranch at 5:41 PM on March 12, 2008

James Taylor wrote some good melodies. Melody is important in music. It really is. And there isn't much melody in the music these kids listen to now days. They just don't understand good music.

So get off my lawn.
posted by tommyD at 5:47 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

Some days I'll be right in there listening to the Dead Kennedys with the rest of y'all, but some days I want to hear something that sounds nice.

"Nice" doesn't mean totally boring and limp. If I want nice, I have Imogen Heap and Suzanne Vega and Morrissey and The Beatles and Boards of Canada and and and... Sorry, James Taylor is just totally boring and limp. It's like listening to someone walk on wet cardboard with flip-flops.

To those critics who don't perform, write original music or play guitar (or other instruments), the first thing that comes to mind is "Shut the hell up. Who are you?" Where are your fans, records, history, portfolio?

Okay, Rob Schneider. This is the dumbest response to any sort of criticism possible. I guess you're totally OK with President Bush, because hey, when have you been a head of state?
posted by DecemberBoy at 6:30 PM on March 12, 2008

I'm not in my 50s or 60s and I like James Taylor's music. It's mellow stuff, but music can be mellow and still strike right to the core of you in much the same way as something more driven does.

So happy birthday, JT.
posted by orange swan at 6:31 PM on March 12, 2008

I like James Taylor too. So nyah nyah.
posted by taliaferro at 6:51 PM on March 12, 2008

Thanks to FauxScot and tommyD for their on-target observations. For one thing, JT's recent Christmas album sold in the millions. So have so many of his others, of course. He has worked and/or toured with some of the finest, serious jazz musicians of his times (Michael Brecker, David Sanborn, Steve Gadd, Don Grolnick, etc.) His songs have been recorded by hundreds of artists --pop, jazz and other. He continues to experiment stylistically, and write harmonically interesting music, with actual melodies.

And if you've never seen him live, you've never witnessed such a loving and positive audience response (and yes, older and younger alike). His music has survived and developed and prospered. Let's see if that can be said for Kanye or Green Day or Snoop Dog or whomever -- thirty years from now.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 6:56 PM on March 12, 2008

I am nowhere near my 50s or 60s and I like James Taylor. Granted, I'm into the 70s singer/songwriter thing, but JT is especially near and dear to me. There's something about his music that I find extremely comforting.

Happy Birthday, JT.
posted by whatideserve at 6:56 PM on March 12, 2008

...show a man who absolutely loves to sing and play...and it comes across in his music.

Agreed. I think musicians like James Taylor, the way that musicians tend towards liking music of any style if it's well-written, well-played and/or looks like a good time was being had.
posted by davejay at 7:05 PM on March 12, 2008

I think you pretty much have to be in your 50s-60s and not very interested in music outside of what's played on the radio to like him. People who like him, I would guess, like him more for the memories they have associated with his music than the music itself.
posted by DecemberBoy at 2:36 PM on March 12 [+] [!]

Bingo. My mother, at the ripe age of 56, has talked about her enjoyment of James Taylor due to 'how cute he was' and the general vibe of the time. I will add that my mother has absolutely fantastic taste in music (Joni Mitchell and Motown ranking at the top of her list), so it's certainly not a matter of only liking music that's played on the radio. James Taylor gets a free pass because he's part of an ideal time period of rather specific music. He has a nice voice and he was considered attractive. In other words, pop music for fucked up, drug-using hippies.
posted by nonmerci at 7:25 PM on March 12, 2008

Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend?
People can be so cold.
They'll hurt you, and desert you.
Well, they'll take your soul if you let them,
Oh yeah, but don't you let them.
posted by Crabby Appleton at 7:26 PM on March 12, 2008

It is impossible to hate James Taylor (at least wholeheartedly) if you've ever been drunk on moonshine in a field anywhere in Kakalak.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 8:31 PM on March 12, 2008

But I always thought he had a great voice, did some fairly interesting things on guitar (some particularly high degree of difficulty stuff for a folkie) and had a decent ability to turn a phrase in his lyrics... but I just find his music insipid, cloying and dull.

part of the problem here is that you don't have anything to compare it to - you can't really appreciate the good qualities of james taylor until you've listened to far too many air supply, late chicago, or barry manilow records - all the gold standard for insipid, cloying and dull

taylor is low key, sentimental and not too terribly interesting - i'm not a fan of his, but i don't mind him

but you want insipid, cloying and dull? - here you go

NOW you got something to bitch about
posted by pyramid termite at 8:37 PM on March 12, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

James Taylor entertains the kids on Sesame Street and duets with Oscar the Grouch.

To me, he IS the 70s.
posted by evilcolonel at 8:39 PM on March 12, 2008

I've always liked James Taylor, and I'm pretty much a music nerd. Pop music isn't evil or anything, and a few artists manage to do it very, very well. It doesn't have to be complicated or difficult to be good, but to play that straight ahead, really sincere stuff you gotta play it like you mean it and just nail it, and he always does. Paul Simon is another artist from the folkie-pop revival, although he definitely was more adventurous and grew in different ways. I like JT's stuff from his difficult years better than his more recent music, but as he's said, he's not unhappy anymore, so the music reflects that. Plus, the guy puts on a hell of a show and seems to really love what he's doing. So, happy birthday.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:53 PM on March 12, 2008

And FWIW, I'm not even forty (but getting there sooner than I'd like ...)
posted by krinklyfig at 8:57 PM on March 12, 2008

Seconding ninjew. I like James Taylor for his sublime performance in the cinematic masterpiece called Two-Lane Blacktop.

Happy birthday, The Driver!
posted by oncogenesis at 11:50 PM on March 12, 2008

Did Bangs really write that? What a dick. What a complete and utter cocksucker. And I don't even like JT.

I think, in the context of the time, it was meant to be funny. Think about all the sensitive boy soft rockers of the day, like Todd Rundgren, David Gates, and so on. They were all singing beautiful, ponderous paens to true love and beauty while they were banging groupies backstage by the dozen. Bangs had little patience for mediocrity, but less for phoniness. I think JT gets unfairly lumped into this group (his music sounds a lot less dated than Bread's does now, for example), but I thought the article was hilarious; vintage Bangs.

Paul Simon is another artist from the folkie-pop revival, although he definitely was more adventurous and grew in different ways.

Ah, but Simon and Garfunkel were totally sublime. I don't think too much of the 80s/90s "world music" era Simon, but he's in the pantheon as one of the greatest songwriters ever.

Music fans talking about light rock are like politicians talking about drugs or crime. Everyone gets in this big frenzy trying to hate it more than the next guy.

I think you're imagining that in this thread. For my own part, I dismissed Taylor a long time ago, but I was willing to explore whether I didn't get it. As far as the other stuff goes, I don't think anyone here is trying to demonstrate rockist cred by slamming JT. There are far better targets for that kind of thing. Jack Johnson, for example.
posted by psmealey at 3:02 AM on March 13, 2008

Also, for as long as I've been playing guitar, I can figure out how to play about 98% of everything I listen to. And one time I sat down and tried to figure out Fire and Rain (a song which I do like, a lot), it was surprisingly very difficult. It was at that point that I started to suspect I have been to quick to dismiss an artist with real talent, regardless of whether he wasn't in my particular taste range.
posted by psmealey at 3:05 AM on March 13, 2008

God bless James Taylor for being in Two Lane Blacktop.
posted by longbaugh at 5:00 AM on March 13, 2008

Metafilter: Came back from smack and owns a goddamned mountain in Massachussets or Connecticutt.
posted by toastchee at 10:46 AM on March 13, 2008

I love James Taylor and have for 40 years. Lester Bangs had a stupid name and I don't care what he thought.
posted by Sassenach at 3:04 PM on March 13, 2008

My mother, at the ripe age of 56, has talked about her enjoyment of James Taylor due to 'how cute he was'

Well, he was. Just realized that recently — I'd never seen pictures of him in his young days before.
posted by orange swan at 11:30 AM on March 14, 2008

Agreed. I think musicians like James Taylor, the way that musicians tend towards liking music of any style if it's well-written, well-played and/or looks like a good time was being had.

What's curious to me is how little those criteria seem to matter to so many music fans.
posted by aught at 8:40 AM on March 20, 2008

James Taylor owns all your asses. He's the Slash of folk guitarists.

Also, Fire and Rain reminds me of my dad.

I really did think I'd see him one more time
posted by dirigibleman at 12:45 AM on March 22, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

He's the Slash of folk guitarists.

Now, now, you may not like JT, but that's no reason to insult the man.
posted by psmealey at 2:50 AM on March 23, 2008