Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first No. 1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a recording of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. Every album that he released from 1977 to 2007 sold over 1 million copies. He enjoyed a resurgence in chart performance during the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded some of his most-awarded work (including Hourglass, October Road, and Covers). He achieved his first number-one album in the US in 2015 with his recording Before This World.
He is known for his popular covers of other people's songs, such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" and the aforementioned "You've Got A Friend", as well as originals such as "Fire and Rain".
Taylor's four siblings (Alex, Livingston, Hugh, and Kate) have also been musicians with recorded albums. Livingston is still an active musician; Kate was active in the 1970s but did not record another album until 2003; Hugh operates a bed-and-breakfast with his wife, The Outermost Inn in Aquinnah on Martha's Vineyard; and Alex died in 1993 on James's birthday.
After his divorce from Carly Simon in 1983, Taylor married actress Kathryn Walker on December 14, 1985 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. She had helped him get off heroin, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.
On February 18, 2001, at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, Taylor wed for the third time, marrying Caroline ("Kim") Smedvig, the director of public relations and marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.[81] They had begun dating in 1995, when they met as he appeared with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Part of their relationship was worked into the album October Road, on the song "On the 4th of July". The couple reside in the town of Washington, Massachusetts, with their twin boys, Rufus and Henry, born in April 2001. Henry shares James' intrest and talents.
Sally and Ben, his children with Carly Simon, have also embarked on musical careers. After they were born, Taylor moved with his family to Lenox, Massachusetts.
New Tune
James Taylor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's been a baby there, given away in love.
I see it in the little lines
Around her eyes, across her brow.
She'll be drifting away from me now.
She'll shape all the feeling
That's not quite there inside my soul.
Love has gone away now,
And who am I to try to compete with the din,
As the silence so easily rushes in?
I will fly away.
It was something I only dreamed of,
Something that I'm not quite sure of,
Something that I'll never tell you about.
In James Taylor's song "New Tune", he sings about a woman he is with who has given away a baby in love, which is evident on the surface of her skin. Taylor sees it in the little lines around her eyes and across her brow. He knows that she will be leaving him soon, taking with her all the feelings that were not quite there inside his soul. Love has gone away, and he is left with an empty hole. He feels helpless as he tries to compete with the silence that rushes in, and so he decides to fly away.
These lyrics carry a lot of emotional weight, as they touch on the subject of lost love and the pain that comes with it. The woman in this song has experienced something traumatic in her past, and her scars are evident on her skin. Taylor seems to understand her pain and acknowledges that she will soon be gone. He feels inadequate in the face of the overwhelming silence that follows, and so he chooses to leave.
Line by Line Meaning
It's written in the surface of her skin,
Her history is etched into her very being.
There's been a baby there, given away in love.
She gave up a child in a selfless act of love.
I see it in the little lines
The evidence of her life is visible.
Around her eyes, across her brow.
The signs of her experiences are evident on her face.
She'll be drifting away from me now.
She will leave my life, moving on to new experiences.
She'll shape all the feeling
Her impact on me will be significant.
That's not quite there inside my soul.
She will bring out emotions that were previously dormant within me.
Love has gone away now,
The relationship has ended.
Leaving behind an empty hole.
The loss has left a void in my life.
And who am I to try to compete with the din,
I am powerless to change the circumstances.
As the silence so easily rushes in?
The absence of her presence is palpable.
I will fly away.
I will leave this situation behind.
It was something I only dreamed of,
The relationship was a fantasy.
Something that I'm not quite sure of,
The true nature of the relationship was unclear.
Something that I'll never tell you about.
The full extent of my emotions will remain a secret.
Lyrics Ā© Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JAMES TAYLOR, JAMES V TAYLOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind