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.
The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream
James Taylor Lyrics
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Its branches they're all twisted, its leaves are afraid of light.
They say the blues is just a bad dream, they say it lives upside your head.
But when it's lonely in the morning, you're bound to wish that you was lying dead.
There's winds out on the ocean, they're blowing just as they choose.
But then winds ain't got no emotion, baby, they don't know the blues.
They say the blues is just a bad dream, they say it lives upside your head, mmmm.
My mind is rambling and rambling just like some rolling stone, no,
Since that nightmare's come to stay with me, baby, my thoughts just don't belong.
They say the blues is just a bad dream, they say it lives upside your head.
But when they visit you around midnight, you're bound to wish that you were lying dead.
The lyrics of James Taylor's "The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream" paint a vivid picture of a world riddled with unsettling and inexplicable phenomena that create a pervasive sense of loneliness and despair. The titular "blues" are presented as a nebulous, metaphysical force that haunts individuals with its presence, manifesting in twisted trees, leaves that recoil from light, and a wandering mind that feels out of place in the world. Taylor's evocative language and meandering, stream-of-consciousness style of writing contribute to the song's atmosphere of wandering and aimlessness that pervades the entire piece.
The repetition of the phrase "they say the blues is just a bad dream" serves to underscore the disjointed quality of the singer's thoughts as they try to make sense of the world around them. The blues represent a sense of existential ennui that can't be easily shaken off or explained away, and the singer seems to view it as an insidious force that lurks in the shadows and waits to strike when one is at their most vulnerable. The final line of the song, "you're bound to wish that you were lying dead," encapsulates the crushing weight of the blues and the sense of hopelessness that it can evoke.
Overall, "The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream" is a haunting and introspective song that captures the feeling of being lost in a world that doesn't make sense. Taylor's lyrics are vivid and poetic, and his haunting melody and understated guitar work add to the song's sense of melancholy and yearning.
Line by Line Meaning
A tree grows in my back yard, it only grows at night.
There is a mysterious tree in the singer's backyard that only grows at night.
Its branches they're all twisted, its leaves are afraid of light.
The tree has twisted branches and its leaves shy away from the light.
They say the blues is just a bad dream, they say it lives upside your head.
The blues is often described as an imaginary affliction that affects one's mental state.
But when it's lonely in the morning, you're bound to wish that you was lying dead.
Despite its imaginary nature, the loneliness that the blues represents can be so powerful that some people may wish they were dead.
There's winds out on the ocean, they're blowing just as they choose.
The winds on the ocean are uncontrollable and do as they please, without regard for anyone or anything.
But then winds ain't got no emotion, baby, they don't know the blues.
The ocean winds do not possess any emotions and are therefore incapable of experiencing the emotional pain of the blues.
My mind is rambling and rambling just like some rolling stone, no,
The singer's mind is wandering aimlessly, much like a rolling stone that gathers no moss.
Since that nightmare's come to stay with me, baby, my thoughts just don't belong.
Since his negative thoughts have taken over his mind, the singer no longer feels like he belongs in his own thoughts.
But when they visit you around midnight, you're bound to wish that you were lying dead.
Even though the blues is said to be just a bad dream, it can still be so overwhelming that one may wish they were dead when it strikes late at night.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JAMES TAYLOR, JAMES V TAYLOR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind