James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Tayloris an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth12 March 1948
CityBoston, MA
CountryUnited States of America
mysterious process songwriting
Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing.
music play people
I would advise you to keep your overhead down; avoid a major drug habit; play everyday, and take it front of other people. They need to hear it, and you need them to hear it.
writing elements singers
To be a musician, especially a singer-songwriter - well, you don't do that if you have a thriving social life. You do it because there's an element of alienation in your life.
heart love-is opening-up
The SECRET to Love is in OPENING up your Heart
writing guitar-music guitar
I don't read music. I don't write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself.
writing phones done
There'll come a writing phase where you have to defend the time, unplug the phone and put in the hours to get it done.
song emotional discovery
It is a process of discovery. It's being quiet enough and undisturbed enough for a period of time so that the songs can begin to sort of peek out, and you begin to have emotional experiences in a musical way.
differences balls made
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to have made a lot of difference to my audience that I'm as bald as a billiard ball!
thinking self sentimental
If you think my music is sentimental and self-absorbed, I agree with you.
nature thinking people
I think people are isolated because of the nature of human consciousness, and they like it when they feel the connection between themselves and someone else.
writing-songs pretending songwriting
I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could.
song rain writing
['Fire and Rain'] is sort of almost uncomfortably close. Almost confessional. The reason I could write a song like that at that point, and probably couldn't now, is that I didn't have any sense that anyone would hear it. I started writing the song while I was in London...and I was totally unknown.... So I assumed that they would never be heard. I could just write or say anything I wanted. Now I'm very aware, and I have to deal with my stage fright and my anxiety about people examining or judging it. The idea that people will pass judgment on it is not a useful thought.
feet bare-feet i-can
I find it a lot healthier for me to be someplace where I can go outside in my bare feet.
believe importance percent
I believe 100 percent in the power and importance of music.