listening to james taylor and thinking about one of my college roomies, laura. we spent a lot of time listening to james taylor, burning incense and smoking bowls while both avoiding class. it always kinda puts me to that place. james taylor has such a beautiful voice it's so mellow and chill and like the epitome of relaxation but i've heard that back in the day he was a real prickly jerk kinda with a pretty bad heroin addiction. i wonder if the heroin was the result of the chill voice and demeanor? i digress because it doesn't matter, i love his music. there's 2 versions of this song - the one on the hits compilation which is a more upbeat faster version (the one me and laura used to listen to) and then there's the one off his self-titled first release James Taylor. that's the one i'm tuned in to now - it's very stripped down with this incredible old-timey intro. i've always loved the lyrics of the chorus "and i feel fine anytime she's around me now, she's around me now almost all the time and if i'm well you can tell she's been with me now, she's been with me now quite a long, long time and i feel fine." when i think about things like all the things the depth of things, honestly it's this kind of stuff that's the most important and the most inspirational. there's so many ways to muck shit up out there - to muck up the good things, the human things but at the end of the day it feels good to just have this aspiration of being someone who feels that way. it comes down to the most basic things you know - to enjoy spending time with someone, feeling good around them, feeling better off having spent time with the people that mean something to you. the human connection right? written so eloquently via james taylor. i just found out that this song inspired George Harrison's "Something" which is a song that i also really love. i like hearing about love written and sung about in the most simple, honest, and vulnerable of ways. like george harrison's song too "you ask me if our love will grow? i don't know, i don't know." the uncertainty of love, for me, feels like it's highlighted around every corner. that's just my own personal experience but kinda feels like no matter how much it sucks or hurts, we all just keep going back for more and more and more and more. the human way. this has turned in to one big paragraph ramble but i'll say that james taylor keeps me believing in love.
