Did you listen to James Taylor on Howard Stern?

Despite all the press about the drought, it actually rained in L.A. on Thursday and Friday. Which is really quite strange. This came a couple of weeks after summer weather. Even worse, rain is like snow in L.A. It loosens the oil in the highway and you slip and slide and people get freaked out and traffic is slow and it demands concentration and you end up in your own cocoon, listening to the radio.

And in my car I heard JT tell the story of “Carolina In My Mind.”

I loved that record. The original opener on the Apple album. I bought it, actually, it was a present from my sister now that I remember, it was big up at BU, she gave it to me for my birthday. And for a month straight I’d drop the needle before school, to put me in a good mood as I got dressed.

It worked. And even though James is not enamored of that version, it’s always been my favorite. And I loved his brother Livingston’s “Carolina Day” from his Capricorn LP, but now I’m getting ahead of myself.

The story is “Carolina” was written during a break in recording his first album. He went with Joel Zoss (I LOVE “Too Long At The Fair”!) to Formentera and one night he went with Karen to Ibiza for a party and they missed the last boat back and while she slept on a bench he wrote the song.

Whew!

And to discover new facts about an old hand so far down the line is fascinating, but just as intriguing was putting the facts together, how JT made it.

But I’m driving in Beverly Glen, actually, I’m stuck in traffic in Beverly Glen, and I’m thinking that’s how all the great work is done, on a whim, when the stars align and you’re suddenly in the mood. Sure, you can get a group of writers together in Nashville and eke it out but it’s not the same thing. Just the same way a prepubescent’s songs don’t last because they have nothing to say.

Yes, JT made it at a relatively young age, but he’d LIVED!

Met Kootch on the Vineyard.

Been to Milton Academy.

Went into the mental institution.

Got hooked on drugs.

Met the Beatles! They even signed him!

There’s a lot of stories there. And that’s how the best art is created, through experience. Because when you lay that experience down you can feel the humanity, and we can all connect, and that’s what we’re looking to do, feel so not alone in this crazy world of ours.

And it is a crazy world, but so different from the sixties.

In the sixties the Vineyard was not upscale, there were no billionaires. And you could get lost in the Balearics. Sure, you could make an ultra-expensive long distance phone call, but you couldn’t e-mail or text, you were out on your own, having an experience.

And this is what the old farts can’t get over, that the experience is not the same. You had to pay your dues to get a record deal, often more than one, in order to break through. You just couldn’t declare yourself an artist and put your music up on YouTube. And it’s this experience that informed our music, that made it great.

JT played with Kootch in the Flying Machine as the house band in the Village. Do anything long enough and you become comfortable with it and can then spread your wings and innovate. But without this time…

Not that today’s world is not scintillating and invigorating, but the emphasis is on tech as opposed to music. Tech gives us tools to communicate, and we love this. But it also gives us the ability to create cheaply and insist everybody pay attention, even though we are not worthy.

James Taylor is worthy.

I saw him last summer and I cringed. He had a crack band but he’d turned into a crooner. But on Howard’s show it was just him and his guitar. To say it was authentic is nearly an understatement. You’re touched, tears come to your eyes, you’re thrilled to be in the presence of such greatness, you remember what once was, when you first heard these records.

The Berkshires used to be covered with snow on the first of December.

But now with global warming, they rarely are.

Our world has changed.

But the songs remain.

Listen.

“The Howard Stern Show – James Taylor Full Interview (May 12, 2015)”