Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Circles Round the Sun

When you are growing up you look everywhere for information to help you to become an adult. This is why it's so sinister that so many lyrics about female relationships sung by women artists are written by men (which is largely what my next book is about).
When I was a teenager, I thought James Taylor was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen, and I also loved his guitar playing. Now I realise how much of his picking style I absorbed in all those nights of late night angsty misery-listening. He can be a whole band if he needs to be. His first album, which I didn't get to hear till years later, has fantastic arrangements by Peter Asher with the unusual use of instruments like French Horns that sound remarkably delicate.
I didn't realise that Taylor hadn't written this song; although it's a beautiful song, it's the song of a complete narcissist. Just listen to the lyrics.

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