Photographers and reporters are mostly after me. They want to know what I read and what I’m like and I don’t really know myself, so how can I tell them? – James Taylor
It is the most delightful thing that ever happens to me, when I hear something coming out of my guitar and out of my mouth that wasn’t there before. – James Taylor
Television news is now entertainment, and the stories are being written by the people that have a special interest in them. – James Taylor
When I cleaned up some 17 odd years ago, I felt terrible for about six months. The only thing that gave me any real relief was strenuous physical activity. – James Taylor
Though ‘Fire and Rain’ is very personal, for other people it resonates as a sort of commonly held experience… And that’s what happens with me. I write things for personal reasons, and then in some cases it… can be a shared experience. – James Taylor
I have a studio in a barn at home – we rehearse there, we film there and we record there. It’s fun to hang out with my guys and see what comes out next. – James Taylor
To me, very much of what is artistic is people’s very creative and inventive ways out of impossible situations. – James Taylor
Ireland, Italy and Brazil are the most musical places for me. They’re extremely musical cultures and anything you pitch they basically catch. – James Taylor
I don’t read music. I don’t write it. So I wander around on the guitar until something starts to present itself. – James Taylor
The best thing is when you hear somebody take your song and make something great of it. – James Taylor
I don’t take compliments very easily. I think most musicians suffer from low self-esteem to some extent. – James Taylor
It’s hard to find a way forward. When you’re 18 it happens in huge chunks every day, but after 20 years, growth is much more costly. – James Taylor
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. – James Taylor
Being on a boat that’s moving through the water, it’s so clear. Everything falls into place in terms of what’s important and what’s not. – James Taylor
I don’t know much about God. But if everything does originate with God, then certainly songs do as well. – James Taylor
When you write a song, it may come from a personal space, but it very seldom actually represents you. It comes out of a sort of mood of melancholy, somehow. It’s almost theatrical. – James Taylor
Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing. – James Taylor
I was a huge Beatles fan. We could talk about who I listened to growing up and what my sources were, but certainly the Beatles were a late, important resource for me, and I just took my guitar and a handful of songs, and I decided, well, I’ll just go over and travel around Europe and see what comes of it. – James Taylor
I have a love-hate relationship with the Grammys because I don’t see the music world as a competitive sport. – James Taylor
I know there are people who don’t like their audience or like the experience of being recognized or celebrated, but my audience has been very good – they don’t bother me and when they do contact me it’s usually on the nicest possible terms. – James Taylor
I find it a lot healthier for me to be someplace where I can go outside in my bare feet. – James Taylor
Performing is a profound experience, at least for me. It’s not as if I sit down and play ‘Fire and Rain’ by myself, just to hear it again. But to offer it up… the energy that it somehow summons live takes me right back, and I do get a reconnection to the emotions. – James Taylor
Sobering up was responsible for breaking up my marriage. That’s what it couldn’t stand. – James Taylor
I don’t reinvent myself in any major way. It seems to be a slow evolution. I go back and visit certain themes that I feel strongly about and resonate with me emotionally. – James Taylor