Towards the end of the 1960s, The Beatles were slowly becoming more than pop stars.
After turning the music world on its head with the release of Sgt Pepper, the Fab Four had quit the road for good and would spend the rest of their tenure making incredible music for anyone who would hear them. With all the royalties in the bank, though, the band opened their label with Apple Records, with James Taylor as one of the few hopefuls to get signed.
Before going overseas, Taylor was already a humble songwriter looking for his big break. Moulded in the tradition of folk and pop Asher had been close with The Beatles through Paul McCartney, who had a relationship with Peter’s sister, actor Jane Asher, throughout most of the band’s early period. Picked up as a talent scout, Asher would scope out any new talent that would work well on Apple, with Taylor being his first signing.
When talking about the day, Taylor said the experience was nerve-racking from the first few minutes, telling Stephen Colbert, “He liked it. He gave me a guitar, and I played a few other things, and he said, ‘Yeah, this sounds good. Let’s go to Apple and see if we can interest a Beatle in it. I have very little memory of the day because, at that point, I was vibrating at about 440hz”.
While opening up a clothing boutique and working on the beginnings of The White Album, Paul McCartney would be one of the first Beatles to pick out Taylor as their new signing. As Taylor remembered: “Paul McCartney and George Harrison were there, and as Peter remembers it, we went to an office on Baker Street where the Apple Offices were then. I played ‘Something in the Way She Moves’ for George and Paul, and I don’t remember anything about it”.
After hearing the songs, McCartney was ready to go, with Taylor telling Rolling Stone, “I sat down and played them my little song, and they said to Peter Asher, ‘It sounds good – if you want to record him, let’s go”. Amidst recording his first handful of songs, Taylor also remembers hearing the early versions of what would become classic Beatles tracks, listening to the initial playback of ‘Rocky Raccoon’.
The Beatles weren’t afraid to pull a few moves out of Taylor’s playbook, either, with Harrison later composing ‘Something’ based on the title ‘Something in the Way She Moves’. Although Taylor would go on to have a stellar solo career in his own right, he said he felt like he was in the presence of greatness whenever any of the Fabs were in the room, recounting, “The Beatles were so Olympian to me – it’s why I wrote that line in ‘Carolina In My Mind’ about the “holy hosts of others standing around me”. It all seemed like a dream”., Taylor was already knocked out at the idea of working under one of the biggest bands of all time when he got a call from Peter Asher to come over to London with his demo.
Asher had been close with The Beatles through Paul McCartney, who had a relationship with Peter’s sister, actor Jane Asher, throughout most of the band’s early period. Picked up as a talent scout, Asher would scope out any new talent that would work well on Apple, with Taylor being his first signing.
When talking about the day, Taylor said the experience was nerve-racking from the first few minutes, telling Stephen Colbert, “He liked it. He gave me a guitar, and I played a few other things, and he said, ‘Yeah, this sounds good. Let’s go to Apple and see if we can interest a Beatle in it. I have very little memory of the day because, at that point, I was vibrating at about 440hz”.
While opening up a clothing boutique and working on the beginnings of The White Album, Paul McCartney would be one of the first Beatles to pick out Taylor as their new signing. As Taylor remembered: “Paul McCartney and George Harrison were there, and as Peter remembers it, we went to an office on Baker Street where the Apple Offices were then. I played ‘Something in the Way She Moves’ for George and Paul, and I don’t remember anything about it”.
After hearing the songs, McCartney was ready to go, with Taylor telling Rolling Stone, “I sat down and played them my little song, and they said to Peter Asher, ‘It sounds good – if you want to record him, let’s go”. Amidst recording his first handful of songs, Taylor also remembers hearing the early versions of what would become classic Beatles tracks, listening to the initial playback of ‘Rocky Raccoon’.
The Beatles weren’t afraid to pull a few moves out of Taylor’s playbook, either, with Harrison later composing ‘Something’ based on the title ‘Something in the Way She Moves’. Although Taylor would go on to have a stellar solo career in his own right, he said he felt like he was in the presence of greatness whenever any of the Fabs were in the room, recounting, “The Beatles were so Olympian to me – it’s why I wrote that line in ‘Carolina In My Mind’ about the “holy hosts of others standing around me”. It all seemed like a dream”.
