News The symbiotic songs between James Taylor and The Beatles
By the time the summer of love had ended, The Beatles were becoming far bigger than the average pop band. After the release of Sgt Peppers, the Fab Four had already become a studio-only act and were subsequently becoming one of the most in-demand artists to hear on record, featuring various twists and turns on their albums that no one saw coming. In the background, though, the band quickly built up a roster of new talent to oversee, with James Taylor as one of their prime candidates.
Being an avid Beatles fan since he started playing guitar, Taylor was shellshocked when he was asked to be one of the first major signings to the band’s Apple record label. Joining alongside other up-and-coming acts like Badfinger and friends like Billy Preston, Taylor would have his audition when playing a collection of his songs for Paul McCartney, after which he was given a record contract.
While The Beatles may have been flexing their creative muscles in the world of art rock and avant-garde music on The White Album and Abbey Road around the same time, Taylor was cribbing a few ideas from his favourite band as well, turning in one of his first major ballads with the song ‘Something in The Way She Moves’.
Despite being at the top of their game musically, George Harrison was also paying attention to what Taylor was doing in the studio, knicking the title of the song for the first few lines of his soon-to-be masterpiece ‘Something’. While Taylor may have noticed the similarities between his song and Harrison’s classic, he harboured no ill will towards the guitarist.
When hearing about the song for the first time, Taylor was ecstatic that Harrison even took the time to pay attention to his music, telling Rolling Stone, “When I heard George Harrison used the title for the opening words of ‘Something’, I was thrilled. I didn’t feel like I was being poached at all — besides, ‘Something in the way she moves’ quotes the Beatles’ ‘I Feel Fine’: ‘She’s around me almost all the time/And I feel fine’.”
As the years went on, Taylor continued to put subtle references to The Beatles in his songs as well. When he wrote the verses to ‘Carolina In My Mind’, for instance, Taylor said that he was talking about the Fab Four taking him under their wing when singing about the “holy hosts of others standing round me”.
Even into the members’ solo careers, it’s easy to spot where the band were taking inspiration from as well. Throughout the first few solo albums from Paul McCartney, the ramshackle production and the rootsy approach to songwriting seem reminiscent of where Taylor was going on ‘Fire and Rain’ a few years later.
While Apple Records would eventually crumble after one too many business dealings with new manager Allen Klein, Taylor and The Beatles would remain great friends throughout their career, with McCartney later recounting how emotional he can get when seeing him perform. Even though the Fab Four could have bowed out gracefully after conquering the world, the various references between them and Taylor proved that they kept their ears close to the ground.
