portrait of this blog's author - by Stephen Blackman 2008

Thursday, March 24, 2022

James Taylor on writing You Can Close Your Eyes - O MY SOUL

“I was making a movie—the only movie of my life, ‘Two-Lane Blacktop.’ Joni was traveling with me at the time, just for company and she was knitting me a sweater—A ‘two-lane blacktop’ sweater—one of the arms was like this long and the other was here…but it was really a beautiful thing, I wish I knew where it was—So I was traveling with Joni…we were staying in a hotel/motel outside of Santa Fe, and she was asleep in the bed and I was sitting on the side, playing the guitar and I wrote that song.“—And you played it for her when she woke up?—"Yeah, she seemed to like it.”

— James Taylor in response to the question: “Did you really write, ‘[You Can] Close Your Eyes,’ for Joni Mitchell while she was asleep in the back seat of a car you were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway?”—Stephen Colbert, The Late Show, February 2020.



In this restored footage of "James Taylor In Concert," James performs his song "You Can Close Your Eyes“ on the popular BBC series "In Concert" on November 16, 1970. "In Concert" was produced by the BBC in the early '70s and featured performances from legendary acts of the time. In November 1970, James was 22 years old and his second studio album "Sweet Baby James" had released earlier that same year. Well, the sun is surely sinkin’ down But the moon is slowly risin’ So this old world must still be spinnin’ ’round Yes, and I still love you So close your eyes You can close your eyes It’s all righ tI don’t know no love songs And I can’t sing the blues anymore Yes, but I can sing this song And you can sing this song when I’m gone It won’t be long before another day We’re gonna have a good time And no one’s gonna take that time away You can stay as long as you like Only close your eyes You can close your eyes It’s all right Oh, I don’t know no love songs And I can’t sing the blues anymore Sure, but I can sing this song Yes, and you can sing this song when I’m gone #JamesTaylor

Footage licensed from BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. All rights reserved.

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