Easy listening personified: sweet guitar bliss coded with deep lyrics with uniquely human emotion. James Taylor is one of the bestselling singer-songwriters in American history. Mr. Taylor was born on March 12, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a doctor and got a job as the dean of the medical school at the University of North Carolina, forcing the family to move to the place where James would be raised for his entire childhood. Even so, the “Fire and Rain” singer did not lose his New England roots as his mother was quite fond of their “Yankee credentials” and would take the children back every summer. This dual American experience, what Life magazine called “equal parts Beacon Hill and Chapel Hill,” has influenced his songwriting that manages to capture universal feelings of a cultural pivot in America.

Recently, I have been going down a rabbit hole through James Taylor’s discography. Growing up, I would always recognize his benevolent tone when I would be driving in the car with my parents. He sounded like a friend, and his songs were something I did not think about often but were a welcome surprise when they came on. It was not until the past month that I took the time to explore his greater work and personal life. Something that struck me when I was researching him was his addiction to heroin. Listening to his more popular songs when I was younger, I never thought of the lyrics deeply. The saddest songs are cloaked in his friendly voice.

One of his biggest hits, “Fire and Rain,” released in 1970, has three main verses-one about a friend of his who committed suicide, his opiate addiction, and the last verse about being in a mental hospital. These verses are not too explicit, if one is listening just to feel instead of analyze, you may not catch the full context.

He writes “Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line/To talk about things to come/Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.” These lyrics, from the latter verse, wrestle with the complexities of being in the hospital and reflecting on the past failure of his former band- The Flying Machine.

A special skill of Taylor’s is creating vivid imagery through not only his words, but his overall musicality, instruments, and tone. One of his most well-known songs, “Carolina in My Mind,” perfectly captures the feeling of wistful homesickness, beckoning the listener to fall into the rolling greens and picturesque beaches of North Carolina. Listening to this song makes me yearn for my home, even when I am not previously homesick.

James Taylor’s ability as a songwriter to pull on your heartstrings in such a genuine way is something that I believe is sorely lacking in today’s modern music. Some of my favorite lyrics from this song are: “Karen, she’s a silver sun/You’d best walk her way and watch it shine/Watch her watch the morning come/A silver tear appearing now, well, I’m crying, ain’t I? /I’m gone to Carolina in my mind.” Karen, in this case, refers to a woman Taylor met while in Spain when writing this song. He peacefully delivers the line about the sunrise and his fallen tears.

The earnest question, “I’m crying, ain’t I?” makes no effort to be dramatic but sincerely reflects the humility of being homesick. “There ain’t no doubt in no one’s mind/That love’s the finest thing around.” For no special reason, this line sticks out. It is pure. It is true that the thing humans crave most of all is love.

That love may be friendship, romantic, familial, unconditional, etc. (as the Greeks called them, Philia, Eros, Storge, and Agape) or, in this case, the love of a place. It is no less important or painful than the others. James Taylor’s career has been intertwined with other powerful artists of the time, such as Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, The Beatles, and Carole King. All of which worked musically with Taylor at one point. Mitchell and Simon were both former girlfriends of Taylor. The Beatles were involved with James Taylor’s career when he was in London at their Apple Records Label studios, prompting Paul McCartney to use the first line of James’ “Something in the Way She Moves” for The Beatles’ “Something.” Carole King and James have been longtime collaborators and friends, working together on King’s 1971 album, Tapestry. James Taylor, in an interview with Rolling Stone, said that King told him she was inspired to write “You’ve Got a Friend” in response to the lyric “I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend” in Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” With this brief look into the career of the 75-year-old James Taylor, it is my hope that more young adults will sit down and really listen to his thoughtful tunes, reflect on their own “Carolina,” and continue the legacy of this great musician.