James Taylor

1. Don’t Talk Now

   Don’t Talk Now

   X

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   Where I’ve been
   You don’t know
   And what I’ve got
   Baby, it don’t show
   Now, I won’t try
   To teach you how
   Don’t talk now

   Don’t talk roads
   Don’t talk sand
   Don’t talk dust
   Don’t talk no man
   Don’t talk rules
   Don’t talk vows
   Don’t talk now

   I don’t wanna hear the same old song
   And too many rights still make her wrong, baby
   I know she can’t hurt me less by talking more
   She can’t make good what was bad before

   No, It’s too late now for me to lie
   And I can’t make a second try
   I just came on back baby got to say good-bye, good bye
   Don’t talk now…
   Don’t talk now

2. Something’s Wrong

   Something’s Wrong

   X

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   Something’s wrong, that restless feeling’s been preying on your mind
   Road maps in a well cracked ceiling the signs aren’t hard to find
   Now I’m not saying that you’ve been mistreated
   No one’s hurt you – nothing’s wrong
   A moment’s rest was all you needed
   So pack your things and kindly move along

   Like dust in the wind you’re gone forever
   You’re wind-blown leaves you’re a change in the weather

   Just a town like any other a second brand new start
   A third or fourth hand wife or lover no, you won’t break her heart
   Take some bacon go on and leave your watch chain
   She won’t count on nothing more
   Wrap your hands around that small change
   and tiptoe barefoot out the door

   Yes, something’s wrong that restless feeling’s been preying on my mind
   When things get bad I’m bound to pack my bags and just
   Leave them all behind

3. Knocking ‘Round The Zoo

   Knocking ‘Round The Zoo

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   Just knocking around the zoo on a Thursday afternoon
   There’s bars on all the windows and they’re counting up the spoons
   And if I’m feeling edgy there’s a chick who’s paid to be my slave
   But she’ll hit me with a needle if she thinks I’m trying to misbehave

   Now the keeper’s trying to cool me says I’m bound to be alright
   But I know that he can’t fool me ’cause I’m putting him uptight
   And I can feel him getting edgy every time I make a sudden move
   And I can hear them celebrating every time I up and leave the room

   Now my friends all came to see me they point at me and stare
   Said he’s just like the rest of us so what’s he doing in there
   They hide in their movie theaters drinking juice-keeping tight
   ‘Cause they’re certain about one thing that zoo’s no place to spend the
   night

   Just knocking around the zoo on a Thursday afternoon
   There’s bars on all the windows and they’re counting up the spoons
   And if I’m feeling edgy there’s a chick who’s paid to be my slave
   But she’ll hit me with a needle if she thinks I’m trying to misbehave

4. Sunshine Sunshine

   Sunshine Sunshine

   X

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   Sounds of laughter here comes Sunshine
   Smiling faces all around
   They possess you bless you Sunshine
   Now you can never let them down
   I say Sunshine

   Sunshine, Sunshine
   Is that a cloud across your smile or did you dream again last night
   It’s best you rest inside a while as blue doesn’t seem to suit you right

   Things ain’t what they used to be pain and rain and misery
   Illness in the family and Sunshine means a lot to me
   I say Sunshine

   But could it be Sunshine is drifting with midnight
   And lonely when everyone’s gone
   Blue crystal spirits and gardens in moonlight
   Leave weak alone and bleak all quiet and grey by dawn

   Sunshine Sunshine
   Rising to late to chase the cold and failing to change the frost to dew
   She’s trading her mood of yellow gold for frost bitten shades of silver
   blue

   Friends and lovers past and gone and no-one waiting further on
   I’m running short of things to be and Sunshine means quite a lot to me
   I say Sunshine… Sunshine

5. Taking It In

   Taking It In

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   Morning, sing me a song
   Afternoon, bring it along
   Nighttime, show me a friend
   Say it again
   Send a good dream my way

   Wednesday, feeling just fine
   I got to say time on my hands
   Friday, look at them run
   Show me some fun
   Taking the sunshine in

   God knows you’ve got to give yourself
   Time to think these days
   Lord knows you’ve got to take enough
   Time to look both ways
   The pieces fly by so quickly now

   Laura, look at you walk
   I swear you’ve got eyes in my head
   I’d like to follow you down
   Show you around
   Borrow the crown you wear

   Bacon, lie on the plate
   Two black-eyed peas wait on the side
   Gravy chicken and rice
   Isn’t it nice
   Tell me the price of the food

   What happens when the answers they give you
   Aren’t good enough
   What happens when it rains for eight days
   On your week off
   You know you can’t buy tomorrow, no
   It’s all a matter of opening up your eyes
   And looking around ’cause it’s all there, it’s all there
   I said taking the sunshine in

6. Something In The Way She Moves

   Something In The Way She Moves

   X

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   (re-recording)

   Well, there’s something in the way she moves
   Or looks my way or calls my name
   That seems to leave this troubled world behind
   And if I’m feeling down and blue
   Or troubled by some foolish game
   She always seems to make me change my mind

   I feel fine any time she’s around me now
   She’s around me now almost all the time
   If I’m well you can tell that she’s been with me now
   She’s been with me now quite a long, long time
   And I feel fine

   Every now and then the things I lean on
   They lose their meaning
   And I find myself careening
   Into places where I should never let me go, no

   She has the power to go where
   No one else can find me
   And to silently remind me
   Of the happiness and good times that I know
   Well, I guess I just got to know then

   It isn’t what she’s got to say
   Or how she thinks or where she’s been
   To me the words are nice the way they sound
   I like to hear them best that way
   Doesn’t much matter what they mean
   She says them mostly just to calm me down

   I feel fine any time that she’s around me now
   She’s around me now I guess just about all the time
   And if I’m well you can tell that she’s been with me now
   She’s been with me now quite a long, long time
   Yes, I feel fine

7. Carolina In My Mind

   Carolina In My Mind

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   In my mind I’m gone to Carolina
   Can’t you see the sunshine
   Can’t you just feel the moonshine
   Ain’t it like a friend of mine
   To hit me from behind
   Oh, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

   Karin she’s a silver sun
   You best walk her way and watch it shine
   Watch her watch the morning come
   A silver tear appearing now
   Well, I’m cryin’ ain’t I
   I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

   Ain’t no doubt in no one’s mind
   That love’s the finest thing around
   Whisper something soft and kind
   Hey, baby, the sky’s on fire
   I’m dyin’ ain’t I
   Ain’t I gone to Carolina in my mind

   In my mind I’m gone to Carolina
   Can’t you see the sunshine
   Can’t you just feel the moonshine
   Ain’t it like a friend of mine
   To hit me from behind
   Till I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

   Dark and silent late last night
   Think I might have heard the highway calling
   Geese in flight and dogs that bite
   And signs that might be omens
   Say I’m goin’, I’m goin’
   Gone to Carolina in my mind

   It’s with a holy host of others
   Standing round me
   Still I’m on the dark side of the moon
   And it looks like it goes on like this forever
   You must forgive me
   If I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

   In my mind I’m long gone to Carolina
   Can’t you see the sunshine
   I said can’t you just feel the moonshine
   Ain’t it just like a friend of mine
   To hit me from behind
   Oh, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
   Oh, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
   So I’m already gone
   I’m gone
   Say nice things about me
   I’m gone
   You’ll have to carry on without me
   I’m gone
   Oh, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
   I’m gone
   Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind

8. Brighten Your Night With My Day

   Brighten Your Night With My Day

   X

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   Daybreak finds you up and alive
   Just as though you could touch a star
   But sunset seems to leave you weary alone
   And wondering who you are
   Don’t deny that lonely feeling
   That keeps stealing on you from deep down inside
   Hey, can’t you see that it’s no good concealing
   A feeling it hurts you to hide

   When you can come home to me
   Yes, I’m happy to hear what you’ve got
   to say to me, baby, all the way
   Girl, you can count on me
   Watch those shadows fade away
   And brighten your night with my day

   Daybreak, sunset hot and cold
   Running smiles and tears
   A bright outside to match your foolish pride
   But not a word for the lonely years

   Please come back to me
   Now you won’t have to say
   That you’ll stay with me, baby, no, it’s not that way
   Just come back home to me
   Watch those shadows fade away
   And brighten your night with my…

   Daybreak, sunset
   You don’t have to cry no more
   Now, everything’s gonna be just fine
   Watch out, baby, here it comes
   Right around the corner
   Here it comes
   Just brighten your night with my day

9. Night Owl

   Night Owl

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   (later recorded by Carly Simon and also Alex Taylor)

   A catfish he tends to groove on the water
   It’s just where he’s bound to be
   And a monkey kinds of flashes on fruits and bananas
   So he lives in the top of a tree
   But my eyes are made for darkness
   And so the nighttime is right for me

   Said I’m a night owl, honey
   Sleep all day long

   Now most folks they like the good day time
   They like to see the shining sun
   They’re up in the morning
   Off and running
   ‘Till they’re too tired for having fun
   But when the sun goes down
   And them bright light shine
   My daytime has just begun

   I’m a night owl, honey
   Sleep all day long

   Said turn off that bright light, baby
   You’re just about to drive me blind
   Draw them curtains for me, mama
   You watch and you’ll see
   How my love light shines

   Now, there’s two sides to this
   Great big world
   and one of them is always night
   Hey, if you can take care of
   Business in the sunshine, baby
   I guess you’re gonna be alright
   But don’t come looking for stringbean
   To lend you a hand
   Because my eyes they can’t stand the light

   No, I’m a night owl, honey
   Sleep all, sleep all day long
   I said sleep all day long
   I’m a night owl, honey

10. Rainy Day Man

    Rainy Day Man

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    What good is that happy lie
    All you wanted from the start was to cry

    It looks like another fall
    Your good friends they don’t seem to help at all
    When you’re feeling kind of cold and small
    Just look up your rainy day man

    It does you no good to pretend child
    You’ve made a hole much too big to mend
    And it looks like you lose again, my friend
    Call on your rainy day man

    Now rainy day man he don’t like sunshine
    He don’t chase rainbows
    He don’t need good times
    Grey days rolling
    Then you’ll see him
    Empty feeling
    Now you need him

    All those noble thoughts they just don’t belong
    You can’t hide the truth with a happy song
    And since you knew where you stood all along
    Just look up your rainy day man

    Now simple pleasures they all evade you
    Store-bought treasures none can save you
    Look for signs to ease the pain
    Ask again
    Go on and pray for rain

    It looks like another fall
    Your good friends they don’t seem to help at all
    When you’re feeling kind of cold and small
    Just look up your rainy day man
    All I need to do is look up my rainy day man

    Now what good is that happy lie
    All you wanted from the start was to cry

11. Circle Round The Sun

    Circle Round The Sun

    X

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    Now, I love my baby
    And she’s bound to love me some
    Yes, I love my baby
    And she’s bound to love me some
    Now, she throws her arms around me
    Like a circle around the sun

    I lay down last night, Lord
    Just to try to take my rest
    I lay down last night, Lord
    I was trying to take my rest
    But my thoughts they just kept wandering
    Like the wild geese in the west

    Now I know that sunrise, sunrise
    It’s gonna shine in my back yard someday
    I said I know that sunrise, sunrise, sunrise
    It’s gonna shine in my back yard someday
    And that wind just bound to rise up
    Gonna blow, blow all my blues away

    Hey, I love my baby
    And she’s bound to love me some
    Hear me say that
    I love my baby
    And she’s bound to love me some
    Now, she throws her arms around me
    Just like a circle around the sun

12. The Blues Is Just A Bad Dream

    The Blues Is Just A Bad Dream

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    A tree grows in my back yard
    It only grows at night
    Its branches they’re all twisted
    Its leaves are afraid of light

    They say the blues is just a bad dream
    They say it lives upside your head
    But when it’s lonely in the morning
    You’re bound to wish that you was lying dead

    There’s winds out on the ocean
    They’re blowing just as they choose
    But then winds ain’t got no emotion, baby
    And they don’t know the blues

    They say the blues is just a bad dream
    They say it lives upside your head
    But when it’s lonely, lonely in the morning
    You’re bound to wish that you was lying dead

    My mind is rambling and rambling
    Just like some rolling stone, no
    Since that nightmare’s come to stay with me, baby
    My thoughts just don’t belong

    They say the blues is just a bad dream
    They say it lives upside your head
    But when they visit you around midnight
    You’re bound to wish that you were lying dead