I used to stay up late to see this movie on my little black and white television when that was the only way to see it.

Watching it now, I get the feeling that there probably was a good reason that James Taylor only made one movie.

I don’t think that he’s really all that good an actor.

Two Lane Blacktop is one of the classic “car movies”, though.

 

I heard this cover song on the radio yesterday, and  it helped me remember just how much James Taylor I listened to growing up….

“Hey Mister That’s Me Up on the Jukebox” Judith Owen

From the first time I heard “Sweet Baby James” in my cousin Julie’s basement, I must have heard a James Taylor song at least once a day for quite a while.

It’s good that she didn’t introduce me to heroin or something damaging like that.

If I had a nickel for every James Taylor song that I listened to, I know that I’d have a pretty big pile of nickels.

I would be a rich man.

Ah, what do I care about the nickels?

I’ve got my family…and the music, too.

What do I need with nickels?

I’m not alone in listening to this music…in finding some worth in it.

I wonder how many kids and adults….maybe even some dogs…I can’t really speak for the dogs…found a lifeline in these songs?

There’s some good power in the ability to write a song that helps people get through something….or that just gives them something pleasant to listen to while they wash the dishes.

That’s some good power…

Quiet and reflective….maybe a little depressed….that’s my style of music. That old singer-songwriter stuff is my music.

 

Now, on the other hand, I guess that Kanye is a married man now.

He made an HONEST WOMAN out of Kim recently.

I saw that on the news.

There was a tornado that destroyed a lot of people’s homes and messed up their lives….and “Kimye” had an expensive wedding in France or something.

I saw it on the news.

I guess that’s what you call a “polar opposite”.

James Taylor or Neil Young….sitting on a stage with an old Martin or Gibson acoustic guitar, long hair and work boots, quietly singing something heartfelt….

Now, that’s my style.

Kanye has his style, too….

“Stronger” Kanye West

There’s a place for this music, too.

I’m glad that I heard James Taylor in Julie’s basement instead of Kanye.

It just doesn’t make as much sense to think that I might have become a lifelong Kanye fan that day….

I’m glad that didn’t go down like that for me.

Somewhere, though, there’s a kid thinking, “Man, if I had a nickel for every Kanye song I ever listened to, it could have been me marrying Ms. Kardashian in some villa in France!!”

“I’d be a RICH MAN!”

 

Nah…not so rich.

I’ll stick with my JT, thankyou….