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Nonetheless, I have not really listened to a James Taylor record in years. I guess I'm so embarrassed about my James Taylor song affinity that I won't keep his albums around. I do not think I ever consciously decided to do it, but over the past few years, I have let James Taylor completely slip out of my life. If a friend of mine had not played a James Taylor song for me the other week, in fact, I might have completely forgotten him.
This wasn't just any friend, and he wasn't playing just any James Taylor song. We had grown up together, and have listened to James Taylor together many times. The James Taylor song that he was playing was Fire and Rain. One time when we were young, we got into a big fight when our families moved apart. We did not talk to each other for several years, and it seemed like we would never be friends again. Every time either of us heard that James Taylor song, however, it would make us think of the other one. It took awhile, but finally we got sick of fighting and decided to be friends again. I won't say that the James Taylor song is the reason that we are friends, but it certainly helped reconcile us.
Listening to some of the songs James Taylor wrote with my friend, it made me realize why I liked him in the first place. James Taylor songs are not the greatest in the world, but there is something compelling about him in an understated way. His songs are soothing, mellow, and nonthreatening, but they still say something. I'm not frequently in the mood to hear a James Taylor song, but when I am nothing else will suffice.
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