Wednesday 8 July 2009

Rockabye Sweet Baby James

I went to see James Taylor in the O2 on Monday. It was a brilliant night, he had a great band with wonderful backing singers, his voice as mellow as ever, and he showed a sense of humour that seemed slightly English on occasion. I also found out at last, after 35 years, what the song 'Sweet Baby James' is about. He played all the well-known songs his fans would expect, along with a selection of more recent material, including a pleasing cover of the old Jimmy Webb song, "Wichita Lineman", a song which, although I'm no country fan, I've always liked.

No real ale of course, as you'd expect. A bottle of Becks was £4 (I'm sure I could get a box of 12 for that in ASDA, not that I would ever want to) and the very cheapest wine was £17.50 a bottle ~ it looked like £3.99 supermarket plonk to me. So, I didn't bother with a drink, which improved my evening tremendously as I would have begrudged drinking disgusting booze at astronomical prices.

Once I had successfully ignored the bar, I had a great evening.

7 comments:

  1. A great night without beer? I suppose theoretically it may be possible

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  2. When I went to see AC/DC there in April they had had people with beer containers on their back dispensing some godforsaken lager from a tap via a flexible hose. I did'nt partake either.

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  3. Yes, there are times when you have to just say no...

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  4. Are you going to share the secret of "Sweet Baby James"?

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  5. I always thought the song was somehow about James Taylor himself. He explained that it was written for his then new- born nephew, named James after him, hence "sweet baby James". He also decided to have a sort of singing cowboy feel to the song, like Gene Autrey or Roy Rogers, which explains the verses. Quite simple really, once you know.

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  6. Just say no to beer?! Yes I prefer cask but I'll never say no to a free beer orca beer in the right setting . Keg and AC/DC go together. If I'd been here I'd of guzzled it

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  7. Thanks for that. I could never quite square the "sweet baby" lyric with the rest of the song, but as you say, armed with that knowledge, it all falls into place.

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