James Taylor

"Secret O' Life"

"Secret O' Life"



The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
Any fool can do it, there ain't nothing to it.
Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.
But since we're on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride.

The secret of love is in opening up your heart.
It's okay to feel afraid, but don't let that stand in your way.
Cause anyone knows that love is the only road.
And since we're only here for a while, might as well show some style. Give us a smile.

Isn't it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.

Now the thing about time is that time isn't really real.
It's just your point of view, how does it feel for you?
Einstein said he could never understand it all.
Planets spinning through space, the smile upon your face, welcome to the human race.

Some kind of lovely ride. I'll be sliding down, I'll be gliding down.
Try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.
Isn't it a lovely ride? Sliding down, gliding down,
try not to try too hard, it's just a lovely ride.
The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.

"Seminole Wind"

"Seminole Wind"



Ever since the days of old
Men would search for wealth untold
They'd dig for silver and for gold
And leave the empty holes
And way down south in the Everglades
Where the black water rolls and the saw grass waves
The eagles fly and the otters play
In the land of the Seminole

So blow, blow Seminole wind
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm calling to you like a long lost friend
But I know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar

And progress came and took its toll
And in the name of flood control
They made their plans and they drained the land
Now the glades are going dry
And the last time I walked in the swamp
I sat upon a Cypress stump
I listened close and I heard the ghost
Of Osceola cry

So blow, blow Seminole wind
Blow like you're never gonna blow again
I'm calling to you like a long lost friend
But I know who you are
And blow, blow from the Okeechobee
All the way up to Micanopy
Blow across the home of the Seminole
The alligators and the gar

"September Grass"

"September Grass"



Well, the sun's not so hot in the sky today
and you know I can see summertime slipping on away.
A few more geese are gone, a few more leaves turning red,
but the grass is as soft as a feather in a featherbed.
So I'll be king and you'll be queen, our kingdom's gonna be this little patch of green.
Won't you lie down here right now in this September grass?
Won't you lie down with me now, September grass.

Oh, the memory is like the sweetest pain. Yeah, I kissed the girl at a football game.
I can still smell the sweat and the grass stains.
We walked home together, I was never the same.
But that was a long time ago, and where is she now? I don't know.
Won't you lie down here right now in this September grass?
Won't you lie down with me now, September grass.

Oh, September grass is the sweetest kind, it goes down easy like apple wine.
Hope you don't mind if I pour you some, made that much sweeter by the winter to come.

Do you see those ants dancing on a blade of grass?
Do you know what I know? That's you and me, baby.
We're so small and the world's so vast, we found each other down in the grass.
Won't you lie down here right now in this September grass?
Won't you lie down with me now, September grass.

Lie down, lie down, lie down, lie down.

Won't you lie down here right now in this September grass?
Won't you lie down with me now, September grass.
Won't you lie down here right now in this September grass?
Won't you lie down with me now, September grass...

"She Thinks I Still Care"

"She Thinks I Still Care"



Just because I ask a friend about her, just because I spoke her name somewhere.
Just because I rang her number by mistake today, she thinks I still care.

Just because I hang out at the same old places where the memory of her lingers everywhere,
Just because I'm not the happy guy I used to be, she thinks I still care.

But if she's happy thinking I still need her, then let that silly notion bring her cheer.
But how could she ever be so foolish, oh, where would she get such an idea?

Just because I ask a friend about her. just because I spoke her name somewhere.
Just because I saw her, then went all to pieces, she thinks I still care, she thinks I still care.

"Shed A Little Light"

"Shed A Little Light"



Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
and recognize that there are ties between us, all men and women living on the Earth.
Ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood, that we are bound together
in our desire to see the world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong.
We are bound together by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead.
We are bound and we are bound.

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest

Shed a little light, oh Lord, so that we can see, just a little light, oh Lord.
Wanna stand it on up, stand it on up, oh Lord,
wanna walk it on down, shed a little light, oh Lord.

Can't get no light from the dollar bill, don't give me no light from a TV screen.
When I open my eyes I wanna drink my fill from the well on the hill,
do you know what I mean?

Shed a little light, oh Lord, so that we can see, just a little light, oh Lord.
Wanna stand it on up, stand it on up, oh Lord,
wanna walk it on down, shed a little light, oh Lord.

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist, there is a hunger in the center of the chest.
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
and though the body sleeps the heart will never rest.

Oh, Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
and recognize that there are ties between us.
All men and women living on the Earth, ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood.

"Shower The People"

"Shower The People"



You can play the game and you can act out the part,
even though you know it wasn't written for you.
Tell me, how can you stand there with your broken heart ashamed of playing the fool?
One thing can lead to another; it doesn't take any sacrifice.
Oh, father and mother, sister and brother, if it feels nice, don't think twice,
just shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will do as I say, just
shower the people you love with love, show them the way you feel.
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.

You can run but you cannot hide, this is widely known.
Tell me, what you plan to do with your foolish pride when you're all by yourself, alone.
Once you tell somebody the way that you feel, you can feel it beginning to ease.
I think it's true what they say about the squeaky wheel always getting the grease.
Better to shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna be just fine if you only will what I'd like to do to you.
Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna be much better if you only will.

Shower the people you love with love, show them the way that you feel.
You'll feel better right away.
Don't take much to do, sell you pride.
They say in every life, they say the rain must fall, just like pouring rain, make it rain.
Make it rain, love, love, love is sunshine, oh yes,
Make it rain, love, love, love is sunshine. Everybody, everybody.

"Slap Leather"

"Slap Leather"



Take all the money that we need for school and to keep the street people in out of the cold.
Spend it on a weapon you can never use, make the world an offer that they can't refuse.
Open up the door and let the shark-men feed, Hoover of the future in the land of greed.
Sell the Ponderosa to the Japanese, slap leather, head for that line of trees, yeah.
Slap leather, go on Ron, just about to go myself.

Turn the whole wide world into a TV show so it's just the same game wherever you go.
You never meet a soul that you don't already know, one big advertisement for the status quo.
As if these celebrities were your close friends, as if you knew how the story ends.
As if you weren't sitting in a room alone
and there was somebody real at the other end of the phone, yeah.
Squibnocket, phone sex, just about to dial your number.

Get all worked up so we can go to war, we find something worth killing for.
Tie a yellow ribbon around your eyes, big McFalafel and a side of fries.
Yeah, big McFalafel, stormin' Norman, I just love a parade.
Slap leather, phone love, big McFalafel, just about to dial myself.

"Sleep Come Free Me"

"Sleep Come Free Me"



Well, I've been lying in this dungeon since I was eighteen.
Ten lonely years of my life taken, I've been living in the pages of a magazine.
It breaks my heart to awaken.
Set me free, sleep come free me, please, please, please. Set me free, set me free.

Now the state of Alabama says I killed a man, the jury reached the same conclusion.
I remember I was there with a tire iron in my hand, the rest is all confusion.
Set me free, sleep come free me, please, please, please. Set me free, set me free.

More like an animal and less like a man, what they leave you ain't worth keeping.
Brother let me tell you, I got a clock with no hands, the only way out is through sleeping.
Set me free, sleep come free me, please, please, please. Set me free, set me free.

You get to where you used to be, whoever you claim, it's open to interpretation.
Just remember your number and abandon your name,
and hold on to your name and hold on to your imagination, oh no no.
Set me free, sleep come free me, please, please, please. Set me free, set me free.

"Slow Burning Love"

"Slow Burning Love"



It was a hot and sultry day somewhere in early September.
I don't hardly remember the day, just the way the sun beat down upon the bay, baby.
I did not even need to know your name,
it was, oh, so plain to see that you had eyes for me.
Halfway open, halfway closed, half-naked eyes for me, baby.

It was a slow burning love, a fair-weather love affair.
A slow burning, smoldering love for you and I.
And like the sun on the edge of the Western sky, it died.

Oh, the lights of the city were close at hand. I might just as well have been another man.
You might just as well have been another girl.
It might just as well have been another world.

It was a slow burning love, a fair-weather love affair.
A slow burning, smoldering love for you and I.
And like the sun on the edge of the Western sky, it died.

Oh, slow burning love. You were smoking up that day, some kind of hot...
It was a slow burning love, a fair-weather love affair.
A slow burning, smoldering love for you and I.
And like the sun on the edge of the Western sky, it died.