Happy Birthday, James

James Taylor was born today in 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, although he grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Last year I gave you My Traveling Star, the year before that Circles Around the Sun, and before that Fire and Rain. This year, another of my favorites. the words written by Reynolds Price:


Copperline


Even the old folks never knew
Why they call it like they do.
I was wondering since the age of two
Down on Copperline:
Copperhead, copper beech
Copper kettles sitting side by each
Copper coil, cup o'georgia peach
Down on Copperline.

Half a mile down to Morgan Creek
Leaning heavy on the end of the week
Hercules and a hog-nosed snake
Down on Copperline
We were down on Copperline

Warm summer night on the Copperline
Slip away past supper time,
Wood smoke and moonshine
Down on Copperline.
One time I saw my daddy dance,
Watched him moving like a man in a trance;
He brought it back from the war in France
Down onto Copperline.

Branch water and tomato wine
Creosote and turpentine
Sour mash and new moon shine
Down on Copperline
Down on Copperline

First kiss ever I took,
Like a page from a romance book,
The sky opened and the earth shook
Down on Copperline.
Took a fall from a windy height,
I only knew how to hold on tight
And pray for love enough to last all night
Down on Copperline.

Day breaks and the boys wakes up
And the dog barks and the birds sing
And the sap rises and the angels sigh, yeah

I tried to go back, as if I could:
All spec house and plywood,
Tore up and tore up good
Down on Copperline.
It doesn't come as a surprise to me,
It doesn't touch my memory.
Man, I'm lifting up and rising free
Down on over Copperline.

Half a mile down to Morgan Creek
I'm only living for the end of the week
Hercules and a hog-nosed snake
Down on Copperline, yeah
Take me down on Copperline
Oh, down on Copperline
Take me down on Copperline