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Old 07-03-2015, 10:48 PM   #1
Dave, Melbourne,Australia
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Posts: 550
Default James Taylor song "Angels of Fenway"

In June, James Taylor (now aged 67) released “Before this World”, his first album of original songs since 2002. The song that grabs my imagination, because I’d feel similar if the Melbourne Football Club won its first premiership since 1964, is “Angels of Fenway”:

Eighty-six summers gone by
Bambino put a hex on the Bean
We were living on a tear and a sigh
In the shadow of the Bronx machine
Man, you could feel it smoulder
Whole town had an attitude
Tend to get a little chip on your shoulder
Say something that’s downright rude
Damn them Yankees
Outspending everybody 2 to 1
Picking up on the cream of the crop
Stealing everyone’s favourite son

Angels of Fenway, hear our prayer
We have been chastened
We have been patient

Grandmama was a Fenway fan
Even after Granddad died
I still remember her holding my hand
Taking me along for the ride
She was born in 1918
Last year that the Red Sox won
Back then when they sold the Babe
Something that they never should have ever have done

Hey, Nanna, can I have another Coke?
Here comes the hot dog man
Look at that, his bat just broke
Gee, that’s got to kill his hand

Riding home on the Green Line
Watching the town go by
Nanna made another Red Sox fan
Till the day I die

That was back in ‘65
Doesn’t seem like a long time ago
Grandmama keeping hope alive
Watched them win in ‘004
Oh my God, it was beyond belief
Down 3 needing 4 in a row
Holding on by the skin of our teeth
Like a hungry dog on a bone

Angels of Fenway, give them peace
They have been patient
Red Sox Nation

The whole world held its breath
People got down on their knees
Ready for the sudden death
Praying to heaven for hell to freeze

Nanna watched from her hospital bed
She was there till the end of the race
I couldn’t hear the last words she said
But she was lying there with a smile on her face
Just a little smile on her face
Doesn’t feel like a long time ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K1qZi6Z0e4
= Official filmclip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnEqSvPyaR4
= Brief interview about the song

www.jamestaylor.com
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Old 07-05-2015, 10:59 AM   #2
charlene
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Default Re: James Taylor song "Angels of Fenway"

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/06/23...ore-this-world
James Taylor finds inspiration in Toronto for 'Before This World'
TORONTO SUN
jane-stevenson BY JANE STEVENSON, POSTMEDIA NETWORK
FIRST POSTED: TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015 03:06 PM EDT | UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015 03:22 PM EDT

How sweet it is to have a new James Taylor record, Before This World.

Especially since it's been 13 years since the celebrated singer-songwriter's last album of original music, 2002's October Road, leading up to what's expected to be his first No. 1 disc this week.

"Finishing songs and literally writing lyrics is something that, more and more these days, requires that I hide myself away and free from any distractions for a week at a time," said Taylor, 67, down the line from his home barn studio in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts where he's recorded for the last 12 years.

"What was really necessary was that I borrowed a friend's apartment in Newport, Rhode Island, in the off season and by the time I got really seriously down to business, I would borrow that apartment for a week at a time and after a couple of days, songs would start to occur to me, lyrics would start to come through. It's such a mysterious process for me. I basically have to be quiet and undistracted for a couple of days before I start getting ideas. Now that I know that I think I'll be able to get down to it again relatively soon."

Another bonus for Canadian fans on Before This World is the new tune, Snow Time, which name checks Toronto but was actually written about an incident in Montreal when Taylor's Cuban-born percussionist Luis Conte ended up following a flatbed truck carrying musicians during that city's jazz festival.

"I stuck with it for about 10 blocks," said Taylor, who was also inspired by a Hindu parade and wedding he witnessed on two different trips to Toronto.

"But Luis, I spoke to him the next day, we were playing a gig, and he said, 'No man, I ended up 10 miles out of town. I just followed it all night long.' The thing that was amazing was to see his connection to the music because it was authentic, true Afro-Cuban stuff. And the idea was the frozen man, which is one of my ways of thinking of myself, gets thawed out by this process, it sort of takes him by surprise, sort of wandering in downtown Toronto, he sort of comes across this flatbed truck, basically cooking it (musically) on the street."

Taylor performed the song for the first time live at his Molson Canadian Amphitheatre stop on his last tour and it went over well with the Toronto crowd.

"We wanted to play the song in Toronto - it's set there," said Taylor. "Generally speaking, I don't know in advance what a song is going to be about, not necessarily. It starts itself with some rudimentary ideas and then I follow it wherever it wants to go. It has its own logic, its own trajectory."

One exception that Boston Red Sox fans will be delighted about is Angels of Fenway, which Taylor wrote about the 2004 World Series team that won the franchise its first championship in 86 years.

"I knew it was going to be about the 2004 'Reverse the Curse' season," he said. "That miraculous thing that happened in that series against the Yankees when the Red Sox won. This was such an impossible victory and so remarkable for an entire region to give that relief, to see that amazing series of games against the Yankees. I knew I wanted to write about it in advance."

Taylor will get the chance to perform it live when he plays Fenway Park with Bonnie Raitt on Aug. 6.

"I anticipate that will be a great thing to play it for the audience at Fenway," said Taylor. "I've been a Red Sox fan since I was a kid."

Taylor says he won't get to Canada to tour with Before This World, which also features appearances by long-time friends/collaborators Sting and cellist Yo-Yo Ma before 2016, but loves his neighbours to the north.

"We'll be back there within the next 18 months, we'll be back in Toronto for sure, it's always great."

And, more importantly, he sees no signs of retiring anytime soon.

"There's definitely more in the rear-view mirror than there is through the windshield at this point," said Taylor. "I guess it just depends on the audience. If the audience is there and wants to hear the music, as long as I'm fit enough to do it still, I can't think of anything I'd rather do."

Twitter: @JaneCStevenson

Jane.stevenson@sunmedia.ca
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Old 07-09-2015, 02:27 AM   #3
Dave, Melbourne,Australia
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Default Re: James Taylor song "Angels of Fenway"

Char,

Great article. Thanks for posting that.
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