Interview material used throughout this book is taken from the author’s own original interviews and conversations, unless noted in the text or below.
Prologue: But Satisfaction Brought Him Back
“I realized it was all going…” Colin Irwin, “Time to Make a Change,” Mojo, June 2000.
“My next LP…” Robert Windeler, Stereo Review, October 1972.
“I don’t want to go on…” Steve Gaines, “Cat Puts an End to the Cat Stevens Sound,” Circus, September 1973.
“I wasn’t really enjoying…” Gaines, “Cat Puts an End to the Cat Stevens Sound.”
“I want the next album to really…” From an untitled, uncredited article in Star, month n.a., 1973. (From the author’s collection.)
“In no way could I have made…” Roy Carr, “Cat Under a Hot Tin Roof,” New Musical Express, March 1973.
“Those first three albums I did for Island…” Carr, “Cat Under a Hot Tin Roof.
“Some people think it’s…” Irwin, “Time to Make a Change.”
“I had hoped the States…” Gaines, “Cat Puts an End to the Cat Stevens Sound.”
“You see, I think just lately…” James Johnson, “Cat Stevens and a Revolution in Athens,” Melody Maker, June 23, 1973.
“I wanted an immediate feel…” Paul Gambaccini, “A Happier Cat Stevens Explains Foreigner,” Rolling Stone, September 13, 1973.
“Completely subconsciously…” Genevieve Hall, “I Can’t Explain,” Record Mirror, April 6, 1974.
“This is the age of personal revolution…” Johnson, “Cat Stevens and a Revolution in Athens.”
“I’m glad it happened in that…” Gambaccini, “A Happier Cat Stevens Explains Foreigner.”
“Having a constant sound…” Charlesworth, Chris, “Cat on the Prowl,” Melody Maker, March 23, 1974.
1. Where the Children Play
“Most folk songs today are written in Tin Pan Alley…” From an undated recording of Bob Dylan in concert, venue and city n.a. (From the author’s collection.)
“The first music that I heard that I really went crazy for was Bob Dylan’s…” Anthony DeCurtis, “Jackson Browne,” Rolling Stone, October 15, 1992.
“I would get the [new] Bob Dylan album…” DeCurtis, “Jackson Browne.”
“to speak to people as Richard Farina had spoken to me…” Colin Irwin, “These Days,” Melody Maker, December 1976.
2. Sweet Baby James
“I…heard Tom Rush…and instantly became a big fan…” David Rensin, “Tom Rush’s Circle,” Rolling Stone, January 2, 1975.
“This was not to be an album of ‘copies…’” Al Kooper, liner notes to Tom Rush, Take a Little Walk with Me (Elektra, 1965).
3. Before the Deluge
“We didn’t have that jive nothingness…” “James Taylor: One Man’s Family of Rock,” Time, March 1, 1971.
“All these heavy songs…” From an undated recording of James Taylor in concert, venue and city n.a. (From the author’s collection.)
“I [just] wanted a sandwich…” James Taylor, Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter DVD (Hear Music, 2010).
4. Fire and Rain
“nose-dive[d] into dark depressions…” Untitled article, Star, month n.a., 1973.
“bearded [men] in jeans [who] would bash out three chords on an acoustic guitar…” Karl Dallas, Dave Laing, Robin Denselow, and Robert Shelton, The Electric Muse: The Story of Folk into Rock (Methuen Paperbacks, 1975).
“Sandy Denny…nursing Cat Stevens…” Neville Judd, Al Stewart: The True Life Adventures of a Folk Rock Troubadour (Helter Skelter Publishing, 2005).
5. Wild World
“There were two hundred black and Chicano kids…” Joe Smith, Off the Record: An Oral History of Popular Music, ed. Mitchell Fink (Warner Books, 1988).
“‘Zeeks!’ gasped one teenybopper. ‘You can’t even…’” “The New Troubadours,” Time, October 28, 1966.
“Most people [never stop] living the first twelve, or maybe fifteen…” Mitchell Cohen, “Jackson Browne: Winning,” Phonograph Record, November 1976.
“I had a gigantic crush on Nico…” Cameron Crowe, “A Child’s Garden of Jackson Browne,” Rolling Stone, May 23, 1974.
“I got a call, would I like to be her guitar player…” Crowe, “A Child’s Garden of Jackson Browne.”
“This famous publicist…and New York scene maker…” Richard Meltzer, “Young Jackson Browne’s Old Days,” Rolling Stone, June 22, 1972.
“I mean, I really didn’t know what was going on…” Crowe, “A Child’s Garden of Jackson Browne.”
“tried to explain that this male person…” Meltzer, “Young Jackson Browne’s Old Days.”
“I went to see Nico with Leonard…” Ritchie Unterburg, liner notes to Steve Noonan, Steve Noonan CD reissue (Collectors Choice, 2006).
“This guy was a kid…” Barbara Charone, “The Road and the Sky,” Sounds, December 11, 1976.
“I was stunned…” Richard Witts, Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon (Virgin Books, 1993).
6. Places in My Past
“My memory is pretty spotty about this stuff…” Timothy White, “James Taylor: A Portrait of an Artist,” Billboard, December 5, 1998.
“When I first met Cat in July 1966 it took me…” Mike Hurst, liner notes to Cat Stevens, Matthew and Son (Deram, 1967).
“I was impressed by people who had been in the business…” Penny Valentine, “Talk In,” Sounds, May 22, 1971.
“Cat likes to write songs…” Rodrigo Fresan, Kensington Gardens (Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2005).
“Frightened of drying up as far as music is concerned…” Mike Ledgerwood, “Cat Stevens Talks…” Disc and Music Echo, October 29, 1966.
“The old boy who operated it…” Mo Foster, Play Like Elvis! How British Musicians Bought the American Dream (MPG Books, 2000).
“It’s funny because, although I was lonely…” Penny Valentine, “Cat Stevens,” Disc and Music Echo, January 21, 1967.
“I rather like that Cat Stevens thing…” Georgie Fame, “Interview with Georgie Fame,” Disc and Music Echo, October 29, 1966.
“I’ve written about forty songs in all…” Philip Palmer, “Cat Stevens,” Record Mirror, January 14, 1967.
“He walked along Carnaby Street…” Dawn James, “Cat Stevens,” Rave, March 2, 1967.
“I like clothes very much…” “Cat’s Story,” Mirabelle, March 11, 1967.
“I felt terribly hurt after Juke Box Jury…” Jeremy Pascal, “Juke Box Bitchy Comment Hurt,” New Musical Express, April 22, 1967.
“I really want to write a musical…” Derek Boltwood, “Mexico Mad Cat and His First Musical,” Record Mirror, August 19, 1967.
“Up to a certain point, anyway…” Boltwood, “Mexico Mad Cat and his First Musical.”
7. Nothing but Time
“People write sleeve notes for various reasons…” Hurst, liner notes to Matthew and Son.
“I used to dread recording sessions…” Danny Goldberg and Salli Stevenson, “Cosmic Superstar,” Circus, July 1971.
“I think it’s a great scene…” Boltwood, “Mexico Mad Cat and His First Musical.”
“I’m at the crossroads now…” Norrie Drummond, “Sad Cat,” New Musical Express, August 19, 1967.
“Everything happened at once for us…” Drummond, “Sad Cat.”
“Because I had music and ideas which hadn’t been heard yet…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
8. Another Saturday Night
“at the moment, my songs are in great demand…” Pascal, “Juke Box Bitchy Comment Hurt.”
“It still doesn’t seem to me that…” Rick Mitz, “A Talk with James Taylor,” Stereo Review, January 1978.
“We’ve got this thing called Apple…” John Lennon speaking on The Tonight Show, May 14, 1968.
“Big companies are so big…” Paul McCartney speaking on The Tonight Show, May 14, 1968.
“I would arrive at a fairly normal time…” Russell Hall, “Peter Asher Talks 60s, Beatles and Apple Records,” Gibson.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/peter-asher-1119/.
“I was at home in my flat…” Peter Asher, liner notes to James Taylor CD reissue (Apple, 2011).
“We had A&R meetings once a week…” Smith, Off the Record…
“I brought [James] to the A&R meeting…” DeYoung, Bill, “Weighing In with Peter Asher,” Billdeyoung.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.billdeyoung.com/peteash.htm.
“Apple was open pickings for a long time there…” Stuart Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon,” Rolling Stone, January 4, 1973.
“I found James Taylor and I really believed in him…” Gary James, “Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon,” Classicbands.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.classicbands.com/PeterAsherInterview.html.
“drinking Romilar…” Timothy White, “James Taylor,” Rolling Stone, June 11, 1981.
“I didn’t want to be rude…” Chris O’Dell with Katherine Ketcham, Miss O’Dell: Hard Days and Long Nights with the Beatles, the Stones, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton (Touchstone Books, 2009).
“I think of that early time in London…” White, “James Taylor.”
“It was great. It was unbelievable…” Paul Zollo, “The Bluerailroad Interview,” Bluerailroad.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://bluerailroad.wordpress.com/james-taylor-the-bluerailroad-interview/.
“I was really anxious with this record to impress people…” Noel Murray, “Peter Asher,” A.V. Club, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.avclub.com/articles/peter-asher,48429/.
“I started to take a lot of codeine…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
“They’re not equipped to deal with junkies…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
9. You Love the Thunder
“I’ve written a few good songs…” Tom Nolan, “Jackson Browne,” Cheetah, January 1968.
“I thought he might be leaving some nice ideas behind…” Unterburg, liner notes to Steve Noonan.
“They were great musicians…” Smith, Off the Record…
“You’d meet all sorts of great people at Barry’s house…” Jac Holzman and Gavan Daws, Follow the Music (First Media Books, 1998).
“He proposed a music ranch…” Holzman and Daws, Follow the Music.
“I don’t know quite what happened…” Mick Houghton, Becoming Elektra: The True Story of Jac Holzman’s Visionary Record Label (Jawbone Press, 2010).
“I’ve never been able to collaborate…” Smith, Off the Record…
“was badly played and badly realized…” Chris Charlesworth, “Jackson’s Song for Everyman,” Melody Maker, November 17, 1973.
10. Hey Mister, That’s Me!
“In the hospital I was really bored…” Danny Goldberg and Salli Stevenson, “Cosmic Superstar,” Circus, July 1971.
“Back in the hospital…” Bob Dawbarn, “Cat Treads Softly on His Return,” Melody Maker, September 28, 1968.
“it was just what I needed…” Goldberg and Stevenson, “Cosmic Superstar.”
“It’s funny…because a review…” Derek Boltwood, “Cat’s Back,” Record Mirror, October 12, 1968.
“As far as songwriting was concerned…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“I think I’ve become more myself…” Boltwood, “Cat’s Back.”
“There were these clockwork players…” Fong-Torres, Ben, “Cat Out of the Bag,” Rolling Stone, April 1,1971.
“This is one of my favorite songs…” From a 1971 recording of Cat Stevens in concert at London Coliseum. (From the author’s collection.)
“some people think that I was taking the son’s side…” Gambaccini, “A Happier Cat Stevens Explains Foreigner.”
“I’m considered to be a bit underground…” Boltwood, “Cat’s Back.”
11. Silent Sunlight
“I knew, as a disc jockey…” Stan Cornyn with Paul Scanlon, Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group (Harper Entertainment, 2002).
“I think the Beatles have discovered…” Jerry Hopkins, “James Taylor on Apple,” Rolling Stone, August 23, 1969.
“Everybody’s been fired or quit…” Hopkins, “James Taylor on Apple.”
“He’s a wonderful kid…” Allen Klein, “I Cured All Their Problems,” Rolling Stone, November 29, 1969.
“[is] in charge of my money now…” Hopkins, “James Taylor on Apple.”
“I didn’t negotiate anything…” DeYoung, “Weighing In with Peter Asher.”
“Apple made James Taylor…” Craig Vetter, “Playboy Interview: Allen Klein,” Playboy, November 1971.
“The rumor is…” DeYoung, “Weighing In with Peter Asher.”
“botched it up…” Colin Irwin, “These Days,” Melody Maker, December 1976.
“one of the few places…” Taylor, Troubadours.
“I’d go on sixth…” Charlesworth, “Jackson’s Song for Everyman.”
“We loved that James Taylor record…” Barney Hoskyns, Hotel California: The True-Life Adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and Their Many Friends (John Wiley and Sons, 2006).
12. Night Owl
“One of the promo men told me…” From a 1971 recording of James Taylor, venue and city n.a. (From the author’s collection.)
“I never thought for a second…” Zollo, “The Bluerailroad Interview.”
“when I was in New York…” James Taylor speaking to interviewer Kerry O’Brien on “James Taylor Reflects,” a TV show airing on Australia Broadcasting Corporation TV, March 31, 2010.
“But my friends…” Taylor to O’Brien, “James Taylor Reflects.”
“The second verse…” Taylor to O’Brien, “James Taylor Reflects.”
“it has to be…” Hopkins, “James Taylor on Apple.”
“What caused glam rock…” Kim Fowley, “Vampire from Outer Space” (unpublished memoir), n.d.
“I want to take all the new singers…” John Lennon, bootlegged session recording, 1973. (From the author’s collection.)
“It was the atmosphere of [the] record…” Bob Harris, Bob Harris: The Whispering Years (BBC Books, 2001).
“It was only until we released…” Dan Forte, “The Instrumental Side of James Taylor,” Guitar World, May 1984.
13. The Cat Came Back (They Thought They’d Seen the Last of It)
“was and always will be…” Cameron Crowe, “Eagles,” Rolling Stone, September 25, 1975.
“We all used to sit in a corner…” Linda Ronstadt, “Linda Ronstadt in Her Own Words,” SuperSeventies.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.superseventies.com/sslindaronstadt.html.
“that cat just sings rings around most people…” Ben Fong-Torres, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone, July 23, 1970.
“I did a week at the Troubadour…” Charlesworth, “Jackson’s Song for Everyman.”
“We’ll send Dave Geffen over…” Fong-Torres, “The Rolling Stone Interview.”
“I think that accounts for good quality…” Genevieve Hall, “I Can’t Explain,” Record Mirror, April 6, 1974.
“Those were the best…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“My only consideration…” Keith Altham, “The Honest Way,” Record Mirror, June 5, 1971.
“My aim is to communicate…” Altham, “The Honest Way.”
“[He] came into the studio, very young…” quoted in Dave Thompson, Turn It On Again: Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins and Genesis (Backbeat Books, 2005).
“Paul has a very clear mind…” Goldberg and Stevenson, “Cosmic Superstar.”
“By that time I was getting to know…” “Player of the Month,” Beat Instrumental, August 1972.
“What we did…” Penny Valentine, “Talk In.”
“No. I was just following my heart…” Irwin, “Time to Make a Change.”
“some people…” Irwin, “Time to Make a Change.”
“In America, where they had never…” Irwin, “Time to Make a Change.”
14. Shaky Town
“Music is my living…” Keith Altham, “James Taylor,” Petticoat, October 23, 1971.
“We really are not trying to be nasty to the press…” Keith, “James Taylor.”
“a hunger for the intimacy…” Carole King, Troubadours.
“the authenticity of someone telling their own story…” Jackson Browne, Troubadours.
“Things started to get out of control…” Altham, “James Taylor.”
“Carole was waiting to happen…” Taylor to O’Brien, “James Taylor Reflects.”
“Joni came on 100 percent…” John Mackie, “Barbara Stowe on the Concert That Launched Greenpeace,” Vancouver Sun, November 9, 2009.
“People were very excited…” James Taylor interview, Amchitka-concert.com, accessed 2010, http://www.amchitka-concert.com.
“Phil Ochs was so angry…” Mackie, “Barbara Stowe on the Concert That Launched Greenpeace.”
“It is very strange making a living out of being yourself…” Jules Siegel, “Midnight in Babylon,” Rolling Stone, February 18, 1971.
“I think that the early success…” Mitz, “A Talk with James Taylor.”
“The press want something…” Peter Herbest, “The Rolling Stone Interview,” Rolling Stone, September 6, 1979.
“I got in touch with a doctor…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
“is that it’s consistent…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
“it was exactly how he felt…” Timothy White, Long Ago and Far Away: James Taylor, His Life and Music (Omnibus Press, 2005).
“That song was actually…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
“If you play Madison Square Garden as a soloist…” Roy Carr, “Moving from Inward to Outward,” Hit Parader, March 1972.
“I don’t go in for all that…” Carr, “Moving from Inward to Outward.”
“Several things are at stake…” Jerry Wexler, Billboard, May 29, 1971.
“it’s terrifying…” Mitz, “A Talk with James Taylor.”
15. On the Road to Find Out
“It’s a real uncomfortable feeling…” David Rensin, “Jackson Browne: Such a Clever Innocence,” Crawdaddy, January 1974.
“It’s cathartic…” Steve Turner, “Jackson Browne,” unpublished article for NME, online at Rocksbackpages.com, accessed November 21, 2011, http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=2093.
“cultivat[ing] disappointment in order to write…” Turner, “Jackson Browne.”
“I haven’t had worse experiences…” Irwin, “These Days.”
“Denny saw that…” Charlesworth, “Jackson’s Song for Everyman.”
“I was better known…” Andy Gill, “Jackson Browne,” Mojo, November 1997.
“Two different people…” Rensin, “Jackson Browne: Such a Clever Innocence.”
16. Under the Falling Sky
“Honestly, I didn’t expect things to happen…” Carr, “Moving from Inward to Outward.”
“I was really upset about that…” Carr, “Moving from Inward to Outward.”
“America was like a sleeping beauty…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“They got onto the lyrics very strongly…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“she was professional at that point…” Werbin, “James Taylor and Carly Simon.”
“I think music at the moment…” “A Word from Cat Stevens,” Rock Magazine, November 8, 1971.
“It’s exactly the way I feel comfortable…” Penny Valentine, “Teaser and the White Hot Cat,” Sounds, September 25, 1971.
“Because now you don’t have to connive…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“One thing, Americans try…” Untitled article, Star, month n.a., 1973.
“[shot] across the sky…” Untitled article, Star, month n.a., 1973.
“Now I’m thinking outward…” Carr, “Moving from Inward to Outward.”
“you want to put in drums…” Larry Leblanc, “Superstar?” Hit Parader, December 1971.
“He knew the Strawbs…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“Obviously if you want a certain sound…” Valentine, “Talk In.”
“by some freak…” Carr, “Moving From Inward to Outward.”
“I don’t think I can…” Michelle Straubing, “But Does He Still Love His Dog?” Creem, September 1971.
“and started to read the words…” Gambaccini, “A Happier Cat Stevens Explains Foreigner.”
“And I went to Sicily…” Philip Norman, “Top Cat,” Sunday Times, March 5, 1972.
“I’d…like to do a film of my own…” Straubing, “But Does he Still Love His Dog?”
“I’ve got ideas for my own film…” Straubing, “But Does he Still Love His Dog?”
“The secret is to keep away…” Carr, “Moving From Inward to Outward.”
17. The Blues Is Just a Bad Dream
“It amused me because…” Danny Kortchmar, Troubadours.
“I’ve always known I would live…” Lynn Van Matre, “Jackson Browne,” Chicago Tribune, month and day n.a., 1973.
“That’s a bad connection…” Crowe, “A Child’s Garden of Jackson Browne.”
“stopped me cold in my tracks…” Fong-Torres, Ben, “The Eagle Meets the Dove: The Reunion of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young” Rolling Stone, August 29, 1974.
“I’m really looking forward…” Michelle O’Driscoll, “Tea with the Tillerman,” Disc, July 24, 1972.
“I really liked the scuffling guitar…” O’Driscoll, “Tea With the Tillerman.”
“I’d like to come out with something now that’s freer…” Penny Valentine, “A Cat Breaks Free,” Sounds, December 9, 1972.
“Catch Bull was very paranoid…” Penny Valentine, Sounds, July 14, 1973.