Sweet Baby James (song)

"Sweet Baby James" is a song written and recorded by James Taylor which serves as the opening and title track from his 1970 breakthrough album "Sweet Baby James". Although never released as a single, it is one of his best-known and most popular tunes, and arguably his signature song.

History

The song was written by Taylor for the son of his older brother Alex, who was also named James (and indeed was named after him). Deliberately a cross between a cowboy song and a lullaby, it was first thought up by Taylor as he was driving to meet his infant nephew for the first time.

Taylor spent considerable effort on the lyrics, whose verses he later said used the most intricate rhyming pattern of his career.

:"Now the First of December was covered with snow:"And so was the Turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston:"Lord, the Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frostin':"With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go

The song is composed as a waltz, in 3/4 time. The chorus echoes the lullaby sentiment, with a reference to "Rock-a-bye Baby".

"Sweet Baby James" was included on Taylor's diamond-selling "Greatest Hits" 1976 compilation.

Live performance history

"Sweet Baby James" has been played at virtually every Taylor concert since its release. It is often saved for near or at the end of shows, where it serves as the emotional climax with Taylor performing it as the last encore coming back on stage without his band, or perhaps with just a keyboard player accompanying his guitar.

Invariably, the second verse mentions of the Massachusetts Turnpike, Stockbridge and The Berkshires, and Boston brings cheers from people in the audience who lived in Massachusetts, once lived there, once went to college there, etc. And if the concert is in Tanglewood or Great Woods, the commotion is enough to pause the song.

A concert performance from 1992 was included on his 1993 album "(LIVE)".

Other versions

Due to it being closely associated with Taylor, "Sweet Baby James" has not often been attempted by other artists. Tom Rush, who made a practice of recording material from the best new singer songwriters of the era, put it on his October 1970 album "Wrong End of the Rainbow". The Seldom Scene added harmony on their bluegrass version, released on their debut album "Act 1" in 1972. Highway 101 closed their 1989 album "Paint the Town" with it.

Cultural references

Many listeners have thought the song was about, or additionally about, Taylor himself — a "self lullaby" being a reasonable interpretation given the name and "singing works just fine for me" lyric — and so Taylor is often referred to in the press by the nickname "Sweet Baby James". On ABC's "Good Morning America" on September 15, 2008, Taylor acknowledged "there was that element" about the song.

This appellation has been used in other contexts as well. Celebrity chef James Martin has a BBC 2 show about desserts called "Sweet Baby James", a 2005 episode of the "" animated series is called "Sweet Baby James", one of the producers of syndicated radio's "The Sean Hannity Show" is consistently referred to on-air as "Sweet Baby" James, and so on.