James Taylor has shared another restored archive clip on his official YouTube channel, with a song that reaches back to his formative days. It’s a performance of “Something In The Way She Moves” on the BBC2 series Disco 2 on UK television, from December 5, 1970.
The song was a feature of Taylor’s, first, self-titled album, his only release for the Apple label in 1968, after he was signed to The Beatles’ label. Relocating to London as a young man, he was able to get some of his early material to Peter Asher, the artist, producer, and soon-to-be manager whose friendship with The Beatles opened an extraordinary door for the American singer-songwriter.
Highly impressed with what he heard, Asher signed Taylor to Apple, and produced the James Taylor set at Trident Studios, in the down-time between sessions for The Beatles’ self-titled “White Album” of 1968. A huge fan of the group, James’ unique opportunity was further enhanced by the opportunity to sit in on some of their sessions and overdubs, and to listen to playbacks of their work in progress.
Both George Harrison and Paul McCartney played on Taylor’s LP, and the first lyric and title of “Something In The Way She Moves“ gave Harrison the opening for his classic ballad “Something.” On his eponymous album, Taylor played his song entirely unaccompanied in a simple vocal and acoustic guitar style.
James Taylor was not a commercial success, no singles were released from it and his time on Apple proved short-lived, but nevertheless paved the way for his massive breakthrough at the turn of the 1970s. “Something In The Way She Moves” has been a staple of Taylor’s live set for decades, as well as attracting cover versions in its early years by Tom Rush, Bobbie Gentry, and Matthews Southern Comfort among others.
JT’s current North American tour with Jackson Browne continues in New Orleans on Saturday (16), with dates until December 13. Taylor begins a European tour on January 18 in Paris, concluding in Madrid on March 3.
Buy or stream the studio version of “Something In The Way She Moves” on the James Taylor album.
