James Taylor - Steamroller Blues

James Taylor music: http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full show: http://thesixtiesarchive.blogspot.com/2011/03/james-taylor-live-in-concert-19...

"Steamroller Blues", often labelled just "Steamroller", is a song written by James Taylor, that first appeared on his 1970 breakthrough album Sweet Baby James. The song title comes from the first line: "I'm a steamroller baby, I'm bound to roll all over you...". A satire on the blues rock fashion of the time, it was a multi-sectioned walking tune full of mock serious phrases such as "I'm a napalm bomb for you, baby" and "I'm a churnin' urn of burnin' funk." As such it exposed a humorous side of Taylor that was sometimes obscured by his more intensely personal work, and thus became one of Taylor's best-known songs.

"Steamroller" was included on Taylor's diamond-selling Greatest Hits 1976 compilation in a live version recorded in August 1975 at the Universal Amphitheatre on Los Angeles; a different performance from 1992 was included on his 1993 album (LIVE). Indeed "Steamroller" was and is a James Taylor concert fixture, appearing in virtually every set list of his over the decades, often elongated with assorted on-stage parodistic antics, such as Taylor jumping up and down frantically, or his band's electric guitarist working in an interpolation of Led Zeppelin's "Heartbreaker".

During the 1970s Elvis Presley added "Steamroller Blues" to his concert repertoire, it being a good fit for his latter-era on-stage persona; it was also featured in his live televised January 1973 Aloha from Hawaii program. It was included on the Aloha From Hawaii: Via Satellite live album released the following month, and then in March 1973 this live "Steamroller Blues" was released as a single. It did reasonably well, reaching number 17 on the U.S. pop singles chart. It was still being performed on Presley concert tours up until his 1977 death, and was included on the 2007 compilation The Essential Elvis Presley.

A cover was recorded by country music singer Billy Dean on his 1994 album Fire in the Dark.

Isaac Hayes performed the song on an episode of The A-Team.

Sweet Baby James is singer-songwriter James Taylor's second album, and his first release on Warner Bros. Records. Released in February 1970, it showcased Taylor's talents and showed the direction he would take in the early 1970s with the expansion of his career. The album featured one of Taylor's earliest single successes: "Fire and Rain", which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself also managed to reach #3 on the Billboard Album Charts. Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendent folk movement. The album was nominated to a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971. The album was listed at #103 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The song "Suite for 20 G" was so named because Taylor was promised $20,000 once the album was delivered. With one more song needed, he strung together three unfinished songs into a "suite," and completed the album.

Personnel * James Taylor — guitar, vocals * Jack Bielan — brass * Chris Darrow — fiddle, violin * Carole King — piano, vocals * Danny Kortchmar — guitar * Russ Kunkel — drums * John London — bass * Randy Meisner — bass * Red Rhodes — steel guitar * Leland Sklar — bass * Bobby West — double bass

Unfortunately, the horn players are forever anonymous, just like on early Motown and Bonnies Raitt albums.

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[markmarktarmann]

why'd he take out all those nice jazzy chords on the studio (and subsequent live versions)?

a shame. i do believe james studied a little bit of the jazz sound along the way. lovely mix of trad. country picking and the rest. yess. james.you goof around with it, but you IS the funky white boy.

[stjo145]

BREATHTAKING!

[DJLeroyT]

@DJLeroyT Also capo used on 3 fret.

[DJLeroyT]

@TheOldSpirit He is not, pure finger plucking

[TheOldSpirit]

Is he using a thumbpick any1?

[Thakiid101]

kick it james!

[lammajamma]

Thank you for posting this awesome video. JT is great and so is this song. I'm a blues guy and and a music guy, and I really appreciate this.

[LukeCoulson]

Lightning; Y'all no who I mean: Hophkins rokz.

[LukeCoulson]

Voice like a bell'

[MosesRangelMusic]

One Word..... AMAZING....

This is my favorite rendition of his song, Steam Roller Blues....