How James Taylor and The Beatles Inspired Each Other

There’s a unique link between James Taylor and The Beatles, and it comes down to a selection of their songs. In a cyclical loop, The Beatles inspired James Taylor, who inspired The Beatles. While Taylor was getting his big break after the Fab Four had already broken up, there’s still a strong link there.

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James Taylor was one of the first artists to be signed to Apple Records. In 1968, Taylor moved to London and auditioned for the label. One of the songs he performed was “Something In The Way She Moves”. This would go on to be one of his biggest songs and would inspire a song from George Harrison as well.

Harrison’s song “Something” appeared on the 1969 album Abbey Road. The first line of the song is a direct lift from Taylor’s. But Taylor has explained that he never saw it as theft.

“I could never think of words for it,” Harrison once said of writing the song. “And also because there was a James Taylor song called ‘Something In The Way She Moves’, which is the first line of that. And so then I thought of trying to change the words, but they were the words that came when I first wrote it, so in the end I just left it as that, and just called it ‘Something.’”

How Did James Taylor React to George Harrison Lifting Lyrics From Him?

For his part, James Taylor didn’t see anything wrong with it. “I never thought for a second that George intended to do that,” he said in the book Hearts Of Darkness: James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, And The Unlikely Rise Of The Singer-Songwriter.

He continued, “I don’t think he intentionally ripped anything off, and all music is borrowed from other music. So completely I let it pass.”

Furthermore, the ending of “Something In The Way She Moves” was already inspired by The Beatles. According to Taylor, the circular pattern of the guitar playing is a reference to “I Feel Fine.”

“What goes around comes around,” said Taylor in the book. James Taylor was more of a fixture in The Beatles’ orbit than one might think. Beyond inspiring Harrison, he also just hung out in the studio to listen to them a lot.

“We intersected in the studio a lot,” said Taylor in a 2020 interview with The Guardian. “They were leaving as I was coming in. I often came in early and would sit in the control room and listen to them recording – and hear playbacks of what they had just cut.”

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