Listen to James Taylor Cover The Beatles in 1971
With Paul McCartney in the house, Taylor opens with a Sgt. Pepper's staple.
Photo: Joe Sia Music Features James Taylor
Did you know that Paste owns the world’s largest collection of live music recordings? It’s true! And what’s even crazier, it’s all free—hundreds of thousands of exclusive songs, concerts and videos that you can listen to and watch right here at Paste.com, from Dizzy Gillespie to The Kinks to Public Enemy to HAIM. Every day, we’ll dig through the archive for the coolest recording we have from that date in history. Search and enjoy!
On Jan. 25, 1971, James Taylor performed two benefit shows at the Fillmore East in New York behind his star-making second album, Sweet Baby James, three months before the release of his third, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. With soon-to-be-classics overflowing from both albums, this concert abounds with memorable performances, including pitch-perfect renditions of “Carolina in My Mind” and “Long Ago & Far Away” (which you can find here and here).
Read: The 50 Best Beatles Covers of All Time
Loose and funny, Taylor peppers his set with a handful of covers and novelty songs, including a 1951 Snuff jingle (which he notes was the first song he ever learned to play) and a brief take on the old Coca-Cola ditty, “Things Go Better With Coke.” Taylor mentions early on that Paul McCartney is in the audience, which may explain why he opens the show with a very Taylor-esque take on The Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends.” Listen to that recording below.