You and I Again

Album: Before This World (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • James Taylor wrote this love song for his third wife, Caroline "Kim" Smedvig, whom he met when she was the director of PR and marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The song describes the happiness he felt after meeting her.

    "'You and I Again' is basically about that sense that in the first six months that I knew Kim, it felt as though I were encountering her from a former life," Taylor explained to The Daily Telegraph. "As if we had been maybe siblings in a prior existence, or parent and child, or maybe we'd been lovers. But there was piece after piece after piece that we were so in sync. It was so remarkable that I wrote this song about finding someone on the other side of death, in this lifetime.'"
  • Asked about Kim's reaction when she first heard the song, Taylor replied: "It's funny, it's a song written on the piano, and I don't really play the piano, but I had this little piece and I was driving her crazy with it. She plays piano, and she was saying, 'That's something Bach would have played when he was three.' I got it together enough to be able to write a lyric to it, and a melody as well."

    "I called her up from Rhode Island, where I was borrowing a friend's flat to write, and said, 'I got this new song that I need you to hear,'" he continued. "But she didn't hear it until we had cut it, and it was a fait accompli. Her response was most satisfactory."
  • The Chinese-American classical musician Yo-Yo Ma played the cello on this track.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Country Song Titles

Country Song TitlesFact or Fiction

Country songs with titles so bizarre they can't possibly be real... or can they?

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: Tarantino EditionMusic Quiz

Whether he's splitting ears or burning Nazis, Quentin Tarantino uses memorable music in his films. See if you can match the song to the scene.

Gilby Clarke

Gilby ClarkeSongwriter Interviews

The Guns N' Roses rhythm guitarist in the early '90s, Gilby talks about the band's implosion and the side projects it spawned.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

Michael Franti

Michael FrantiSongwriter Interviews

Franti tells the story behind his hit "Say Hey (I Love You)" and explains why yoga is an integral part of his lifestyle and his Soulshine tour.

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"

Jules Shear - "All Through The Night"They're Playing My Song

Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.