"Carolina in My Mind" is a song originally written and performed by the American singer-songwriter James Taylor. It was Taylor's second single from his 1968 self-titled debut album. Taylor wrote Carolina in My Mind while in England recording for the Beatles' label Apple Records, and the song's themes reflect his homesickness at the time. Released as a single in 1969, the song earned critical praise but not commercial success. It was re-recorded for Taylor's 1976 Greatest Hits album in the version that is most familiar to listeners. It has been a staple of Taylor's concert performances over the decades of his career. Carolina in My Mind is one of the most covered contemporary folk songs of all time, the most famous of which being covers by American singer-songwriter John Denver and American rock music duo the Everly Brothers.
The song was a modest hit on the country charts in 1969 for North Carolinian singer George Hamilton IV, released as the first single from his 1970 album Back Where It's At (see George Hamilton IV discography). Strongly tied to a sense of geographic place, "Carolina in My Mind" has been called an unofficial state anthem for North Carolina. It is also an unofficial song of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, being played at athletic events and pep rallies and sung by the graduating class at every university commencement. The association of the song with the state is also made in written works of both fiction and non-fiction. It has become one of Taylor's most critically praised songs and one that has great popularity and significance for his audience.
Song and recordings The song references Taylor's years growing up in North Carolina.White, Timothy. James Taylor: Long Ago and Far Away, Omnibus Press, 2002, . pp. 137–140. Taylor wrote it while overseas recording for the Beatles' label Apple Records. He started writing the song at producer Peter Asher's London flat on Marylebone High Street, resumed work on it while on holiday on the Mediterranean island of Formentera, and then completed it while stranded on the nearby island of Ibiza with Karin, a Swedish girl he had just met. The song reflects Taylor's homesickness at the time, as he was missing his family, his dog and his state.
Dark and silent late last night, I think I might have heard the highway calling ... Geese in flight and dogs that bite And signs that might be omens say I'm going, I'm going I'm gone to Carolina in my mind.
The original recording of the song was done at London's Trident Studios during the July to October 1968 period, and was produced by Asher. The song's lyric "holy host of others standing around me" makes reference to the Beatles, who were recording The Beatles in the same studio where Taylor was recording his album. Indeed, the recording of "Carolina in My Mind" includes a credited appearance by Paul McCartney on bass guitar and an uncredited one by George Harrison on backing vocals. The other players were Freddie Redd on organ, Joel "Bishop" O'Brien on drums, and Mick Wayne providing a second guitar alongside Taylor's. Taylor and Asher also did backing vocals and Asher added a tambourine. Richard Hewson arranged and conducted a string part; an even more ambitious 30-piece orchestra part was recorded but not used. The song itself earned critical praise, with Jon Landau's April 1969 review for Rolling Stone calling it "beautiful" and one of the "two most deeply affecting cuts" on the album and praising McCartney's bass playing as "extraordinary". Taylor biographer Timothy White calls the song "the album's quiet masterpiece". In a 50-years-later retrospective of the album's release, Billboard calls the song "a mellow Taylor classic" and a "stone-classic".
The song was first released on Taylor's eponymous debut album in December 1968 (February 1969 in the United States), and was later released as a single in the UK in February 1969 and in the United States in March 1969.White, Long Ago and Far Away, pp. 142–144. However, owing to the same problems which plagued the release of the album (namely, Taylor's inability to promote it due to his hospitalization for drug addiction), the single's original release reached only No. 118 on US pop charts and failed to chart in the UK. Indeed, Taylor had fallen back into addiction during the London recording sessions,Halperin, Fire and Rain, p. 70. and his line about being surrounded by Beatles had been immediately followed by "Still I'm on the dark side of the moon". Following the success of Taylor's second album, Sweet Baby James, and its hit single "Fire and Rain", "Carolina in My Mind" was reissued by Apple as a single in October 1970 and rose to No. 67 on the U.S. charts. (A previously unreleased acoustic demo of "Carolina in My Mind" was issued as a bonus track on the 2010 Apple Records remastering of James Taylor.) In Canada, the song peaked at No. 64 in the spring of 1969.RPM Top Singles, April 28, 1969
Different versions of both this song and "Something in the Way She Moves" were remade by Taylor for use on his 1976 Greatest Hits album because of the difficulty of obtaining licensing rights from Apple during the 1970s and because of uncertainty about where the Apple masters were.White, Long Ago and Far Away, p. 240. The new recordings were done in October 1976 at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles and production was again done by Peter Asher.
This rendition of "Carolina in My Mind" had a slower tempo than the original, and accompanying Taylor on acoustic guitar were experienced LA session musicians Dan Dugmore on pedal steel guitar (highlighted in the descending note sequences at the song's conclusion), Leland Sklar on bass, Russ Kunkel on drums, Clarence McDonald on piano, Andrew Gold on harmonium, and Byron Berline on fiddle. Backing vocals were handled by Gold and Taylor. Greatest Hits became a diamond record, selling more than 11 million copies in the United States by 2001, and this is the version of "Carolina in My Mind" that became best known. The remake earned even more critical praise than the original. Bill Janovitz of Allmusic said of the 1976 recording that it "accent[ed] the languid, plaintive and wistful country melancholy of the song", while in the 1979 Rolling Stone Record Guide, critic Stephen Holden said that the "stunning" remake showed how much Taylor's singing had strengthened in the intervening years. Biographer White believed that the song benefited from the removal of the original's orchestration.
The 1976 re-recording was also included on Taylor's 2003 compilation The Best of James Taylor.
Personnel
James Taylor – vocals, acoustic guitar Dan Dugmore – pedal steel guitar Leland Sklar – bass guitar Russ Kunkel – drums Clarence McDonald – piano Andrew Gold – pump organ, backing vocals Byron Berline – fiddle
Chart history
James Taylor:
Chart (1969)PeakpositionCanada RPM Top Singles 64US Billboard Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959–2004118 Chart (1970)PeakpositionUS Billboard Hot 100Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 – 67US Cash Box Top 10072
George Hamilton IV:
Chart (1969–70)PeakpositionCanada RPM Adult Contemporary39Canada RPM Country Tracks3
Crystal Mansion:
Chart (1970)PeakpositionCanada RPM Top Singles37US Billboard Adult Contemporary34US Billboard Hot 10073US Cash Box Top 10061
Later appearances
"Carolina in My Mind" became a staple of Taylor's concert repertoire, appearing in the set list of virtually every Taylor tour.One newspaper story per year (and tour) is presented as supporting evidence. Note that some years Taylor did not tour (2000, 1988) or played only a small number of shows, usually benefits (1993, 1991, 1989), making fewer stories written. The early 1980s and before are harder to access through online newspaper archives.
Citations are primarily based upon this Google News Archive search done June 30, 2009. A 1992 performance of it was included near the end of Taylor's first live album, 1993's Live. The audience reaction demonstrates that the song has great popularity despite never being a hit single: there is immediate cheering as the first notes are picked out on Taylor's acoustic guitar, and further cheering as soon as he starts to sing. By this era Taylor's always-excellent touring band was using four backing singers. Arnold McCuller, David Lasley, Kate Markowitz, and Valerie Carter featured strongly in the arrangement, continuing the emphasis on the song's harmonies that had begun with the 1976 remake.
The song has been included in a number of Taylor's concert video releases, including 1980's James Taylor: In Concert at the Blossom Music Center, 1988's James Taylor: In Concert at Boston's Colonial Theatre, and 2002's Pull Over. It was performed in collaboration with the Dixie Chicks in 2002 for the CMT Crossroads program.Risberg, The James Taylor Encyclopedia, p. 73. In 2004, Taylor and the Chicks again performed the song together during the Vote for Change tour, with Taylor dedicating it to former North Carolina Senator and U.S. vice-presidential candidate John Edwards. On the 2006 A Musicares Person of the Year Tribute Honoring James Taylor tribute show and video release, "Carolina in My Mind" was performed by Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas. The song was then included in Taylor's 2006–2007 One Man Band Tour; accompanied only by Larry Goldings on piano and harmonium, Taylor introduced the song with visual material and by relating its composition on Formentera and other locations. He talked about the Karin of the lyrics, whom he had known only briefly and never seen since, and related various humorous notions about how to find her again. One such performance was documented on the 2007 album and video release One Man Band. Another live performance appeared on Taylor's 2010 live CD/DVD combo release with Carole King, Live at The Troubadour. James Taylor appeared on The Colbert Report on January 19, 2012, and sang "Carolina in My Mind" along with Stephen Colbert, and then performed it on the final day of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he greeted "fellow Tar Heels and Democrats".
In a 2020 interview with Parade, Taylor stated that "Carolina in My Mind" was his favorite song to perform, explaining, "Because my audience responds well to it, and because it wears well, I like 'Carolina In My Mind'. I play it almost every time I perform, and I haven't tired of it."
Other versions While "Carolina in My Mind" did not gain much attention from the public upon its original release, it did from other artists. It was a No. 29 hit on the American country charts and No. 3 hit in Canada in 1969 for North Carolinian singer George Hamilton IV. The Everly Brothers also released it as a single in 1969, under the variant title "Carolina on My Mind", but it failed to chart; this was later collected on their 1994 box set Heartaches and Harmonies. Evie Sands also touched upon it in her 1969 album Any Way That You Want Me.
The song was recorded by Melanie on her hit April 1970 album Candles in the Rain; the arrangement and vocal phrasing are different from Taylor's, and Allmusic writes that her version "exist[s] on an entirely separate plane from the original". It was also recorded in more conventional folk rock form by John Denver on his May 1970 album Take Me to Tomorrow. Philadelphia-based pop group Crystal Mansion released a version in October 1970 that reached No. 73 on the U.S. pop singles chart. Dawn included a version of it on their 1970 debut album Candida. About the same time, Glen Campbell was performing the song as a sped-up country duet with Linda Ronstadt on his popular television series The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour; this was later collected on his 2007 video release Good Times Again.