Chords for James Taylor “Sweet Baby James” on the Stern Show (1997)

Now when you wrote the song Sweet Baby James, let me just just [Gb] one last
Blast from the past.
I know it's hard for you to [Db] go back and look at [D] these songs
How'd it go?
It isn't?
No.
[Gb] Because I know you have to perform these a [Eb] lot and everything and you go hey, you know
[F] Okay, not that much, but you love them, right?
Yeah
When you did Sweet Baby James, I always thought like I was a guy I used to put down James Taylor to [Db] all my girlfriends
Oh, yeah, they were in love with him.
I go say look at this egotistical guy writes a song about himself
Sweet Baby James call himself sweet.
Is the song in fact about you sweet baby James?
[G] No, it's about my [F] my brother's [Gb] kid my nephew Jane it is.
Okay [Bb] good.
Good.
I knew I knew [A] you weren't like that
I was [G] driving down in North Carolina [F] to see this kid.
I he was the [E] firstborn of
_ [Ab] [G] My generation, you know, yeah, [F] my old brother Alex's kid you were [Ab] and you were gonna be an uncle for [G] the first [A] time
That's right.
I was an uncle [Ab] already and I had to go down and see him
so [Gb] I was driving down there [Ab] from Massachusetts [G] and I did a straight [E] drive straight [Gb] on down and
And while I was driving this [G] I was working on this song
Which was meant to be sort of like a little buckaroo [Eb] kind of cowboy tune, [Gb] right?
There's that [Bb] song
_ [C] _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ [C] She started [Eb] thinking of that you said hey I could come up with my own little a little yeah
Yeah, that's [Gb] cool.
And then we ended up being about him.
[G] It ended up being about a sweet [E] baby [Eb] James.
That's right
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Fm] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ There [Eb] is a young cowboy
[Ab] This on [Gm] the range _
_ _ [Cm] His horse and his [Ab] cattle there [Eb] is only
[G] companion
_ _ [Gm] _
_ [Cm] He works in
[Ab] Saddle [Eb] and he sleeps in the [Gm] canyons [Ab] just waiting for [Eb] summer
his [Bb] pastures [F] that change
[Fm] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ As the moon rises [F] he sits by his [Eb] fire _
[Cm] Thinking [Ab] about women [Eb] and glasses of [Bb] beer
_ [Ab] _ Clothes in his eye as the doggies [Eb] retire
[Cm] He sings out [Ab] song which [Eb] is up, but it's clear
_ [Cm] Just as if maybe [F] someone could hear _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Bb] _
He [Eb] says good night [Eb] all you _ [F] I
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Cm] Rock all my [Ab] sweet [Eb] baby James _ _
_ _ [Cm] deep greens and [Ab] blues for
[Eb] colors, I choose
[Cm] Won't you let me go [F] down in my [F] dreams? _
_ [Bb] _ _ and [Fm] _ [F] rockabye
sweet baby, _ Jane
_ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ Now [Eb] first of December was covered [Gm] with snow
_ _ _ [Cm] So [Ab] I turn fight from [Eb] Stockbridge to [Gm]
Boston
_ _ _ [Cm] The birch ears the [Ab] same dream like [Eb] on account of [Gm] that frosting
_ [Ab] With ten miles [Eb] behind me _
[Bb] 10,000 [Fm] more to [F] go _
You know
_ [Bb] _ [Ab] There's a song that they sing when they take to [Eb] the highway
[Cm] a song that [Ab] they sing when
[Eb] they take to the [Bb] sea a
[Ab] _ song that they sing [Eb] of their home in the sky
_ [Cm] Maybe you can [Ab] believe it [Eb] if it helps you to sleep
[Cm] Just singing seemed [F] to work fine for me
So _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] good night [Ab] all your _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Cm] _ Rockabye, [Ab] baby, _ [Eb] James
_ _ _ _ [Cm]
deep [Ab] greens and blues for
[Eb] colors, I choose
[Cm] Won't you let me [F] go down in [Bb] my dreams?
_ [F] _ _ _
_ [C] Oh
_ _ _ _ [Fm] _
Rockabye, [Ab] oh, sweet baby, Jane
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _