Shower the People

"Shower the People" is the opening track on James Taylor's 1976 album In the Pocket. The song, written by Taylor, features Carly Simon on backing vocals. When he is on tour, either he sings the coda part or Arnold Mcculler, who is one of the backup singers, sings the coda part.

"Shower the People"
Single by James Taylor
from the album In the Pocket
B-side"I Can Dream of You"
ReleasedJune 1976
GenreSoft rock, folk rock, pop rock
Length4:32
LabelWarner Bros. Records
Songwriter(s)James Taylor
Producer(s)Russ Titelman & Lenny Waronker
James Taylor singles chronology
"Mexico"
(1975)		 "Shower the People"
(1976)		 "Woman's Gotta Have It"
(1977)

"Shower the People" reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. that fall, remaining in the Top 40 for eight weeks. It also topped the Easy Listening chart for one week, Taylor's third song to do so, following 1971's "You've Got a Friend" and 1975's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)".[1]

In Canada, the song fell short of the Pop Top 40, however, it did reach number one on the Adult Contemporary chart.[2]

Its B-side, a cover of Taylor's brother Livingston Taylor's song "I Can Dream of You", is a non-album track. When James Taylor is on tour, as he sings this song, he is backed by multiple instrumentalists and his vocal singers. Arnold Mcculler sings the coda part but there have been times where James Taylor sings the coda part.

On the YouTube page of Taylor's longtime bassist Leland Sklar, a May 12, 2020 video by Sklar describes how Taylor uses a Revox reel-to-reel tape deck and a footswitch to play the background voices of Taylor and Carly Simon singing the chorus and coda as they were recorded in the studio for the album ("Portions of the next song were prerecorded," quips Taylor". A video of Taylor's 1988 performance using this bit of technology is easily found on YouTube.

Personnel

Covers
  • American Brazilian Jazz Artist Kevyn Lettau covered her version of her 1993 album, "Another Seasons".

See also
  • List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1976 (U.S.)

References
  1. Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  2. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1976-09-11. Retrieved 2018-12-21.


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