James Taylor was recording his debut album for The Beatles new label Apple Records in 1968 when he found out that his childhood friend Suzanne had committed suicide months earlier.  His friends had kept the news from him so that he wouldn’t be distracted.  The song is about also about his own struggles with drugs and depression and The Flying Machine in the last verse refers to his band project that ironically never took off.

I’m doing hybrid picking here instead of Taylor’s signature fingerstyle as my version is also a slight homage to the epic version by 90’s rock band Badlands.

I’m also capo’d up one step higher than JT. Acoustic guitar in standard tuning.

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