{"id":543399,"date":"2026-01-26T05:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/543399\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:26:09","slug":"why-james-taylor-thought-he-was-a-bad-influence-on-the-beatles-near-the-end-of-their-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/543399\/","title":{"rendered":"Why James Taylor Thought He Was a \u201cBad Influence\u201d on The Beatles Near the End of Their Career"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those of you who don\u2019t know, James Taylor<\/a>\u2018s first record deal was with Apple Records, the record label The Beatles<\/a> founded in 1968. That same year, The Beatles signed Taylor to the label, making him the first non-British artist on their roster. Subsequently, Taylor would go on to release his debut self-titled album, which actually features George Harrison and Paul McCartney, as they provided uncredited backing vocals for the song \u201cCarolina In My Mind\u201d. <\/p>\n

Regarding their relationship and how they ran into one another daily at Abbey Road Studio, Harrison told The Guardian<\/a>, \u201cWe intersected in the studio a lot.\u201d \u201cThey were leaving as I was coming in. I often came in early and would sit in the control room and listen to them recording \u2013 and hear playbacks of what they had just cut,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Of course, Taylor\u2019s personal introduction to The Beatles came at a rather precarious time, as The Beatles\u2019 demise began following the death of Brian Epstein in 1967. \u201cIt was a slow unraveling, but it was also an extremely creative unravelling,\u201d added James Taylor. While James Taylor certainly did not contribute to The Beatles\u2019 demise, he did say he contributed to another detrimental facet of the Fab Four: John Lennon\u2019s drug use. <\/p>\n

James Taylor Would Give John Lennon Opiates <\/p>\n

In the late 1960s, James Taylor struggled with severe opioid and h\u2014n addiction. As a result of this addiction, he went to rehab after being released from his Apple contract. Taylor partook in six months of rehab and later released \u201cFire And Rain\u201d as a result of the experience his addiction gave him. Before acknowledging his addiction, before going to rehab, and before \u201cFire And Rain\u201d, Taylor admitted that he wasn\u2019t good for The Beatles, particularly John Lennon. <\/p>\n

Concerning why he wasn\u2019t good for Lennon, he stated, \u201cWell, I was a bad influence to be around the Beatles at that time, too.\u201d Answer the \u201cwhy\u201d behind that statement, Taylor simply replied, \u201cBecause I gave John opiates.\u201d Taylor didn\u2019t claim to introduce Lennon to opiates, as he simply said, \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d. <\/p>\n

In an interview with Rolling Stone<\/a>, Lennon stated, \u201cWe sniffed a little when we were in real pain\u201d and insisted that neither he nor Yoko \u201cnever injected anything\u201d. While it is clear that Taylor and Lennon both used the substance, what isn\u2019t clear is how Lennon got introduced. Regardless, does it really matter? Both these men were able to shake the habit, and isn\u2019t that what really matters? <\/p>\n

Michael Putland\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For those of you who don\u2019t know, James Taylor\u2018s first record deal was with Apple Records, the record…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":543400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[29],"tags":[171,152162,69005,975,4185,978,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-543399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-folk-music","tag-james-taylor","tag-music","tag-rock-music","tag-the-beatles","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115959744724386476","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}