Something in the Way She Moves
{{Short description|1968 song by American singer-songwriter James Taylor}}
{{Distinguish|Something in the Way You Move|Something (Beatles song)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Something in the Way She Moves
| cover =
| alt =
| type =
| artist = James Taylor
| album = James Taylor
| released = 1968
| format =
| recorded = 1968 at Trident Studios, London
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Folk rock
| length = 2:54
| label = Apple Records
| writer = James Taylor
| producer = Peter Asher
}}
"Something in the Way She Moves" is a song written by James Taylor that appeared on his 1968 debut album for Apple Records, James Taylor. It has also been covered by other artists, including Tom Rush and Harry Belafonte. The opening line inspired George Harrison to write the No. 1 Beatles' song "Something". According to James Taylor's stage banter at The Star in Frisco 31 July 2017, this was the song he played for Paul McCartney and George Harrison as an audition before signing with Apple Records.
James Taylor version
"Something in the Way She Moves" is a romantic song.{{cite web|title=The Circle Game|author=Haney, S.M.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-circle-game-mw0000198792|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=5 April 2014}} Rolling Stone critic Jon Landau regards the song as being about "transcendence of a sort." Taylor plays the song accompanied only by acoustic guitar.{{cite web|title=James Taylor|author=Landau, J.|author-link=Jon Landau|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/james-taylor-19690419
|date=19 April 1969|publisher=Rolling Stone|accessdate=5 April 2014}}
Allmusic critic Lindsay Planer regards "Something in the Way She Moves" as one of the "notable inclusions" on the James Taylor album.{{cite web|title=James Taylor|author=Planer, L.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/james-taylor-mw0000264104|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=5 March 2014}} Fellow Allmusic critic David R. Adler described it as "one of Taylor's finest melodies". Rolling Stone Album Guide critic Mark Coleman agrees that it is a "highlight" of James Taylor, describing the song as "winsome" and predicting the path Taylor would take in future recordings.{{cite book|title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|edition=3rd|author=Coleman, M.|page=293|editor=DeCurtis, A. |editor2=Henke, J. |editor3=George-Warren, H.|year=1992|publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers|isbn=0679737294}} Taylor biographer Timothy White describes it as being "unquestionably Taylor's finest performance" on James Taylor.{{cite book|title=Long Ago And Far Away: James Taylor - His Life And Music|author=White, T.|year=2009|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn= 9780857120069}} White described it as "spare in presentation" and "poignant on its own elegant terms." Rolling Stone critic Jon Landau believes that the spare performance and Taylor's "restrained delivery" add to the song's power, as Taylor "lets the melody, lyric, guitar, and voice speak for themselves." Martin Charles Strong describes it as being a "memorable original" and one that "marked Taylor out as a kind of male Joni Mitchell, if not quite as adventurous."{{cite book|title=The Great Rock Discography|editor=Strong, M.C.|year=2002|publisher=Canongate|isbn=9781841953120}}
Taylor included "Something in the Way She Moves" on his 1976 Greatest Hits but, as with "Carolina in My Mind," also from James Taylor, he had to re-record the song due to rights issues.{{cite web|title=Greatest Hits|author=Ruhlmann, W.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/greatest-hits-mw0000194986|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=5 April 2014}} It was also included on the 2003 compilation album The Best of James Taylor.{{cite web|title=The Best of James Taylor|author=Jurek, T.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-best-of-james-taylor-2003-mw0000593194|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=6 April 2014}} (although original pressings of that album contained a shortened version without harpsichord of the original Apple Records version). A live version was included on Taylor's and Carole King's live album Live at the Troubadour.{{cite web|title=Live at the Troubadour|author=Erlewine, S.T.|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-the-troubadour-mw0001968695|accessdate=6 April 2014|publisher=Allmusic}} A solo live version leads off Taylor's album One Man Band.{{cite web|title=One Man Band|author=Erlewine, S.T.|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/one-man-band-mw0000495556|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=9 April 2014}}
Inspiration for "Something"
George Harrison liked "Something in the Way She Moves" so much that he used the beginning as the first line of his 1969 song "Something" from the Beatles album Abbey Road, which was also released as a single and reached No. 1.{{cite book |title=The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology |url=https://archive.org/details/beatlesasmusicia00ever_844 |url-access=limited |author=Everett, W. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/beatlesasmusicia00ever_844/page/n229 209], 247 |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn= 9780195129410}} Early in the development of "Something," Harrison had expanded the opening of this song to "Something in the way she moves / Attracts me like a pomegranate," using the word "pomegranate" simply as a place-holder until better words could be found.{{cite book |title=Beatles-Discography.com: Day-By-Day Song-By-Song Record-By-Record |author=Cross, C. |page=389 |year=2004 |publisher=iUniverse |isbn= 9780595314874}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pauldunoyer.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journalismID=238 |author=Paul Du Noyer |title=George Harrison's Uncertain Something |date=13 March 2009 |access-date=16 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526073720/http://www.pauldunoyer.com/pages/journalism/journalism_item.asp?journalismID=238 |archive-date=26 May 2013 |url-status=dead }}
Taylor has stated that "I never thought for a second that George intended to do that. I don't think he intentionally ripped anything off, and all music is borrowed from other music. So completely I let it pass." Taylor also acknowledged that the ending of "Something in the Way She Moves" was taken from the Beatles' song "I Feel Fine" and so "what goes around comes around."
Cover versions
{{Infobox song
| name = Something in the Way She Moves
| cover = Something in the Way She Moves label.jpeg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Tom Rush
| album = The Circle Game
| B-side = Rockport Sunday
| released = 1968
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Folk Rock
| length = 3:25
| label = Elektra Records
| writer = James Taylor
| producer = Arthur Gorson
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
}}
Tom Rush covered "Something in the Way She Moves" on his 1968 album The Circle Game. Taylor had played the song for Rush when he visited the Elektra Records offices for an audition in 1967. Rush's version was released as a single and become popular on New England radio stations.{{cite book|title=Hearts of Darkness: James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, and the Unlikely Rise of the Singer-Songwriter|author=Thompson, D.|author-link=Dave Thompson (author)|year=2012|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn= 9781458471390}} Crawdaddy! reviewed the song as being the best song on The Circle Game, saying that it "flows beautifully with Bruce Langhorne's country stylings pushing it through," also acknowledging that "Rush's brand of vocalizing fits perfectly" because "he can never get excited about anything."
Country artist Bobbie Gentry recorded a version titled "Something In the Way He Moves" for her 1970 album Fancy.
Iain Matthews and his band Matthews' Southern Comfort recorded a version of "Something in the Way She Moves" for his 1970 album Second Spring.
Harry Belafonte covered the song as the opening track of his 1971 album The Warm Touch.{{cite web|title=The Warm Touch|author=Ginelli, C.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-warm-touch-mw0001006184|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=5 April 2014}} He also released it as a single. Billboard regarded "Something in the Way She Moves" as one of the "standout" tracks on The Warm Touch.{{cite news|title=Billboard Album Reviews|newspaper=Billboard|page=54|date=20 February 1971|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6QgEAAAAMBAJ&q=belafonte+%22something+in+the+way+she+moves%22&pg=PA54}} Billboard also called the melody "beautiful" and stated that Belafonte gives the song "his own unique treatment."{{cite news|title=Special Merit Spotlight|page=74|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QgEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22james+taylor%22+%22hard+times%22&pg=PA74|accessdate=9 June 2014|date=6 February 1971|newspaper=Billboard}}
Mitchel Forman recorded an acoustic piano version of "Something in the Way She Moves" for the 2001 multi-artist album Sketches of James: Selection from the James Taylor Songbook.{{cite web|title=Sketches of James: Selection from the James Taylor Songbook|author=Adler, D.R.|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/sketches-of-james-selection-from-the-james-taylor-songbook-mw0000111202|publisher=Allmusic|accessdate=9 April 2014}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{James Taylor}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Songs written by James Taylor
Category:Song recordings produced by Peter Asher
Category:Harry Belafonte songs