In my mind I'm gone to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine?
Can't you just feel the moonshine?
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind?
Yes, I'm gone to Carolina in my mind

Karin, she's a silver sun
You best walk her way and watch it shine
Watch her watch the morning come
A silver tear appearing now
I'm cryin', ain't I?
Gone to Carolina in my mind

There ain't no doubt in no ones mind
That love's the finest thing around
Whisper something soft and kind
And hey babe, the sky's on fire
I'm dying, ain't I?
Gone to Carolina in my mind

In my mind I'm gone to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine?
Can't you just feel the moonshine?
Ain't it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind?
Yes, I'm gone to Carolina in my mind

Dark and silent, late last night
I think I might have heard the highway call
And geese in flight and dogs that bite
The signs that might be omens say
I'm goin', I'm goin'
I'm gone to Carolina in my mind

With a holy host of others standin' around me
Still I'm on the dark side of the moon
And it seems like it goes on like this forever
You must forgive me, if I'm up and gone to
Carolina in my mind

In my mind I'm goin' to Carolina
Can't you see the sunshine?
Can't you just feel the moonshine?
Ain't is just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind
Yes, I'm gone to Carolina in my mind
Gone to Carolina in my mind
And I'm goin' to Carolina in my mind
Gone to Carolina in my mind
Gone, I'm gone, I'm gone
Say nice things about me 'cause I'm gone South now
Carry on without me, I'm gone


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Carolina in My Mind Lyrics as written by James Taylor

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Carolina In My Mind song meanings
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  • +1
    General Comment

    James has said that this is probably his favorite song he's written. In the newly-released "James Taylor Encyclopedia" by Joel Risberg (you can order it at james-taylor.com), James is quoted as explaining the song's origins like this: "I was recording that Apple album [his self-titled debut album] and I took a break and went to an island off the coast of Spain called Formentera. And I met a girl there named Karin, and she and I took a boat to the next island, which was Abeetha - a larger island. We were just walking around there and missed the last boat back and didn't have any money for a room and we stayed in the street that night and waited for next morning when the boat would run again... She was asleep... and I was up and... I was thinking about my home in North Carolina and what it meant and stuff and that just sort of came down out of the air."

    MyWordson March 16, 2005   Link

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