Copperline

This song has quite an amazing and unique relevance to my life and personal experiences. Sometimes I feel as if James wrote this song especially for me. In “Copperline,” James is singing about the place where he grew up, Chapel Hill, NC. At the southern part of Chapel Hill is an area nicknamed Copperline. He refers to Morgan Creek where he played as a child. One of Morgan Creek's bridges has recently been renamed the James Taylor Bridge. It’s kind of funny how the song starts out, "Even the old folks never knew," because I had never been able to learn the roots of the name Copperline, yet had always been intrigued to its origin. I lived on Copperline Drive in Chapel Hill, which is about a half mile from Morgan Creek (“Half a mile down to Morgan Creek.”) I lived there with my beautiful and wonderful fiancée, who I absolutely adore. The home we shared there was our paradise. We would often go on nature walks at the local creeks, spotting many snakes (“Copper head” and “hog-nosed snake.”) Kissing my love was like experiencing true happiness for the very first time, just like something from a romance novel (“First kiss ever I took, like the page from a romance book.”) Now, the most dramatic part of my translation begins. In July of 2002, our house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground (“The sky opened and the earth shook, down on Copperline.”) Following this tragedy, many things in our relationship changed. A short time passed and we canceled our wedding and then called off our engagement. Those events give deep personal meaning to the next lines “Took a fall from a windy height, I only knew how to hold on tight, and pray for love enough to last all night”. At this point my life was falling out of control and my only instinct was to hold on and pray for our love to prevail – something I have done to this day. This fall was unlike any other I had experienced in my life, leading to short-term depression. I would often go back to the place where our home once stood and daydream. I could see her beautiful, smiling face peering out of the window a me. I would hear the echoes of our happiness that appeared lost, as if they were trying to reunite with our souls. As things came back into focus, all I could see was what remnanted of our former home (“I tried to go back as if I could…Tore up and tore up good.”) I have come a long way in healing my wounds from this experience, which gives significance to the line, “Man I’m lifting up and rising free, down over Copperline.” Tomorrow marks one year to the day since our misfortune. I will be at that site, absorbed in my thoughts – some sure to include the words to this wonderful song.