James Taylor Talks Heroin and Meeting The Beatles on 'WTF Podcast' with Marc Maron

Ever since Marc Maron landed a brief phone interview with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger earlier this year, he's enjoyed a steady stream of high profile musicians on his WTF Podcast, including Jagger's writing partner Keith Richards, Motorhead bassist Lemmy, Celtic legendary Richard Thompson and his latest guest James Taylor, who joined Maron in the garage for a discussion of drugs, rock 'n' roll and his first encounter with The Beatles.

As a recovering drug addict himself, Maron delved right into some of the darker parts of Taylor's life as he described his drug addiction as more of a way to get back to normalcy as he looked to tackle the immense depression he felt in those days.

"Unfortunately I was one of these adolescent (...) sort of cringing across the landscape and when I found Heroin I was just gone," Taylor said. "So with me I wasn't seeking ecstasy or oblivion, I was just looking to get normal."

Taylor talked about his family and how his relationship with them led him to be institutionalized at a young age in order to help him recover from his suicidal thoughts. He's better now and said he's been clean for many years now, even though both he and Maron still have to rely on nicotine gum and lozenges.

The conversation soon moved on to Taylor's first album with The Beatles' Apple Records. Taylor described how in that first meeting with the band he played his song "Something In The Way She Moves" to Paul McCartney and George Harrison before Maron interjected and suggested maybe Harrison ripped off the line.

"Well I had ripped off so many Beatles songs that it hardly ... it was a fair trade," Taylor said playfully. "We liked to say 'yeah man I liked your song so much I went home and wrote it.'"

Listen to the full interview over on Maron's website where you can also download it from iTunes, and listen to James' first No. 1 single "You've Got A Friend" below.

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James Taylor, The Beatles
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