Carly Simon "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of"

Carly Simon married James Taylor in 1972, but later divorced him in 1983. Although she doesn't speak to her ex-husband, Carly continues to maintain a relationship with James' younger brother, Livingston.

Jimmy Buffett "Mexico"

Jimmy Buffett remade James Taylor's "Mexico" for his Barometer Soup album in 1995. The song became a top 10 hit for Buffett on the Adult Contemporary Chart and also helped sell a few more margaritas.

James Taylor "You've Got A Friend"

It sounds cliche, but I can still recall the moment like it happened yesterday.  It was a cool Spring day in 1998 when my first real girlfriend broke up with me at a Baker's Square parking lot.  She was a girl I had a crush on throughout high school, but I never had the courage to ask her out until college.  Ultimately, we dated for three years while I was in college, but the distance between our schools had created a divide in the relationship.  Not to mention, she was pre-med and had less time to see me on weekends.  I couldn't imagine life without her, but I was forced to do so.  That night, she became my first ex-girlfriend.

That night, since she drove, she had the pleasure to then drive me home after ending our relationship.  She turned on the radio and James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend" broke the silence.   As James Taylor tried to lighten the mood, my ex encouraged me to sing along with her.  She sang in our high school's choir and thought nothing of singing.  Since I had never heard the song before and wasn't familiar with the lyrics, I remained quiet -- not to mention I was in no mood to sing (and rarely was).  I don't remember much from the remainder of that evening other than her car wouldn't start after she dropped me off, yet that song would haunt me for years to come. In an eerie and fitting end to this story, as I'm writing this I see a Facebook notification pop up alerting me that my first ex just liked one of my posts on Facebook.  (True story -- it just happened!)  Nearly 12 years after we broke up, she reconnected with me via Facebook.  At first, I resisted but eventually, I made peace with our past.  I suppose the lesson here is that life doesn't always go as we planned.  Sometimes it works out for the best and it may take years for one or both of us to recognize and accept it -- I speak this from experience.  Peace.

James Taylor - "Your Smiling Face"

James Taylor's relationship with Carly Simon gave him something to sing about in "Your Smiling Face" -- a Top 10 Adult Contemporary hit in 1977.  The ode to Carly is one of very few upbeat tunes from JT.