“Mexico” by James Taylor

"Mexico" opens Gorilla, James Taylor's 1975 album for Warner Bros., and it finds the man with the sad, sensitive image in a sunny mood. Taylor wrote it as a daydream of a night out in a Mexican border town, told as if he'd lived it, until a late twist admits he has never been there. It's escapist fantasy, told stream-of-consciousness style like several Gorilla songs, and Ultimate Classic Rock's Dave Lifton heard in it the lighter touch he brought to the album after the brooding of his earlier lyrics.

Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker produced, David Crosby and Graham Nash sing backup, and the band has Russ Kunkel on drums, Leland Sklar on bass, Danny Kortchmar on electric guitar and Gayle Levant on harp. The single reached 49 on the Hot 100 and 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.