wherever you go, there you are

I don't know why I find "six degrees" stuff so fascinating, but I do. I'm still gradually making my way through that book about the lives of Carole King, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon. James Taylor shows up a lot ... it seems he has had sex with every woman who ever lived, give or take a few. But even I wasn't prepared for the latest revelation. It seems that Taylor's girlfriend at one point was Margaret "Maggie" Corey. Her brother, Richard Corey, at one point had a brief romance with a woman by the name of Susan ... according to the book, Taylor romanced this woman himself when they were psychiatric patients together (I'm telling you, this guy got around!). She later committed suicide, and Taylor's friends kept the news from him because he had just gotten his first record contract and they didn't want to put a damper on him at such an important time in his career. Eventually, Taylor found out, and over the next several months, he wrote "Fire and Rain," the first verse of which is about Susan ... "Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone. Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you."

So ... James Taylor has a brief romance with a woman, she later has a brief romance with Richard Corey, sister of Maggie Corey who had a romance with James Taylor, the woman kills herself, and Taylor writes arguably his most famous song about it all.

So, how is this a "six degrees" story? Richard and Maggie Corey's father is ... Professor Irwin Corey.

I guarantee you, I did not expect to see The World's Foremost Authority turning up in a book about King, Mitchell, and Simon.

Here's a video of the Professor in action ... he's still doing standup, at the age of 95 ... and remember, it's a two-part question: