50 songs for 50 states: North Carolina

There’s a surprisingly rich vein of North Carolina songs, particularly given how sparse the options are for their similarly-named neighbor to the south. Especially since the vast majority of ‘Carolina’ songs are really about the northern version.

You can start with the persistent earworm of Wagon Wheel (“Heading down south to the land of the pines / I’m thumbing my way into North Caroline), continue with one of Ryan Adams’ loveliest ballads (“Oh my sweet Carolina / What compels me to go?), and then join Sonic Youth for a tale of a bookstore owner inChapel Hill who was murdered (for his radical politics?).

But there was only ever going to be one pick here. Taylor wrote it while he was off in old England, one of the first signees to the new Apple record label, hoping to make good on that incredible opportunity. When he sings, “with a holy host of others standing around me” he’s literally talking about the Beatles, who were busy recording the White Album just down the hall. Paul and George even contribute to the original recording of the song.

Ultimately, it’s a song about homesickness. The literal homesickness of being an ocean away from everything familiar and comfortable. But also the deeper anxiety that arises when you’re taking your first big step toward greatness, when you’re filled with worry about what you might be leaving behind. It’s a song full of hope: that you might still find a way to stitch together your past and your future, to hold onto what you love, without being trapped by it.