Acclaimed singer-songwriter James Taylor was a guest on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Taylor talked to Colbert about his pending Las Vegas residency, performing near his hometown at Tanglewood, tomorrow’s Love Rocks NYC and more, including an older song with a special backstory.
After a discussion about Taylor approaching 40 years of sobriety, the interview turned toward the song “Mona,” which appeared on Taylor’s 1985 album That’s Why I’m Here. Taylor wrote the song about an actual pig he owned in the 1970s and he told Colbert about he came to live with the pet that grew to over 500 pounds.
According to the James Taylor Online website, the real Mona’s fate was different from the tale told in the song as Taylor did not have to put down his pet pig, instead she “found rat poison in his woodpile, ate it, and died. Mona was so huge they needed a backhoe to bury her.”
Taylor, who turns 75 years old this Sunday, March 12, performed “Mona” for the Late Show audience. Watch the performance and interview segments below:
