“You Can Close Your Eyes” has become a song that Taylor regularly shares with other performers. His former wife Carly Simon has sung it with him, as has Stephen Colbert during an appearance on The Late Show. The song has therefore provided Taylor with a recurring way to collaborate with people from both his personal life and his professional appearances.

Other partners have included David Crosby and Graham Nash, musical peers of Taylor from the 1970s. Henry is also not the only one of Taylor’s children to join him on the number. Taylor has performed a version with his daughter Sally as well, giving the song a history that includes both fellow artists and members of his family.

Henry has appeared with his father for the song on multiple occasions. Those performances have repeatedly preserved their connection for viewers, just as Taylor’s renditions with Simon, Colbert, Crosby, Nash and Sally have documented other relationships. At Edinburgh Castle, the song again served as the meeting point for a collaboration, this time between father and son at the end of a concert.

The Edinburgh performance concluded with James and Henry singing together, each holding his guitar as Henry smiled toward his father. Their pairing presented Taylor’s continuing work alongside the legacy being handed to his son. That understated exchange gave “You Can Close Your Eyes” the character of a family heirloom and created a moment the article suggested listeners would remember for years.