Song Lyric Sunday — Fire and Rain

Fandango

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has given us the elements of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water to play with. With that in mind, I chose to play with fire as my element with James Taylor’s Classic “Fire and Rain.”

“Fire and Rain” was a folk rock song written and performed by James Taylor. It was released as a single from his second album, Sweet Baby James, in February 1970. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

The song was about the high and low points of Taylor’s early career. He was only 20 when he wrote it in 1968, but was battling depression and drug addiction.

In one part of the song, Taylor recalls his reaction to the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend. Another part focuses on Taylor’s struggle to overcome drug addiction and depression over the failure of his new band, The Flying Machine, to achieve success. The lyric “Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground” was referring to the band’s failure. And finally, the song is about his coming to grips with fame and fortune.

Here are the lyrics to “Fire and Rain.”

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Won’t you look down upon me, jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it’ll turn your head around
Well, there’s hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things
To come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

Oh, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you, baby, one more time again, now

Thought I’d see you one more time again
There’s just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you fire and rain, now

26 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday — Fire and Rain”

  1. Mister Bump UK July 12, 2020 / 3:06 am

    I know the name but I don’t think I heard any of his music before. But I like this one, good choice.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Fandango July 12, 2020 / 8:08 am

      You should check out his other songs, particularly his early songs. He’s very mellow.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  3. Christine Bolton July 12, 2020 / 5:31 am

    Wonderful choice! I loved this song even more once I knew what it was about. He was recording in London at Apple Studios When he got the news of Susanne’s suicide. I actually read that on the SLS blog a couple of years back. ☺️

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Lisa Coleman July 12, 2020 / 10:20 am

    Perfect for this week. My hubby was singing this to me on the sofa last night when I was talking about the prompt. Singing out of tune, of course. Thanks for bringing a little James Taylor today. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Fandango July 12, 2020 / 10:38 pm

      Don’t most husbands sing at least a little out of tune?

      Like

      Reply
  8. Felicia Denise July 12, 2020 / 12:50 pm

    JT, Carole King and Air Supply all in the same week! I’m 17 again! 😀 Great share! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  9. aisasami July 12, 2020 / 3:55 pm

    I think I have heard of James Taylor before, just his voice. But, love this song and the soft, folk-rock feel it had.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  10. J-Dub July 12, 2020 / 5:09 pm

    I’m not crying you’re crying! Ah Sweet Baby James <3. Great pick. This song always brings the feels for me.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  11. msjadeli July 12, 2020 / 5:39 pm

    One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite songwriter musicians. Such a good voice he has.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  13. leigha66 July 14, 2020 / 12:40 pm

    Hearing the back story, the song is even more sad. Great choice!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  14. Marleen July 14, 2020 / 4:44 pm

    Stars Yet to Shine — Katie Gray

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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