Fire and Rain (Cover)

Cover of the original by James Taylor

This song goes out to the very talented Gibson Guitarist. Its a song very close to his heart and I did this based on his request…

Songfacts: (from songfacts.com)

James Taylor wrote this in 1968 at 3 different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles’ Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts.
This is about the high and low points of Taylor’s life. He was only 20 when he wrote this, but was battling depression and drug addiction.
This was Taylor’s second single and his first to chart. His first single was “Sweet Baby James.”
The stark lyrics about Taylor’s depression stand out on Sweet Baby James, which contains mostly lighter, uplifting songs.
The first verse is Taylor’s reaction to the death of a friend. The second verse is about arriving in America and struggling with depression, the third is about his stay at the rehab center.
The line “Flying machines in pieces on the ground” is a reference to a band Taylor was in called The Flying Machine, which broke up due to his drug problems.
This was one of the first big singer-songwriter hits of the early ‘70s. Before this, most hits were either written by one person and performed by another, or written and performed by a group like The Beatles or Rolling Stones. Artists like Carly Simon, Billy Joel and Elton John followed the trend of writing and performing their own songs.
Taylor has never revealed the identity of Suzanne, the woman he sings about in this.
This is a deeply personal song. Taylor was surprised to find out so many people were interested in his life.


Lyrics:

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