SONG OF THE DAY
“Fire & Rain” by James Taylor (Sweet Baby James, Warner Brothers Records, 1970). Written by James Taylor.
INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)
– “Fire and Rain” quickly rose to #3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 charts.
– It was soon after covered by Anne Murray, on her album Honey, Wheat and Laughter, also in 1970.
– Moody and introspective, “Fire and Rain” became something of a prototype for the singer-songwriter genre that would boom in the few years following its release.
– Its apocalyptic imagery proved provocative to would-be interpreters.
– The sparse arrangement, centered on Taylor’s ringing acoustic guitar figures, came to represent Taylor’s signature sound, and was influential among other performers.
– “Fire and Rain” is in the 227th position on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time.
– In a BBC interview he said the song chronicled his experiences in mental institutions, such as his stay in McLean Hospital in Massachusetts as a teenager, and the suicide of a friend. The fire in the song refers to (which Taylor said he experienced during a stay in a mental institution), and rain is the cold showers that follow shock therapy.shock therapy On the VH1 series Story Tellers, Taylor said the song was, indeed, about Suzanne Schnerr, a friend of his who died suddenly while he was away from home (the second line of the song is “Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you”). In that same account, Taylor said he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band The Flying Machine to coalesce (the lyric “sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground”; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored). As he was wondering what to do with himself, he received word of Schnerr’s death, and the song explains that her death was a check for his own worries, a way of realizing the transience of life and his need to get back to his old friends. In other interviews, Taylor said a battle with drug addiction figured into the song. In 2005, Taylor laid the rumors to rest during an interview on NPR. He explained to host Scott Simon that the song was written in three parts: The first part was indeed about Taylor’s friend Suzanne, who died while Taylor was in London working on his first album after being signed to Apple Records. Friends at home, concerned that it might distract Taylor from his big break, kept the tragic news from him, and he only found out some time later. The second part details Taylor’s struggle to overcome drug addiction and depression. The third part deals with coming to grips with fame and fortune, looking back at the road that got him there. It includes a reference to James Taylor and The Flying Machine, a band he briefly worked with before his big break with Paul McCartney, Peter Asher, and Apple Records.
– Many artists have recorded cover versions of “Fire and Rain” in a number of genres, including: Willie Nelson’s 1975 cover reached the top thirty on the U.S. country singles charts; Herb Alpert on his album Lost Treasures; Blood, Sweat & Tears on their album Blood, Sweat & Tears 3; Betty Buckley on her album Heart to Heart; Cher on her album Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves; Bobby Darin on his album Live! At the Desert Inn; Skeeter Davis on her album Love Takes a Lot of My Time; John Denver on his album Poems, Prayers, and Promises; Jazz trumpeter Maynard Ferguson on his eponymous album Maynard Ferguson; Richie Havens on his album The Great Blind Degree; The Isley Brothers on their album Givin’ It Back; Al Jarreau on his album Glow; Ex-Monkee Davy Jones on his album Just for the Record, Vol. 2;Me First and the Gimme Gimmes on their album Have a Ball; Anne Murray on her album Snowbird; Tony Orlando on his album The Casablanca Years; Lou Rawls on his album A Man of Value; Johnny Rivers on his album Home Grown; Billie Jo Spears on the compilation album Country Ladies and Gentlemen; Folk singer Linda Thompson on her album Give Me a Sad Song; Roger Whittaker on his album Fire and Rain; Andy Williams on his album Love Story; Bobby Womack on his album Communication; Dido on the album Sounds Eclectic: The Covers Project (2007); R&B singer Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds covered the song on his album Playlist.
WHY TODAY?
Yesterday, I started watching Season 1 of the multi-emmy winning 1980’s hit drama Thirtysomething. This song was featured prominently in a hilarious flashback scene (how they met, why they fell in love in the first place, etc.)