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Boomer Ballads: Fire and Rain

First written and recorded by the saccharine naif James Taylor from 1968 to 1970, Fire and Rain has gone from being deeply autobiographical to something more prophetic; even an epitaph for blighted Boomers sodden with therapy and privilege. When released it sparked all sorts of speculation about the various psychic trials and tribulations of Taylor and his entire privileged Martha’s Vineyard clan. In time an entire bogus narrative was invented by fans to explain the death in an airplane crash of his once upon a time girlfriend. In reality, the backstory of the song remains, as does its singer, entirely self-centered.

But of course, the song has gone beyond its creator and remains as an artifact whose meaning is gleaned more and more from the approach of a generation’s mortality than from the facts of its origin.

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.

BONUS UPBEAT TITLE VARIATION: Adele, Set Fire to the Rain

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • pbird January 5, 2019, 2:29 PM

    Gak! James Taylor was a dork from the first time he got up on his tiny hind legs and let fly.

  • Gordon Scott January 5, 2019, 4:44 PM

    Yes, but how many geriatric folk singers get deployed overseas as “oops, my bad” tools?

    That’s right, only James.

  • H January 6, 2019, 3:24 AM

    Blood, Sweat & Tears went a different direction.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXBbMNPVK7c

  • rabbit tobacco January 6, 2019, 9:49 AM

    when he was in to heroin, he would shoot up go to bed sleep eighteen hours get up eat bathe shoot up and go back to bed. talk about self-centered. on top of that he was married.

  • Jaynie January 8, 2019, 5:43 AM

    Ha, I missed this before. Cannot say how much I adored GVDL’s description ‘saccharine naif’ Man, that tickled me. Thank goodness I wasn’t taking a sip of coffee.
    Dreary, maudlin piece of music.
    So, little story, my late deafened sister has recently been working on reorienting to the hearing world and that of music after her surgical implants. And, she has been attending all that generation’s music heroes, carol king and this guy. She gets special up front seating due to hearing impairment and has a blast. But anyways, she’s discovering the music, as it were. And absolutely loving it too. Ah but she is a dyed in the wool sjw lib, so of course, in terms of message, she’s onboard.
    It seems that their concerts are well attended. Hard to believe that Taylor’s would be.

  • Jack January 8, 2019, 12:45 PM

    My ears opened to music and to guitar when I first heard Taylor back in 1968 and I was always a devout fan, despite the fact that I knew he was a talented spoiled rich kid with a bad drug habit and probably more opportunity than 99.99999999% of the population. I stayed with him though and I still love his music.

    Taylor was a high school dropout who, from what I have read, picked up his GED while Knocking Around The Zoo in a mental hospital and who, without Peter Asher’s tender handling, would have crashed and burned in the entertainment industry. It is reported that when he signed his Apple deal he was so distraught that he began to cry….apparently it was all too much for him.

    All has gone beautifully for him and I suppose that he’s grown out of his nightmares and addictions but a year or two ago there was some kind of effort in Massachusetts to elect him to the Senate and then, or thereabouts, non-hero John Kerry dragged him off to the Middle East to sing “You’ve Got A Friend”, to a bunch of muslim leaders. I don’t think there were standing ovations for Carole King’s tune.

    I think T’s music opened the eyes of millions of singer/song writer wannabes and that is a good thing but God is wise and thankfully his LEFTist butt is not a legislator.