Fire and Rain - James Taylor

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Performed by Taylor in HD with stunning sound quality.

A song - from his second album, "Sweet Baby James" -
about Taylor's experience in psychiatric institutions and
the suicide of his friend, Suzanne Schnerr.

Taylor explained to NPR host Scott Simon that the song was written in three parts:

* The first part was about Taylor's friend Suzanne, who died while Taylor was in London working on his first album after being signed to Apple Records.

* 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.

"Fire and Rain" is in the 227th position on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. Lyrics follow:

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.