In 1985, just 15 years after its release, James Taylor had already long grown weary of his most famous song. In a new track called “That’s Why I’m Here”, the songwriter alluded to the monotony of having to keep playing the earlier fan-favourite, singing: “[people] pay good money to hear ‘Fire and Rain’ again and again and again.”By 2000, Taylor revealed that he occasionally gave somnambulant renditions of the song in which he would lose all sense of where he was.
It’s not unusual for artists to feel shackled to their early songs. But Taylor’s apathy towards “Fire and Rain” is also a testament to how far he moved on from the depths of despair that inspired the song. Written in 1968, when he was just 20 years old, it traces the various personal tragedies that had blighted Taylor’s early adult years in three largely gnomic verses. Much of the painful autobiographical detail is obfuscated by Taylor’s poetic imagery, his dulcet vocals, and soft finger-picked guitar playing, but “Fire and Rain” is at heart a musical triptych of loss, loneliness and self-scrutiny. The first verse recalls the suicide of the singer’s childhood friend, Susanne, before the focus shifts to Taylor’s heroin addiction and his time spent at a psychiatric institute following the collapse of his band, The Flying Machine.
But the extent of Taylor’s desperation is clearly revealed in lyrics such as, “You’ve just got to see me through another day … I won’t make it any other way”. And the line “I wrote down this song/ I just can’t remember who to send it to” is one of the most quietly devastating reflections on the disorientation caused by the death of a loved one to be found in pop music.
Although confronting one’s demons in song could have been a trying process, Taylor found that being able to transmute his inner turmoil into a tune listened to by millions was, in fact, a profoundly cathartic experience: “It was actually a relief, like a laugh or a sigh,” he explained in an interview with NPR.
Despite the deeply personal subject matter, the ambiguity immanent in the lyrics has enabled more than 80 artists to offer up their own interpretations. Many were immediately taken by the beautiful economy of Taylor’s writing, and the song was covered by six leading singers the following year in 1971. John Denver’s wonderful version perhaps comes closest to capturing the aching tone of the original, while Bobby Womack was more experimental in bringing a funk spin to his rendition.
Big band legend Bobby Darin recorded a version for a live album that year that was released posthumously in 1987. His is an unhurried cover that shows off his remarkable range in this later part of his career. The crooner Andy Williams brought his brand of easy listening to the song with an effort that sounds a little too polished to convince as the thoughts of a deeply troubled man. Covers by Cher and Gladys Knight & The Pips, meanwhile, boast impressive vocals, but the poignancy of the lyrics feels rather oversold in both.
More recently, the song has reached younger listeners through versions by Dido, Pink and the cast of Glee. Elsewhere, the line “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain” is quoted by The Fugees in their 1996 polemical hip-hop track, “Family Business”.
As for Taylor, he has dutifully played “Fire and Rain” live well over 1,000 times by his reckoning. Highlights among these performances have been ones in which Taylor has appeared alongside his longtime friend and collaborator, Carole King, who played piano on the studio recording. King is said to have composed the affirmative “You’ve Got a Friend” (a hit also for Taylor) in response to a heartrending line from “Fire and Rain”: “I’ve seen lonely times where I could not find a friend.” Taylor also featured alongside Taylor Swift at a 2011 show to perform a duet; Swift reveals at the start that she was named after Taylor, and is visibly awestruck to be playing alongside him.
Almost half a century on, “Fire and Rain” remains one of the most beloved tracks in the folk canon, accruing nearly 100 million streams on Spotify. But there’s perhaps no greater endorsement of the song’s enduring status than its appearance in a classic episode of The Simpsons. Taylor may have seen fire and rain at the time of writing the song, but he couldn’t have foreseen that a cartoon version of himself would one day be singing it for an animated yellow man dolefully floating in space.
What are your memories of ‘Fire and Rain’? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Columbia; Rhino; RCA/Legacy; Charly Records; Universal Music Group International; MCA Budget; Uni/Motown; Ode/Epic/Legacy
Picture credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images