James Taylor's "Fire and Rain" + "You Can Close Your Eyes" with his son Henry Taylor

Hauntingly beautiful tunes sung by James, Aussie superstars Jimmy Barnes and Marcia Hines, guitarist Richie Havens, and Henry Taylor

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Songs of the day

When it comes to fire and rain, James Taylor knows whereof he speaks. He was a heroin and then methadone addict for 18 years, finally getting clean in 1983 at the age of 35 — the year of his divorce from first wife, fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon. He said he kicked the drugs for his kids, Sally and Ben, whom he hadn’t really been there for as a touring musician and a strung-out dad. (You may know Sally Taylor and Ben Taylor, as they followed in their parents’ musical footsteps).

As if drug addiction weren’t enough, as an adolescent James suffered such severe depression while attending the prestigious Milton Academy that he committed himself to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric institution in the nearby Boston area (far from his family in North Carolina). In his nine months at McLean, he managed to complete his high school degree, avoid conscription into the military as the Vietnam War ramped up, and write songs that would be performed and recorded by his short-lived post-McLean band, the Flying Machine.

And that wasn’t the first or last time he would see the inside of a psychiatric institution. Several years later, following the release of his first album, and at a time when he should have been touring to promote it, he was instead getting treatment for his drug addiction at the Austen Riggs psychiatric treatment facility in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Absent active promotion by both James and Apple (which at that time was imploding), the album did not do well. To add insult to injury, James subsequently broke both hands and feet in a motorcycle accident.

On top of all that was the suicide of his good friend Suzanne Schnerr while he was in London making that first album. His friends didn’t tell him, not wanting to derail the realization of his dream, especially when he was making the album as the first ever non-British artist under the new Apple Records label, personally approved by Paul McCartney and George Harrison, being managed by the enthusiastic and fully supportive A&R Head Peter Asher, and recording at Trident Studios at the same time as the Beatles were there making their White Album. Not only did Paul play bass and George sing backup vocals on James’ song “Carolina in My Mind,” but his own song “Something in the Way She Moves” inspired George in composing what I consider one of the Beatles’ masterpieces and, indeed, one of the best love songs ever. You know the one I mean. (Give up? Take a listen here.)

It was Suzanne’s death, which his friends finally disclosed to him, the depression that descended upon him when the Flying Machine fell apart, and his ongoing struggles with addiction that spurred him to write a song called “Fire and Rain,” which he started in London but completed at Austen Riggs. Let’s listen to the song before learning more about its meaning and impact. The original album version is here, but I love this performance on The Late Show in 1993:

As James explained in a Rolling Stone interview in 1972, “The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend. The second verse is about my arrival in this country with a monkey on my back, and there Jesus is an expression of my desperation in trying to get through the time when my body was aching and the time was at hand when I had to do it. And the third verse of that song refers to my recuperation in Austin Riggs which lasted about five months."

James recorded the song in late 1969 at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, still working with producer Peter Asher but now under the Warner Brothers label. It was included on his second album, Sweet Baby James, released in February 1970, and immediately spawned a number of successful covers. R.B Greaves, known for the recent hit “Take a Letter Maria,” took it to #37 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and consistent hit-maker Johnny Rivers charted in the Top 100.

History might have been different if James’ version of “Fire and Rain” had never been released as a single. But the success of the covers and the reactions as James toured, as well as the failure to chart by another of the album singles that had been released, “Sweet Baby James,” dictated a different course. Finally released in August, history was indeed made — the song took off, so did James’ career, and so did the early 70s singer-songwriter movement. (You know — Carole King, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Bonnie Raitt. That kind of artist.)

The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its significance has since been abundantly confirmed by a number of high honors:

• #146 on Rolling Stones’ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

• voted #85 on the Songs of the Century List, comprised of 365 songs of “historical significance” recorded from 1900 to 2000, by members of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America

• #82 on Broadcast Music, Inc.’s list of the Top 100 Songs of the Century

• inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

But perhaps George Harrison was right when he said that “the sign of a good song is when it has lots of cover versions.” That is certainly the case with “Fire and Rain,” and I want to share two of my favorites which, I believe, reveal just how beautiful and versatile this song is.

First is a duet by two singers you may not know but who are superstars in Australia. Marcia Hines made her debut with a cover of the song (here), which won her Female Vocal Single of the Year at the Australian Record Awards. Jimmy Barnes has had 20 number one albums in Australia as a solo artist and as the lead singer for rock band Cold Chisel. (More than the Beatles!) This live acoustic version gives the song a whole new meaning:

Another wonderful acoustic version is this one from singer-songwriter Richie Havens, from his appearance on the Toronto cult TV series “The All-Night Show with Chuck the Security Guard” in the summer of 1981. You remember Richie — he was the opening act at Woodstock! You feel like you’re right there with him as he gives you a private concert of “Fire and Rain”:

I want to conclude by circling back to where we started, talking about the fire and rain in James’ life. It didn’t end there, of course, as James’ father and his older brother Alex both died from alcoholism, and James went on to have another divorce, from actress Kathryn Walker.

But James’ tale is ultimately a happy and uplifting one. He has marveled that he was the one to make it in a family of addicts, especially given the high overdose rate among heroin users, and especially given the deaths of close friends of his in the music and entertainment industries. In 2001 he married Kim Smedvig, whom he believes he was waiting all his life to meet, and had two more kids, sons Rufus and Henry. James continues to record and tour, and in 2021 Henry accompanied him on tour as a backup vocalist. Here — and it may bring tears to your eyes — is James’ happy ending:

Some fun facts

• James admitted that he stole the chord sequence for “Fire and Rain” from something his brother Alex had written. (Hey, come join us in the ‘stealing from your sibling’ club, James.)

• Carole King played piano on both the song and the tour. Petrified of live performing, Carole finally got over it when James asked her to sing lead on one of the songs she had co-written with Gerry Goffin, “Up on the Roof,” when they performed at her alma mater, Queens College. She argued against it but he refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. She wrote in her autobiography, A Natural Woman, “James had given me a priceless gift…James’s introduction and choice of song had virtually guaranteed that I would be pre-loved…I will always be grateful to James for putting me on the path to become a confident performing artist, and also for being an excellent example of how to perform unselfconsciously with joy and integrity.”

• Carole wrote her mega-hit from the Tapestry album, “You’ve Got a Friend,” in response to one of the lines in “Fire and Rain” — “I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend.” She said the song wrote itself, through her. James liked it so much that he did a cover version for his album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, and that single also went to the top of the chart that same year (1971).

• In his 2015 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, James said about “Fire and Rain”: “I wrote that song in 1970, and I just hadn't seen that much back then — mostly fire and rain, so that's why I keep saying it over and over again in the song.” He added that he would have added a calzone to the lyrics but hadn’t seen one yet.

• James and Stephen came up with some updated lyrics for the song, including “I’ve seen man buns, Myspace and the Baha Men, but I never thought I’d see a new Star Wars again,” “I’ve seen grandmas reading 50 Shades of Grey,” and “Quidditch teams and skinny jeans cutting blood off from my thighs.” You can see that segment from The Late Show here — it’s very entertaining.

• “Fire and Rain” has made an appearance in The Simpsons, Glee, and Stranger Things. You can’t get better than that.

Questions for discussion in the comments

1. Shouldn’t it be “Fire and Tornados” or “Fire and Hurricanes” or “Fire and Hailstones the Size of Baseballs” to be relevant in the 21st century?

2. What have you stolen from your brother — or another sibling? A chord? A calzone? A Colbert named Stephen?

3. Explain the differences in philosophy between George Harrison’s “Something” and James Taylor’s “Something in the Way She Moves.” Is it just a title difference, or do these songs reveal a startling chasm between these two iconic artists?

4. Has your Grandma read Fifty Shades of Grey?

5. Should Maria take a letter? Should she buy a vowel from Vanna White? And which one?