Covid Island Discs

Day 118: Fire and Rain, James Taylor (with Sheryl Crow)

Such a beautiful song this time augmented with a nice duet from Sheryl Crow. The background to the story is equally interesting. From memory I thought it was about one of his friends who took her own life but apparently each verse is about something different. This is what the npr.org website said about the song.

Taylor wrote “Fire and Rain” in 1968. The song has three verses. One is about a friend who committed suicide, another is about Taylor’s addiction to heroin, the third refers to a mental hospital and a band Taylor started called The Flying Machine. Each verse is followed by the same chorus, `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.’ James Taylor told me he can’t stand to hear his songs on the radio. He dives for the dial if “Fire and Rain” comes on. But it remains a song he likes to sing and one that audiences always wait for.

My Video Summary

If you click on the Playlist Video for Week 17 (top right of this page) you will be taken to a single video which allows you to play each song in this week's list one after the other. Alternatively, if you watch my own video summary below of this week's songs at the end of the video two playlist links will appear. The one on the left hand side will take you to the video playlist for this week while the one on the right will take you to a single video playlist that allows you to play the complete Covid Island Discs collection for all the currently completed weeks so far — well over 200 songs and counting!