Fire and rain

James Taylor har sagt att låten handlar om flera incidenter under hans tidiga inspelningskarriär. Den andra raden "Susanne the plans they made put an end to you" hänvisar till Suzanne Schnerr, en barndomsvän till honom som begick självmord medan han var i London och spelade in sitt första album.  I samma berättelse sade Taylor att han hade varit i en djup depression efter att hans nya band The Flying Machine misslyckats med att återsamlas ("Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground"; hänvisar till namnet på detta band snarare än en flygplansolycka, som det länge ryktades om). Taylors färdigställde låten medan han var i rehabilitering efter missbruk av droger.

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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

(James Taylor)
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