Fire and Rain

Day 2 in my month long music retrospective.  

I remember sitting in my friend Mike's basement in about 1970.  He had the best stereo of any of my friends.  And we listened to this song 15 times in a row.  For many days in a row.  We listened until we had it memorized.  And, because we were best friends, we sang out.  In full voice.  We sang it while we were shooting hoops, riding our bikes.  We sang it while we shared our dreams and schemes.  Mike played piano.  He was quite good.  I played clarinet.  I was not bad.  But we both were going to learn to play guitar.  That was our destiny.  And think of the girls we would attract.

I could not count how many times I have heard this song.  But it still haunts me.  It is roughly about his experiences in mental institutions and a friend who committed suicide.  I know that The Original Flying Machine was an old band that never quite made it.  (Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground).  At the time Mike and I were singing our hearts out we didn't know any of this.  But to this song - we sang with everything we had.  Check out this 1970 live version.  I think I had a poncho just like his.




Fire and Rain
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