Our Beautiful Funeral Music: “Fire & Rain,” by James TaylorSinger/songwriter James Taylor achieved his breakthrough with this at once lovely and apocalyptic tune about love deferred and challenges ahead. Taylor reflects on loneliness and loss of faith, “Sunny days that I thought would never end,” and “Lonely times when I could not find a friend,” and yet he still finds hope and strength enough at least to keep moving forward, and write a song about it.
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
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A few days ago a close family member committed suicide. My dad flew in from out of state to be here for the funeral. It was late and he needed something to eat. We went to a place we often go and though they rarely have music, this night they had some guys there who played a few songs. Fire and Rain was the first song they played. I cried. My husband said, “It’s surreal. It’s like something from a movie…” This song needs to be a part of the funeral.
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Thanks Tina for sharing this with us. So many moments can be like a movie – a beautiful part of the healing process.
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