It's so funny that the legends of this song still persist. Timothy White's excellent James Taylor biography "Long Ago and Far Away" and Joel Risberg's "The James Taylor Encyclopedia" both make it pretty clear what the song is about. Both quote James from a few interviews where he's explained the songs. The interviews are a few decades old, so it's funny that the legends still persist. I guess that's the effect of a truly powerful song - people will let it mean what they want. Anyway, from James' own mouth: "I knew Suzanne ['Susie' Schnerr] well in New York, and we used to hang out together and we used to get high together; I think she came from Long Island. She was a kid, like all of us." The two mental institutions James stayed in were in Massachusetts, so they did not meet there. They met while James was in Greenwich Village. Susie was a friend of Flying Machine drummer Joel "Bishop" O'Brien. James goes on: "But she committed suicide sometime later while I was over in London. At the time I was living with Margaret ["Maggie" Corey], and Richard [Corey] was around a lot and so was Joel O'Brien. All three of them were really close to Susie Schnerr. But Richard and Joel and Margaret were excited for me having this record deal [with Apple Records] and making this album, and when Susie killed herself they decided not to tell me about it until later because they didn't want to shake me up... I didn't find out until some six months after it happened. That's why the 'They let me know you were gone' line came up. And I always felt rather bad about the line, 'The plans they made put an end to you,' because 'they' only meant 'ye gods', or basically 'The Fates'. I never knew her folks but I always wondered whether her folks would hear that and wonder whether it was about them." So, he wrote that first verse while in London within a week and a half after O'Brien finally told him one late night. He then tried to kick heroin while in London, flew back to the States to continue his rehab in Manhattan, and began writing the second verse. His mother then took him to Austen Riggs, a psychiatric clinic in Massachusetts, where he wrote the third verse about the break-up of his New York band of 1966, The Flying Machine. From long-time friend and musical partner, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar: "...Every word in ["Fire & Rain"] was just James telling the blow-by-blow truth about how he felt. Even the line when he sings that he wrote down this song, and he 'just can't remember who to send it to' had to do with the fact he'd signed a contract with a new publishing company, Blackwood Music, and he didn't know who he was supposed to send his stuff to!" James told Rolling Stone Magazine in 1971: "The first verse was a reaction to a friend of mine killing herself. The second verse of it is about my kicking junk just before I left England. And the third verse is about my going into a hospital in Western Massachusetts. It's just a hard-time song, a blues without having the blues form."
Taylor wrote this in 1968 at three different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles' Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor explained: "The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (see below). 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...
Taylor wrote this in 1968 at three different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles' Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor explained: "The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (see below). 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."
The lyrics, "Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone. Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you" have been the subject of a great deal of speculation, with rumors that Suzanne was Taylor's girlfriend who died in a place crash. In a 1971 interview with Petticoat, Taylor explained: "It concerned a girl called Susanne I knew who they put into an isolation cell and she couldn't take it and committed suicide." Her name was Susie Schnerr, and Taylor also explained that it was months before he found out about her death, as his friends withheld the news so it wouldn't distract Taylor from his burgeoning music career. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor added: "I always felt rather bad about the line, 'The plans they made put an end to you,' because 'they' only meant 'ye gods,' or basically 'the Fates.' I never knew her folks but I always wondered whether her folks would hear that and wonder whether it was about them."
The line, "Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to a band Taylor was in called The Flying Machine. After the band broke up, Taylor went to England where he played his tapes to Paul McCartney, who signed him to Apple Records.
Thank you a 100 times over my words...I am NOT a song writer but have been covering james for over 40 years and just know am starting to investigate his more abstract lyric...thanks for the reference to the 2 books... you're an "angel".
Thank you a 100 times over my words...I am NOT a song writer but have been covering james for over 40 years and just know am starting to investigate his more abstract lyric...thanks for the reference to the 2 books... you're an "angel".
It's so funny that the legends of this song still persist. Timothy White's excellent James Taylor biography "Long Ago and Far Away" and Joel Risberg's "The James Taylor Encyclopedia" both make it pretty clear what the song is about. Both quote James from a few interviews where he's explained the songs. The interviews are a few decades old, so it's funny that the legends still persist. I guess that's the effect of a truly powerful song - people will let it mean what they want. Anyway, from James' own mouth: "I knew Suzanne ['Susie' Schnerr] well in New York, and we used to hang out together and we used to get high together; I think she came from Long Island. She was a kid, like all of us." The two mental institutions James stayed in were in Massachusetts, so they did not meet there. They met while James was in Greenwich Village. Susie was a friend of Flying Machine drummer Joel "Bishop" O'Brien. James goes on: "But she committed suicide sometime later while I was over in London. At the time I was living with Margaret ["Maggie" Corey], and Richard [Corey] was around a lot and so was Joel O'Brien. All three of them were really close to Susie Schnerr. But Richard and Joel and Margaret were excited for me having this record deal [with Apple Records] and making this album, and when Susie killed herself they decided not to tell me about it until later because they didn't want to shake me up... I didn't find out until some six months after it happened. That's why the 'They let me know you were gone' line came up. And I always felt rather bad about the line, 'The plans they made put an end to you,' because 'they' only meant 'ye gods', or basically 'The Fates'. I never knew her folks but I always wondered whether her folks would hear that and wonder whether it was about them." So, he wrote that first verse while in London within a week and a half after O'Brien finally told him one late night. He then tried to kick heroin while in London, flew back to the States to continue his rehab in Manhattan, and began writing the second verse. His mother then took him to Austen Riggs, a psychiatric clinic in Massachusetts, where he wrote the third verse about the break-up of his New York band of 1966, The Flying Machine. From long-time friend and musical partner, Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar: "...Every word in ["Fire & Rain"] was just James telling the blow-by-blow truth about how he felt. Even the line when he sings that he wrote down this song, and he 'just can't remember who to send it to' had to do with the fact he'd signed a contract with a new publishing company, Blackwood Music, and he didn't know who he was supposed to send his stuff to!" James told Rolling Stone Magazine in 1971: "The first verse was a reaction to a friend of mine killing herself. The second verse of it is about my kicking junk just before I left England. And the third verse is about my going into a hospital in Western Massachusetts. It's just a hard-time song, a blues without having the blues form."
another re-telling of the tales above:
another re-telling of the tales above:
Taylor wrote this in 1968 at three different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles' Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor explained: "The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (see below). 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...
Taylor wrote this in 1968 at three different times. He started it in London, where he auditioned for The Beatles' Apple Records. He later worked on it in a Manhattan Hospital, and finished it while in drug rehab at The Austin Riggs Center in Massachusetts. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor explained: "The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend (see below). 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."
The lyrics, "Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone. Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you" have been the subject of a great deal of speculation, with rumors that Suzanne was Taylor's girlfriend who died in a place crash. In a 1971 interview with Petticoat, Taylor explained: "It concerned a girl called Susanne I knew who they put into an isolation cell and she couldn't take it and committed suicide." Her name was Susie Schnerr, and Taylor also explained that it was months before he found out about her death, as his friends withheld the news so it wouldn't distract Taylor from his burgeoning music career. In a 1972 Rolling Stone interview, Taylor added: "I always felt rather bad about the line, 'The plans they made put an end to you,' because 'they' only meant 'ye gods,' or basically 'the Fates.' I never knew her folks but I always wondered whether her folks would hear that and wonder whether it was about them."
The line, "Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to a band Taylor was in called The Flying Machine. After the band broke up, Taylor went to England where he played his tapes to Paul McCartney, who signed him to Apple Records.
Source: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=761
Thank you a 100 times over my words...I am NOT a song writer but have been covering james for over 40 years and just know am starting to investigate his more abstract lyric...thanks for the reference to the 2 books... you're an "angel".
Thank you a 100 times over my words...I am NOT a song writer but have been covering james for over 40 years and just know am starting to investigate his more abstract lyric...thanks for the reference to the 2 books... you're an "angel".