This day in music history.

September 12, 1970, James Taylor released the single," Fire and Rain." The song was from Taylors second LP titled "Sweet Baby James". The album features Carole King on piano. "Fire And Rain" was written while James was institutionalized for depression and heroin addiction. The "Suzanne" mentioned in the lyrics to "Fire and Rain" was Suzanne Schnerr. She was a good friend of Taylors whom he had met while he was a teenager in New York while performing as part of a group called The Flying Machine. She committed suicide. Taylor later explained "Fire and Rain" has three verses. The first verse is about my reaction to the death of a friend. 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."
Fire And Rain by James Taylor
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 ...