LOEWS Summer/Fall 2011 - (Page 30)
committed suicide. The second verse,
“Fire and Rain”
by James Taylor
in which “my body’s aching and my time is at hand/And I won’t make it any other way,” refers to his treatment at Austin Riggs Hospital in Massachusetts. The
A No. 3 hit on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, folk-rock song “Fire and Rain” became a signature composition and concert staple for Taylor, and a feel-good fix for the troubadour’s fans. It was rooted in struggle, though, with lines referencing the suicide of a childhood friend, battles with depression and addiction and career struggles. The opening line, “Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone,” was about Suzanne Schnerr, a friend who
“flying machines in pieces on the ground” line was about his ill-fated first band, The Flying Machine. And the “fire” in the title intimates the electroshock therapy he underwent at Austin Riggs. In spite of all the turmoil in the lyrics, Taylor has performed “Fire and Rain” thousands of times in front of the picnic basket-wielding amphitheater crowds that, as he wrote in 1980s song “That’s Why I’m Here,” “pay good money to hear ‘Fire and Rain,’ again and again and again.”
“I Will Always Love You”
by Dolly parTon
Dolly Parton wrote this one as a bittersweet goodbye to her musical mentor, Porter Wagoner, who had helped her to fame by hiring her for his syndicated television show. In the early 1970s, she sought to move on as a solo act, a decision that caused Grand Ole Opry star Wagoner hard feelings. The song was a way of finding some closure in the midst of a contentious split that
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included lawsuits and accusations. It topped the charts for Parton in May of 1974, and reached the top of the country charts again in 1982, when she re-recorded it for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas soundtrack. Whitney Houston also sang her own hit version of it, and it remains among the signature songs in both Parton’s and Houston’s repertoires. Wagoner’s and the crooning blonde’s spat was ultimately short-lived, and Parton sang it to an emotional Wagoner on the Grand Ole Opry stage in 2007. In fact, Parton was at his side, holding his hand the day he died later that year.
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of LOEWS Summer/Fall 2011
The Great Outdoors
Shore Things
Carmen Herrera
The Right App-Titudes
Spice Routes
Futiles Fixes
Music City Sampler
The Future of Flying
The Stories Behind the Songs
Romantic Pleasure in the Pink Palace
Philly 2.0
The Breakfast Club
Local Living
News and Notes
LOEWS Summer/Fall 2011
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