Sweet Dreams And Flying Machines

Original released on LP Warner Bros WS 1843

(US 1970, Fébruary 1)

“We had all the fun. It almost killed us” (James Taylor, 2002)

Owner of a very expressive voice and a peculiar guitar style, capable of penning memorable tunes, with the inestimable help of the underrated Danny Kootch (Kortchmar)  on tasteful guitar duets , overall harmonizing and even some leads, plus the occasional piano of friend/lover/collaborator Carole King, rotating bass players and the hardened Russ Kunkel on drums ( who is curiously omitted on the LP sleeve credits) , James Taylor takes us through a very stunning catalog of some of the best  late 60’s West Coast sounds. From the falsely waltzing title track, through the foot stomp driven Bluesy twin acoustics of “Lo & Behold”, the jazzy, delicately hi-hat driven, swinging “Sunny Skies”, the soulful, brass arrangement boasted ,electric blues of “Steamroller” , the travelling stop and go “Country Road” and the Folksy/Rag/Jazzy twists of the Cowboy song “Oh Susannah”. Flip the record and enter the gracious “Fire & Rain”, acoustic guitar, drums and strings alternating in the role of increasing tension with delicate subtlety, the seemingly Poppy “Blossom” constantly modulating descending and ascending patterns in a misleading simplicity, and playa like a folk-inflected “Here Comes The Sun”. “Anywhere like Heaven” with delicious steel guitar and fiddle flourishes, the thrilling vs cheerful Rural Blues “Oh Baby don’t you Loose your Lip on Me” and end  with the sumptuous mini-epic “Suite for 20G”. The track begins in familiar Taylor territory, wuth sunlit lyricism and a neat descending guitar refrain. Halfway through, however, it shifts gear and slides into a high-rolling  R&B blow-out, complete with majestic horn section. “Sweet Baby James” went on to achieve triple platinum sales, and triumphantly established Taylor as a musical force in the new decade.

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
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

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 (that would be Suzanne - explained 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 line, "Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to a band Taylor was in called The Flying Machine, which he formed with Danny Kortchmar in 1966. The band recorded some songs and released one single, but split up without issuing an album. Taylor went to England, where his demo got the attention of Beatles associate Peter Asher, who arranged an audition with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. They liked what they heard, and signed Taylor to their label, Apple Records. By 1971, Taylor was on a new label and "Fire and Rain" was a hit. The enterprising (some would say exploitative) folks at the label that controlled The Flying Machine's recordings suddenly became interested in the band, and cobbled together an album from those recordings which they released in 1971 as James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine.

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.»