Fire and Rain (band)

Fire and Rain were a disco pop duo from Tucson, Arizona active 1973-1976. The duo was composed of Patti McCarron and Manny Freiser and produced by Joe Saraceno. The name came from Fire and Rain the 1970 song by James Taylor.

References

Fire and Rain (song)

"Fire and Rain" is a folk rock song written and performed by James Taylor. Released on Warner Bros. Records as a single from his second album, Sweet Baby James, in February 1970, the song follows Taylor's reaction to the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend, and his experiences with drug addiction and fame. After its release, "Fire and Rain" peaked at number two on RPM's Canada Top Singles chart and at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background and composition

Taylor has related different versions of what the song is about.

On the VH1 series Story Tellers, Taylor said the song was actually about several incidents during his early recording career. The second line "Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you" refers to Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend of his who committed suicide while he was in London, England, recording his first album. In that same account, Taylor said he had been in a deep depression after the failure of his new band The Flying Machine to coalesce (the lyric "Sweet dreams and Flying Machines in pieces on the ground"; the reference is to the name of the band rather than a fatal plane crash, as was long rumored). In 2005, during an interview on NPR, Taylor explained to host Scott Simon that the song was written in three parts:

Fire and Rain (film)

Fire and Rain is a 1989 made-for-television film directed by Jerry J. Jameson, starring Charles Haid, Angie Dickinson and Tom Bosley, as well as an all-star ensemble television cast in supporting roles. The film was based on the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 aircraft crash at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) on August 2, 1985, as depicted in Fire and Rain: A Tragedy in American Aviation (1986) by Jerome Greer Chandler.

Jerry J. Jameson had become known for his work on "... movie-of-the-week phenomenon and group-jeopardy suspense and terror.", although he also became a specialist in "one-off" television and film features.Fire and Rain was an example of the aviation "disaster" film, as well, it also very much fits the additional genre of the complex, heavily character-driven ensemble cast film, exploring the personal dramas and interactions that develop among the passengers and crew as they deal with a deadly onboard emergency. Fire and Rain, however, veers from the traditional format as it based on a real-life accident.