About The Song
Fire and Rain by Sammy Kershaw is a cover of the James Taylor classic that first appeared on the 1994 AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country. The project, organized by the Red Hot Organization, brought together a range of country artists to raise awareness and funds. Kershaw’s version was released on that compilation in September 1994 through Mercury Nashville. It later found a second home on his 2000 album Covers the Hits, a collection of songs he had recorded over the years that were not originally his own.
The original song, written and recorded by James Taylor in 1970 for the album Sweet Baby James, remains one of the most personal pieces in the American songbook. Taylor drew from three difficult chapters in his early life: the suicide of a friend named Suzanne, his own struggles with addiction and recovery, and the collapse of his early band, the Flying Machine. The result was a quiet, reflective account of loss, endurance, and looking back that connected widely and became one of his signature recordings.
Kershaw approached the song during a strong period in his own career. In 1994 he was riding the success of Feelin’ Good Train and its string of radio hits. Contributing to Red Hot + Country placed him alongside other artists using their platforms for a cause larger than commercial release. The recording was produced by Buddy Cannon, Norro Wilson, and Kershaw himself, with Billy Sherrill handling the engineering. The arrangement stayed true to the spirit of the original while fitting comfortably inside a country framework.
A music video for the track was later directed by John Carlin and Richie Vetter. The song itself was never pushed as a major radio single and did not register significant peaks on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Its life has been tied more to the benefit album and to Kershaw’s later covers collection than to the weekly singles rankings that defined much of his 1990s run.
What makes the recording notable is the meeting of two different traditions. Taylor’s folk-rooted confession of hard times found a natural interpreter in a country singer whose own catalog already contained stories of ordinary struggle and resilience. Kershaw did not attempt to reinvent the song. He simply delivered it with the plainspoken clarity that marked his best work. In the context of an AIDS benefit project, the themes of loss and survival took on an additional layer of meaning for listeners in the mid-1990s.
Years later the track continues to surface when people explore Kershaw’s deeper catalog or the Red Hot + Country compilation. It stands as a respectful cover rather than a chart play—an example of a mainstream country artist stepping outside his usual material to honor a classic and support a larger purpose. The song’s quiet power remains intact, carried forward by a voice that understood how to let a hard story speak for itself.
Video
Lyric
Just yesterday mornin’, they let me know you were gone
Susanne, the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this mornin’ 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 seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Won’tcha look down upon me, Jesus?
Ya gotta help me make a stand
You just got to see me through another day
My body’s achin’ and my time is at hand
I won’t make it any other way
Whoa, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
Seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again
Been walkin’ 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
Whoa, I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
Seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I 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 comin’ my way this time around, now
Thought I’d see you, thought I’d see you
Fire and rain, now