Fire and Rain chords

by James Taylor
  • Fire and Rain was written by James Taylor. The song was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders in December 1969 and released in February 1970, from the album Sweet Baby James.
  • Music: Key of A Major in 4/4 time at ~ 75 bpm (♩)
  • Chords: A, E, Em7, Em/A, D, D/C#, D/F#, G, Gmaj7, Bm7, Bm7/E
  • Capo: 3rd fret if playing with the video which is in the key of C Major
Chart Legend
Numbered Circles: Fingers used to play chords   O: Optional Note
Barre Line: One finger holds down multiple strings   R: Root Note
Unmarked strings: Play open   X: Don't play string    B: Bass Note
A Major E Major Em7 Em/A D Major D/F# D/C# G Major Gmaj7 Bm7 Bm7/E
A Major E Major Em7 Em/A D Major D/F# D/C# G Major Gmaj7 Bm7 Bm7/E

Fire and Rain

Song Key is highlighted - Transpose to any other key
  
             A     Em7    D    A       A     E      Gmaj7
Intro: 4/4 | 1&2&  3&4& | 1&2  &3&4& | 1&2&  3&4& | 1&2&3&4& |
Timing Count

 A                  Em7                  D             A
1. Just yes-ter-day morn-in' they let me know you were gone,
               E                      Gmaj7
   Su-san, the plans they made put an end to you.
 A                   Em7            D               A
   I walked out this morn-in' and I wrote down this song,
                   E              Gmaj7
   I just can't re-mem-ber who to send it to.

      D           Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7              Em/A    Em/A
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you  a-gain.|       |       |

             A                   Em7                D              A
2. Won't you look down u-pon me, Je-sus, you got to help me make a stand,
                   E                Gmaj7
   You just got to see me through a-no-ther day.
 A            Em7            D          A
   My bo-dy's ach-in' and my time is at hand
               E             Gmaj7
   An' I won't make it a-ny  o - ther way.

        D             Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7              Em/A    Em/A
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you  a-gain.|       |       |

        A                      Em7            D                        A
3. Been walk-in' my mind to an ea-sy time, my back turned to-wards the sun.
                       E                     Gmaj7
   Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head a-round.
                 A                    Em7                  D                     A
   Well, there's hours of time on the te-le-phone line, to talk a-bout things to come.
                    E                   Gmaj7
   Sweet dreams and fly-ing machines in pie-ces on the ground.

        D             Bm7      Bm7/E     A
Chorus: Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain.
               D      D/C#        Bm7           Bm7/E  A
        I seen sun-ny days that I thought would nev-er end,
               D       D/C#         Bm7       Bm7/E  A
        I seen lone-ly times when I could not find a friend,
              G       D/F#             Em7
        But I al-ways thought that I'd see you ba-by,
    Em/A                             Em/A
        One more time a-gain, now.|        |...


Outro: Thought I'd see you one more time a-gain.

       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...

Notes:

All chords with a forward slash, i.e., Em/A, D/C#, D/F#, and Bm7/E means you play the chord before the slash leading with a bass note after the slash.

  • Em/A means you play an E chord leading with an 'A' bass note.
  • D/C# means you play a D chord leading with a 'C#' bass note etc.

Please note that the Bm7 and Bm7/E look identical. The difference is that Bm7 doesn't include the E bass note whereas Bm7/E does include the E bass note.

If you can't play D/F# using your thumb (T) for the bass note, simply alter finger positions by playing the D chord with fingers 2,3, and 4 and use the first finger to play the F# bass note.

James Taylor

James Taylor
James Taylor

Born: James Vernon Taylor on March 12, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Other Names: JT, Stringbean, Jams V. Taylor

Occupations: Singer-songwriter, musician

Instruments: Vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica

Active Years: 1966 – present

Music Styles: Folk rock, soft rock, rock, blues, country, pop

Associations: Carly Simon (his wife from 1972-1983), Peter Asher, Joni Mitchell, and Paul McCartney.

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