9 Biggest Urban Legends About Classic Rock Songs

2. James Taylor's Fire And Rain Is About His Girlfriend Dying In A Plane Crash

The Myth: If there's anything we've learned so far, it's that people love a tragic story behind a sad song. Enter James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," one of those classically depressing folk songs that stays in your head for days afterward because it's just so damn heart-wrenching. And the reason it hits to hard is that Taylor wrote the song in honor of his girlfriend, "Suzanne," who'd died in a plane crash while on her way to visit him. Supposedly, some of their mutual friends coaxed her into surprising him at one of his concerts. A couple of lines seem to justify this interpretation:

Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were goneSuzanne, the plans they made put an end to you and Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground

The Reality: The song is actually divided into three parts, with each section written about a different part of his life. The first verse actually is about death, but "Suzanne" wasn't his girlfriend, she was merely an acquaintance whose passing he'd heard about through the grapevine. And the other line, which seems to describe a plane crash, is partly about his recuperating from depression and substance abuse, spurred on by the failure of Taylor's previous band, The Flying Machine.