| "I'm on Fire" | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bruce Springsteen | |||||||||||
| from the album Born in the U.S.A. | |||||||||||
| B-side | "Johnny Bye Bye" | ||||||||||
| Released | February 6, 1985 | ||||||||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||||||||
| Recorded | February 1982 | ||||||||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||||||||
| Length | 2:37 | ||||||||||
| Label | Columbia | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Bruce Springsteen | ||||||||||
| Producer | Jon Landau, Chuck Plotkin, Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt | ||||||||||
| Bruce Springsteen singles chronology | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
"I'm on Fire" is a song written and performed by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen. In 1985, it became the fourth single released from his massively successful album Born in the U.S.A..
Contents |
"I'm on Fire" was recorded in February 1982 during the first wave of Born in the U.S.A. sessions. This took place in impromptu fashion when Springsteen started making up a slow tune on guitar for some lyrics he had, and drummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan, hearing it for the first time, created an accompaniment on the spot. The result was a moody number that merges a soft rockabilly beat, lyrics built around sexual tension, and synthesizers into an effective whole; it was one of the first uses of that instrument in Springsteen's music.
The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts in early 1985. It was the fourth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. It is also remarkable that the single reached #1 in the Netherlands for 3 weeks in August 1985, at the same time as 2 other Springsteen singles ("Dancing in the Dark" and "Born in the U.S.A.") were occupying the Top 12.
Unlike the first three singles from the album, no remixes were made for "I'm on Fire" (nor were any made for any of the subsequent singles released).
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia | 12 |
| Canada | 12 |
| The Netherlands | 1[1] |
| United Kingdom | 5 |
| United States | 6 |
The music video for the song was shot in March 1985 in Los Angeles, and was directed by filmmaker John Sayles. Unlike the previous videos from the album, this video was not a performance clip but rather portrayed a dramatic storyline that alluded to some of the song's emotions. In it, Springsteen plays a working class automobile mechanic with an attractive, married, very well-to-do, mostly unseen female customer who brings her vintage Ford Thunderbird in for frequent servicing, always requesting that he does the work. She gives him all her keys, not just the ones for the car. Later that night, he drives the T-Bird up to her mansion high in the hills above the city. He is about to ring the bell, when he thinks better of it, smiles wistfully, drops her keys in the mailbox next to the door and walks away down towards the lights below.[2]
The video began airing in mid-April, received extensive MTV airplay, and later in the year won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.
The B-side of the single, "Johnny Bye Bye", was an adaptation of Chuck Berry's "Bye Bye Johnny" that focused on the death of Elvis Presley. Springsteen had first started performing it in 1981 at the tail end of The River Tour. It was then recorded in early 1983 during the second phase of the Born in the U.S.A. recording sessions, but never considered for inclusion on the album.
"I'm on Fire" was performed only sporadically at the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, but a couple of months later, it settled into a regular place in the middle of the second set. It was usually preceded by a long musical introduction, during which Springsteen spoke about not being able to sleep at night back when he was young and his parents were struggling and the house was cold. The song was also given an extended coda of Springsteen's moans against waves of synthesizer. Such a rendition from an August 19, 1985 performance at Giants Stadium is included on the Live/1975-85 box set, but with the spoken part of the introduction edited out.
In some cases, red lighting from stage floor focused on Springsteen's face was used to further accentuate the song. On the Tunnel of Love Express, the song was still a regular. On the Human Rights Now! Tour, Springsteen conducted crowd sing-alongs during the chorus and coda parts. After some appearances on the "Other Band" Tour, the song went into a long retirement, not emerging again until occasional performances on 2005's solo Devils & Dust Tour, when he performed it on banjo with the red lighting back. With the E Street Band , the song has only been performed on four occasions since the Tunnel of Love tour: once on the Reunion Tour (June 17, 1999, Bremen), once on The Rising Tour (April 18, 2003, Ottawa) and three times on the Magic Tour (May 31, 2008, Emirates Stadium, London, June 18, 2008, Amsterdam and July 5, 2008, Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden). The song has made surprise return on a semi-regular basis during the European leg of the 2009 Working on a Dream tour. As of November 2009, it has been performed live 245 times.
Director Norman Jewison featured the song on the soundtrack for his 1989 film In Country, starring Bruce Willis.[10] The song was used during scenes in which the character of Sam, played by Emily Lloyd, jogs down the streets of Hopewell, Kentucky.
Christian comedian Tim Hawkins parodied the song on his album Extremely Madeover.
In the 2011 Australian film "The Hunter", Willem Dafoe sets up a stereo in a tree and uses the song to awaken someone sleeping inside the house.