Dante running from the three beasts, by William Blake – pen, ink and watercolor over pencil – National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: Two Potent Elements – Songs Involving Blood and/or Fire
Hi, Almanackers! This week’s piece in my ongoing series about key popular song themes concerns songs that involve blood and/or fire. (A particular song you choose for inclusion in our overall list can, therefore, involve only one of these elements if you wish.) So, dear readers, please put your relevant songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘A Boy Named Sue’, written by Shel Silverstein, performed by Johnny Cash (1969)
‘Kicking and a-gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer’
‘Vincent’, written and performed by Don McLean (1971)
‘The silver thorn, a bloody rose / Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow’
‘Smoke on the Water’, written by Ritchie Blackmore, Ian Gillan, Roger Glover, Jon Lord and Ian Paice, performed by Deep Purple (1972)
‘Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky’
‘Bad Blood’, written by Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody, performed by Neil Sedaka (1975)
‘Bad (bad) blood (blood) / The woman was born to lie’
‘Fire’, written by Bruce Springsteen, performed by the Pointer Sisters (1978)
‘’Cause when we kiss, ooh / Fire’
‘Hot Blooded’, written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, performed by Foreigner (1978)
‘Well, I’m hot blooded / Check it and see / I got a fever of a hundred and three’
‘Just Like Fire Would’, written by Chris Bailey, performed by The Saints (1986)
‘And just like fire would I burn up’
‘Blood And Fire’, written by Amy Ray, performed by Indigo Girls (1987)
‘Nothing left but blood and fire’
‘Four Seasons in One Day’, written by Tim and Neil Finn, performed by Crowded House (1991)
‘Blood dries up / Like rain, like rain’
‘Beautiful Day’, written by Bono (lyrics) and U2, performed by U2 (2000)
‘See the Bedouin fires at night’
……………………………………………..
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) that involve blood and/or fire, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a good general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
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About
Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Some that come quickly to mind:
‘Play With Fire’ – Rolling Stones
‘Fire’ – Crazy World of Arthur Brown
‘Ring Of Fire’ – Johnny Cash / Eric Burdon (which I prefer)
Good morning Kevin
Fire & Rain (1970) – James Taylor
Idiot Wind (1975) – Bob Dylan
‘One day you’ll be in the ditch
Flies buzzin’ around your eyes
Blood on your saddle’
Thanks, Col, for opening the batting with our new theme.
To pick one of your song choices for comment – ‘Ring of Fire’ would have to be one of those classic ‘fire songs’ wouldn’t it?: ‘Love is a burning thing / And it makes a fiery ring / Bound by wild desire/ I fell into ring of fire’ This song was co-written by June Carter, of course.
Morning, Karl – thank you for your opening foray into the new theme. Love your choices – a song each from a wonderful artist.
“Blood” by The Middle East.
In my humble opinion, it is one of the greatest Australian songs ever written.
Gang of Youths did a wonderful ‘Like a Version” cover of this track, and the YouTube video of Gang of Youths and Mumford and Sons performing this live is really something to behold.
‘Blood and Thunder’ by Mastodon
Is heavy AF so be warned! Opening track on their ‘Leviathan’ album, a concept album based on Moby-Dick.
‘Fire’ and ‘World’s On Fire’ by Jimmy Barnes.
Closing tracks on his debut album ‘Bodyswerve’.
His best album in my opinion. More raw and less polished than subsequent offerings.
Thanks, Smokie, for the very fine ‘Blood’ – and for the accompanying commentary.
Thank you, Greg. Wow, yep, ‘Blood and Thunder’ is certainly full on! I dig the concept behind it too.
I really like the two Jimmy Barnes songs, also.
Jump Into The Fire (1971) – Harry Nilsson (includes that extra special Herbie Flower bassline!)
I’ve Got Blood In My Eyes For You (circa 1930’s) – Mississippi Sheiks
This song was re-arranged & covered by Dylan on his 1993 ‘World G9ne Wrong’ album.
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda – Eric Bogle
“Now those who were living did their best to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire
And for seven long weeks I kept myself alive
While the corpses around me piled higher”
Draft Dodger Rag – Phil Ochs
“”So I wish you well, sarge, give ’em hell
Kill me a thousand or so
And if you ever get a war without blood and gore
I’ll be the first to go”
Sky Pilot – Eric Burden & The Animals
“He smiles at the young soldiers
Tells them its all right
He knows of their fear in the forthcoming fight
Soon there’ll be blood and many will die
Mothers and fathers back home they will cry
Sky pilot…..sky pilot
How high can you fly
You’ll never, never, never reach the sky
He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile”
I Ain’t Marching Anymore – Phil Ochs
“Oh, I marched to the battle of New Orleans
At the end of the early British wars
The young land started growing
The young blood started flowing
But I ain’t marching anymore”
We will all go together when we go. – Tom Lehrer
“Oh we will all burn together when we burn.
There’ll be no need to stand and wait your turn.
When it’s time for the fallout
And saint peter calls us all out,
We’ll just drop our agendas and adjourn.”
Great Balls of Fire – Jerry Lee lewis
Burnin’ Down the House – Tom Jones
Beso De Fuego (Kiss of Fire) – Connie Francis
Gypsy Bundle (Could your own blood not provide you) Cliff Richard
Flesh and Blood – Cliff Richard
Shine, Jesus Shine (set our hearts on fire) – Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard also had a version of Fire and Rain
Thanks for ‘Jump into the Fire’, Karl – you’re right about the fab Flowers bassline. Thank you, also, for ‘I’ve Got Blood In My Eyes For You’ by the Mississippi Sheiks – a ‘good un’ from the archives, so to speak..
Excellent material, Dave, possessing your customary comprehensive approach.
Thank you, Fisho, for your song choices. Very good to have you on board, as usual!
Tonight We’ll Be Setting the Woods on Fire – Jo Stafford / Frankie Lane
I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire – Frankie Lane
The Gypsy with Fire in her Shoes – Peggy Lee
Is That All There Is (Orr house caught on fire)
The Fire in Her Blood – Roy Orbison
Line of Fire – Roy Orbison
Keep On Rollin’ (But my heart’s like this freight train, full of fire and smoke) – The Coasters
Young Blood – The Coasters
Truckin’s in My Blood – Slim Dusty
By the Fire of Gidgee Coal – Slim Dusty
Only the Two of us Here (With it’s eyes like coals of fire. Then it gave such a horrible moan that my blood run cold with fear) – Slim Dusty
A mixed bunch, with more to come later.
Flesh and Blood – Shane Howard (beautiful version of this also recorded by Mary Black)
Let the Canefields Burn – Graeme Connors
Norwegian Wood – The Beatles (“So I lit a fire, Isn’t it good, Norwegian Wood”)
Oh Mary Don’t You Weep – (Traditional Afro-American Gospel Song. Includes the lines “God gave Noah the rainbow sign No more water, but the fire next time…”) which James Baldwin used for his well known book about America and Race in the sixties.
That Old Black Magic (Aflame with such a burning desire, that only your kiss can put out the fire) – Frank Sinatra
Wheels on Fire – The Hollies
Solar Fire – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Play wit Fire – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Get Me Out of This (The world was really ending, there was flame, fire, there was flood. Everything was freezing, my ears, my eyes, balls and blood) – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Killer On the Loose (Blood on the wall like a river cuts a valley) – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
Not sure if anyone has mentioned Marty Robbins, anyway here’s four of his –
Prairie Fire
Georgia Blood
There is Power in the Blood
Tall Handsome Stranger (With fire in his eyes, burning red as sundown)
After the fire: Roger Daltrey
Over London skies: The Orchestra
Any day above ground: James Reyne
I can’t help myself: James Reyne
This wheel’s on fire: Bob Dylan and The Band
Why fight it: Mondo Rock
Blame: Mike and the Mechanics
Fire On High: Electric Light Orchestra
Blessed: Simon and Garfunkel
We didn’t start the fire: Billy Joel
Waterfall: Carly Simon
Just not true: Carly Simon
Our house: Crosby Stills Nash and Young
Smoke: Ben Folds Five
Fire brigade: The Move
Night of fear: The Move
The story in your eyes: Moody Blues
You and me: Moody Blues
Indoor Fireworks, Little Elvis
Highway Patrolman, Bruce
Fire Lake, Bob Seger
Sex on Fire, Kings of Leon
Burning Love, Elvis
Thanks a lot, Fisho, for your most recent sets of song choices – fine work, with a great deal of listening enjoyment in store for those who chose to follow up. My more personal note is that it’s always excellent to see some Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra and Slim Dusty among the songs chosen; that said, as usual, you’ve presented work by a range of quality artists.
Ooops, Fisho – it should read ‘for those who choose to follow up’ in the second line of my comment above!
Thank you for your most recent song choices, Dave – for me, ‘Norwegian Wood’ is certainly a favourite among ‘fire’ songs.
(And I should mention you deserved ‘additional points’ for ‘And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda’ in your initial comments, because its lyrics mention both blood and fire.)
Great list, Liam! The longish lists already posted – like yours – tell me that this fire and blood theme will yield many, many songs.
Thanks, Rick, for burning the midnight oil (good one, eh?) to provide us with your initial song choices. ‘Indoor Fireworks’ is among my favourite Elvis Costello songs, incidentally.
A couple from Dylan – one blood/one fire:
Hurricane (1975)
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out, “My God, they killed them all!”
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (1965)
My love she speaks like silence,
Without ideals or violence,
She doesn’t have to say she’s faithful,
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire
Thank you, Karl, for your latest two. I’ve always thought ‘Hurricane’ was a particularly fine song, and found the collaboration between Dylan and Jacques Levy an especially interesting aspect of it.
Here’s a couple more:
Getting to the point: Electric Light Orchestra
Things are hotting up: Mondo Rock
St George and the Dragon Net (It was terrible, he breathed fire on me) – Stan Freberg
Jackson (Ever since the fire went out) – Nancy Sinatra
Light My Fire – Nancy Sinatra
About a Fire – Nancy Sinatra
Hook and Ladder (There’s a fire and I’m a burnin’) – Nancy Sinatra
Wall of Fire – The Kinks
Drift Away (They say there’s gonna be a river of blood) – The Kinks
Fire Burning – Dave Davies.
Thanks, Liam, for your latest two choices – both are well-crafted, quality songs, in my humble opinion.
Thank you for your latest bunch, Fisho; as usual, quality artists and excellent songs abound. And some of your picks remind me that I should listen to more Nancy Sinatra!
On Fire Inside a Snowball – Kate Bush
Lily (I’ll show you how with a Fire) – Kate Bush
Five Card Stud (When he played, he played for blood) – Dean Martin.
Fire (One) – The Cult
Night Fires – Conway Twitty
Cheatin’ Fire – Conway Twitty
After the Fire is Gone – Conway Twitty and Loretta Lyn
The Fire of Two Flames – Conway Twitty and Loretta Lyn
I came across this very on theme song by Robbie Robertson – it is called:
Words Of Fire/Deeds Of Blood – from his 1994 ‘Music For Native Americans’
While the words ‘fire’ & ‘blood’ only appear in the title, the opening lyrics are worth reflecting upon….
‘Perhaps you think the Creator sent you here to dispose of us as you see fit
If I thought you were sent by the Creator
I might be induced to think you had a right to dispose of me
Do not misunderstand me
But understand me fully with reference to my affection for the land
I never said the land was mine to do with as I choose
The one who has a right to dispose of it is the one who has created it
I claim a right to live on my land
And accord you the privilege to return to yours’
What a diverse bunch of artists and songs are in your latest contribution, Fisho! Many thanks for these. I’ll give a special nod to that early Kate Bush demo recording ‘On Fire Inside a Snowball’ – I’m a big Kate fan, and this song is utterly beautiful.
Thanks for the Robbie Robertson song, Karl. The title is certainly spot on theme-wise. To my way of thinking/feeling, the song is very much a solemn free verse poem set to moving, atmospheric, spiritual music.
(Love is like a) Heatwave (And my heart’s filled with fire) – Cilla Black
Fire and Rain – Roger Whittaker
Blood and Fire – The Indigo Girls.
Thanks for your latest lot, Fisho. (Note: I covered the Indigo Girls’ ‘Blood and Fire’ in my intro to this theme.)
Humble apologies Kevin. I’ll be more careful in the future.
No worries, Fisho. All good! I always look forward to your contributions to these themed pieces.
Another Dylan double of ‘blood’ & ‘fire’
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
‘I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’’
My Back Pages
‘Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rolling high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps’
Thanks so much, Karl. Please keep the Dylan – and other – song choices a-comin’!
Here’s one from my primary school days – Flick the Little Fire Engine – Robert Dann.
A Long Vacation (The flames start to burnin’ with your kisses of fire) – Ricky Nelson
Settin’ the Woods on Fire – Johnny Burnette
Cool Fire – Shaun Cassidy
Once Bitten, Twice Shy (There’s blood on my amp and my Les Paul’ heat) – Shaun Cassidy
We’ll Sweep Out the Ashes in the Morning, Gram and Emmylou (We’re two people caught up in a flame that has to die down soon/I didn’t mean to start this fire and neither did you/So tonight when you hold me tight, we’ll let the fire burn on/Then we’ll sweep out the ashes in the morning)
House on Fire, Mickey Guyton (If I go and set this house on fire/If we go and strip these walls to the wires/Will you still love me)
Fire in the Hole, Steely Dan (Don’t you know there’s fire in the hole?/And nothing left to burn)
Metal Firecracker Lucinda Williams (Once I was in your blood/And you were obsessed with me)
Uncomplicated, Little Elvis (Blood and chocolate/I hope you`re satisfied what you have done/You think it`s over now/But we’ve only just begun)
Thank you, Fisho, for your most recent contributions – interesting, too, that one song was from your early school days. I remember learning various songs on a regular ABC (?) broadcast in primary school – we students all had songbooks for the broadcasts so we could sing along as a class group.
Thanks for your latest lot, Rick – a particularly interesting bunch, with spot-on quoted material, as usual.
Our fire/blood theme is starting to gather fine momentum, I feel.
This ‘double Dylan’ – blood & fire – comes from the same song:
Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again (1966) off the ‘Blonde On Blonde’ album
‘Mona tried to tell me
To stay away from the train line
She said that all the railroad men
Just drink up your blood like wine’
‘But me, I expected it to happen
I knew he’d lost control
When he built a fire on Main Street
And shot it full of holes’
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again’. Imagistically and thematically, blood and fire are closely related, I feel, so it’s an interesting – but not uncommon – thing that they are present in the one song.
Four Australian Rebel Songs
Freedom on the Wallaby , A poem by Henry Lawson, written during the Shearer’s Strike of 1891, set to music in the fifties by Chris Kempster. The final verse (printed below) was very popular on the Left in the 60s
“So we must fly a rebel flag as others did before us
And we must sing a rebel song and join in rebel chorus
We’ll make the tyrants feel the sting of those that they would throttle
They needn’t say the fault is ours if blood should stain the wattle”
Gladiators – Andy Irvine (also known as Gladiators of the Working Class)
This song refers to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) also known as the Wobblies. They were an anarcho-syndicalist Union and political movement originally formed in the USA but very important in Australia around World War One. 12 members of the IWW were jailed for burning down buildings in Sydney.
“A cartoon in the Wobbly paper it had it cut and dried
It showed the rich man raking in the loot and the soldier crucified
And the editor he was thrown in jail and the working folks agreed
That they’d kick up bloody murder till they saw Tom Barker freed.
And the Sydney Twelve stood trial when some buildings were burned down
And the evidence it was stitched up by Detectives for the Crown
And the brainless brutal jury found them guilty with a leer
And the Judge says I’ll be lenient and give you ten to fifteen years.”
The Swaggies have all waltzed Matilda away – Roaring Jack (Alistair Hulett)
“You came to this country in fetters and chains
Outlaws and rebels with numbers for names
And on the triangle were beaten and maimed
Blood stained the soil of Australia
Dookies and duchesses, flash lads and sleepers
You worked their plantations and polished their floors
Lived in their shadow and died in their wars
Blood stained the soil of Australia
Killing Floor – Redgum (M Atkinson) Three non contiguous verses
“It was only rumor til the foreman came
And hiding his shame with a cough
He said they’re cutting back down to one shift now
They’re gonna have to lay you off
Their anger was spent in a rush of fire
And smoldered out of mind
When they shook hands on that last grey day
Each was in his way resigned
If you work with your hands for your livelihood
Some day you might have to choose
When the class war rages on the factory floor
If you don’t fight you lose”
Thanks, Dave – I love this Australian rebel material. It stirs my blood, as well as being highly interesting from a more detached, historical perspective.
I’m reminded of an old IWW-connected verse by Tom McMillan, which, in part, says:
‘We are hoboes and scamps and tired tramps,
But we love our Union well;
Our spirit won’t fail, we will die in gaol,
And smile in the flames of hell.’
I hadn’t seen that verse before. I like it. It’s very Wobblies.
Yes, Dave, the IWW were certainly an interesting bunch, and the verse underlines that.
Here’s another dose of double Dylan, all in one song (although the ‘fire’ reference is ‘on target’ yet different).
Masters Of War (1963)
You fasten all the triggers/For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch/When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion/While the young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies/And is buried in the mud
Sadly, some 60 years, later the mansions just get bigger and the blood of the innocent just keeps on flowing.
Thanks for ‘Masters of War’, Karl – very good to receive another ‘blood AND fire’ song.
Footy is done for 2024, and what a magnificient game by the Brisbane Lions, they would have thrashed any side they played in the GF. Well deserved Premiers.
Now, for some blood and fire! Picking up on Karl’s great thread within a thread re songs that include both fire and blood, here’s 4 songs from Paul Kelly, three of which pass the fire and blood test!
Our Sunshine, written with Mick Thomas, about Ned Kelly for an album during his bluegrass period (Our sunshine, our sunshine/Through fire and flood, through tears and blood/Through dust and mud still riding on)
Northern Rivers, in 2022 PK created an album of his songs with the theme being, river and rain, as you would appreciate PK has many songs that fit that theme and his explanation for the compilation theme was poetic and heartfelt. This song is the newby, and it aint too shabby, and while PK notes, “It is a love song set in contrasting landscapes” it was also conceived at the time of shocking flooding of the area, which the song is also about (She was born by northern rivers/Where the land breathes fire and flood/She can tell the coming weather/In her bones, her body and her blood)
Before the Old Man Died, from Gossip, 86 I think, the album that “announced” PK, this song is a lesser track but still packs a punch, via that brooding, moody tone PK has a knack of creating (For the way he ruined our mother/Not enough blood can run/We had plans me and my brother/Every day I cleaned the gun)
Gold Told Me To, while the character is fictional, the extremist religious sentiments are sadly very real, and this song, from 2007 is even more pertinent 17 years on (My name is John Johanna, I am misunderstood/Lately I have been accused of grievous murder in cold blood … The beast has eyes before him, the beast has eyes behind/Those not with me are against me, they’re surely gonna feel my holy fire!)
Punchin’ & fightin’, I got to my feet
Determined to leave their blood on the street.
Rose Tattoo, Assault & Battery.
Glen!
Great material, Rick. I love the detailed Oz / Paul Kelly content! Interesting how Paul Kell and Mick Thomas’s ‘Our Sunshine’ draws upon the the Robert Drewe novel (about Ned Kelly’s life, for those who haven’t read it) of the same name. I pretty sure I’ve said this elsewhere on the Almanac website, but I believe Drewe’s novel is the best piece of writing about the ‘Ned Kelly subject’ that I’ve ever read.
The space for songs involving both blood and fire was deliberately created from the very title of this current theme – ‘Two Potent Elements: Songs Involving Blood and/or Fire’. To show an example, I put forward Indigo Girls’ ‘Blood and Fire’ in my opening songlist. You are right that Karl has ‘run with ball’ in this context in a splendid way. (Thanks, Karl!) I hope the sub-theme of songs involving both blood and fire continues to flourish, as well as the songs involving either blood or fire separately.
Thanks for the Tatts inclusion, Glen. For some reason, any mention of Rose Tattoo always brings a smile to my face!
No Wood Fire – Burl Ives
I’m Playing With Fire – Bing Crosby
Galway Bay (And to sit beside a turf fire in the cabin) – Bing Crosby.
Thanks for your latest trio, Fisho – some fine singing in those songs!
Hi KD and oops! Sorry for not noting your invitation in the introduction to this theme about songs that may include both blood and fire! And in a future post I do have a couple more.
For now, I turned my attention to Kris Kristofferson, who sadly passed away on Saturday. What a songwriter! I was fortunate to see The Highwaymen when they toured in the mid 90s. One of the giants of contemplative lyrics, which have mesmerised us for decades. His early run of incisive songs is almost without peer. However, when he reset himself in the 80s with more circumspect songs and as an ageing songwriter his songs became more profound. The last two songs in this list are from the 90s (actually the same album). Cheers
Blame it on the Stones (Join the accusation; save the bleeding nation/Get it off your shoulders; blame it on the Stones)
Hard to be Friends (Smothered by the promises/Someone said would keep the fire,/Fill the cup and keep from deceivin’/Know so well, never tell)
Shandy (the Perfect Disguise) – (And maybe they moved from the bar to the bedroom/Maybe just stood there instead/Martin woke up wet and screaming/Dreaming of blood on the bed)
Johnny Lobo (Someone set his house on fire, burned it to the ground/With his wife and children locked inside/Later when the bitter tears were falling to the ashes/Something good in Johnny Lobo died)
New Mister Me (The moment that you saw him you just looked the other way/The blood within his eye was like a curse/He had two heavy pistols which were greasied up and ready/And a face like Bobby Dylan, only worse)
No worries, Rick, re the blood and fire issue. And thanks so much for the timely Kris Kristofferson material – you’re so right when you say ‘What a songwriter!’ – also, as you illustrate more particularly, what a lyricist! We’ve lost one of the giants with Kris’s passing.
Hi KD
I note you had U2’s ‘Beautiful Day’ in the intro; but I don’t think anyone has mentioned the most obvious::
‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’ (1983)
or these other (less obvious) U2 ones:
‘Fire’ (1981)
The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
Stuck In A Moment (2000) with a nice derivative of fire:
‘The nights you filled with fireworks
They left you with nothing’
Into the Fire – Bruce from The Rising, his September 11 album
“The sky was falling and streaked with blood
I heard you calling me, then you disappeared into the dust
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire”
The Ballad of Springhill – Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger
“n the town of Springhill, Nova Scotia
Down in the dark of the Cumberland Mine
There’s blood on the coal and the miners lie
In the roads that never saw sun nor sky
Roads that never saw sun nor sky
In the town of Springhill, you don’t sleep easy.
Often the earth will tremble and roll.
When the earth is restless, miners die;
Bone and blood is the price of coal.
Who By Fire – Leonard Cohen
“And who by fire, who by water
Who in the sunshine, who in the night time
Who by high ordeal, who by common trial
Who in your merry merry month of May
Who by very slow decay
And who shall I say is calling?
Marysville -Kevin Welch. This song was written by the American country musician Kevin Welch who was in Australia during Black Saturday when Marysville was burnt down. Rather than post the lyrics I thought I would post a video of the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hKzROJsqDI
Many thanks, Karl, for the U2 material. You’re right that ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday’ is the most obviously thematically-connected of their songs. I was going to include it in my initial song choices, but had already decided on ‘Beautiful Day’ there, and didn’t want to double up on U2 in my opening – though I’m glad you put it forward now.
Thank you for your latest song choices, Dave. As usual, I loved the illuminating/informative accompanying quoted lyrics. I liked Welch’s ‘Marysville’, too – a well-crafted, unpretentious, good quality number.
Another dose of double Dylan – with ‘blood’ in the title & ‘fire’ in the lyrics
It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding) – (1965/Bringing It All Back Home album)
‘While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir’
Thanks, Karl, for this double Dylan, which, as I’ve indicated, is also one of my favourite Dylan song titles. (Interesting, as a side note, that within a year or so of the Dylan song with ‘Only’ in the title, John Lennon came out with [under the Lennon-McCartney banner] the wonderful ‘I’m Only Sleeping’. The title similarity is probably coincidental, but maybe not, as I recall that Lennon was particularly influenced by Dylan around that period.)
Some great calls Dave (no surprise) but a special nod to the Kevin Welch song, Marysville. I presume you were at PFFF, when he played the song and had all of us in the audience, wiping a tear. Standout moment.
Now, some Tom Waits. Not much explanation needed for Tom, as renegade an artist as you’ll find. I will note that his songwriting partner, producer and ket to reinventing his sound in the 80s is his wife and long time partner, Kathleen Brennan.
Pony, from Mule Variations ((I walked from Natchez to Hushpukena/I built a fire by the side of the road)
Hoist that Rag, from Real Gone (The sun is up the world is flat/Damn good address for a rat/The smell of blood/The drone of flies/You know what to do if/The baby cries)
Romeo is Bleeding, from Blue Valentine (He winces now and then/He leans against the car door/Feels the blood in his shoes and someone’s cryin’ at the 5 Points in the phone booth by the store//Romeo starts his engines/Wipes the blood of the door)
Til the Money Runs Out, from Heartattack and Vine (Can’t you hear the thunder someone stole my watch/I sold a quart of blood and bought a half a pint of scotch)
Heartattack and Vine, yep the title song (Liar liar with your pants on fire/White spades hangin’ on the telephone wire/Gamblers reevaluate along the dotted line/You’ll never recognize yourself on heartattack and vine)
Thank you, Rick, for your Tom Waits material – interesting and founded on a wealth of relevant knowledge, as usual.
Here a daily double – blood & fire from the pen of Kimmel/Lynch & the voice of John Farnham:
Heart’s On Fire (1996) – Romeo’s Heart album
‘Last rites first blood
Maybe a dream but then it’s clear enough
Can’t hide can’t sleep
Is it the vision or the body heat?
True love’s when your heart’s on fire’
Yes Rick I was at Port Fairy when Kevin Welch sang “Marysville.” I was very moved, which is why I posted the video rather than just the lyrics.
Speaking of moving songs
My Country tis of Thy People You’re Dying – Buffy Sainte-Marie. I posted another part of this song in the “movie” thread, but it’s worth posting again.
“And yet a few of the conquered have somehow survived
Their blood runs the redder, though genes have paled
From the Grand Canyon’s caverns to craven sad hills
The wounded, the losers, the robbed sing their tale
From Los Angeles County to upstate New York
The white nation fattens while others grow lean;
Oh, the tricked and evicted, they know what I mean
My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying”
Speaking of Native Americans and songs that I have referenced in an earlier thread.
The Ballad of Sally Rose – Emmylou Harris
“She was washed in the blood of the dying Sioux nation
Raised with a proud but a wandering heart
And she knew that her roots were in the old reservation
But she had stars in her eyes and greater expectations.”
The Last Gunfighter Ballad – Guy Clark (Johnny Cash also recorded this song but Guy Clark wrote it)
“Now the burn of a bullet is only a scar
And he’s back in his chair in front of the bar
And the streets are empty and the blood’s all dried
And the dead are dust and the whiskey’s inside
So buy him a drink and lend him an ear
He’s nobody’s fool and the only one here
Who remembers the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke
Remember the smell of the black powder smoke
And the stand in the street at the turn of a joke”
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Heart’s On Fire – a catchy pop number from a fine singer.
Thank you, Dave, for your latest three and the accompanying quoted lyrics – quality songs, indeed.
Speaking of ‘Hearts On Fire’, it would be unforgivable of me not to mention:
‘Hearts Of Fire’
You remember – that 1987 American musical drama film starring Bob Dylan, Fiona and Rupert Everett.
Wikipedia reports: ‘It received poor reviews, a limited theatrical release and was later written off by Dylan himself’. I had the movie on DVD and watched it a few times & it made me laugh & cringe at the same time.
The title song ‘Hearts Of Fire’ is sung by up & coming rock singer Fiona – although her career didn’t take off as some predicted.
Her discography reveals a double dose entry for this theme from her 1986 Beyond The Pale album:
In My Blood
Keeper Of The Flame
Thanks for the interesting material related to Dylan and Fiona, Karl. I didn’t recall the film, actually – maybe I’d blocked it from my mind! (Ha!)
A couple more for our impressively developing list:
‘Hit Me with Your Best Shot’, written by Eddie Schwartz – a hit for Pat Benatar, of course;
‘No Thunder, No Fire, No Rain’, written by Tim Finn and Jeremy Brock, recorded by Tim Finn.
Lucinda + one song by Dolly:
Broken Butterflies, a tad over-wrought (You spread your anger on sharp-edged knives/Cut my skin and make it bleed/Like pilate in his self-righteousness/You’re a traitor and a thief/But the blood that flows I cannot hide/That blood that covers me/Nourishes the butterflies/And they are healed and are set free)
Sweet Old World, at her finest (Millions of us in love/Promises made good/Your own flesh and blood/Looking for some truth/Dancing with no shoes/The beat, the rhythm, the blues)
Right in Time, or sex on fire! (Not a day goes by I don’t think about you/You left your mark on me, it’s permanent, a tattoo/Pierce the skin and the blood runs through/Oh my baby/The way you move, it’s right in time/The way you move, it’s right in time/It’s right in time with me)
Real live bleeding fingers and broken guitar strings, direct Lucinda is good Lucina! (which is the chorus)
Baby I’m Burning, from ’78, she has been writing great songs for 50+ years (Baby, I’m burnin’, out of control/Baby, I’m burnin’, body and soul/Hot as a pistol that’s flamin’ desire/Baby, I’m burnin’, you got me on fire/I’m on fire)
Some vivid lyrics in your latest, hghly apt choices, Rick. Thank you!
Hi KD
Don McLean had a bit to say about ‘fire’ in American Pie
‘So, come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick
Jack Flash sat on a candlestick
‘Cause fire is the Devil’s only friend
Oh, and as I watched him on the stage
My hands were clenched in fists of rage
No angel born in Hell
Could break that Satan spell
And as the flames climbed high into the night
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight
The day the music died’
‘American Pie’ is certainly a great pickup, Karl, being an iconic song of the twentieth century in which fire is an important aspect. Thanks!
Another: ‘Only Women Bleed’, by Alice Cooper, from his ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’ album (1975).
Another artist I have hung with through the last 30 years is Joe Henry.
Fireman’s Wedding from 1992 album, Kindness of the World, featuring the Jayhawks as his backing band, and a lesser known Tom T cover. This song, however, is all Joe.
Time is a Lion, from 2007 album, Civilians features both blood and fire ((If you fear the angels above while you sleep/Then I’ll be the blood, you paint on your door/Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep/But time is a story and there will be more + The sun is a soldier, out crawling the hill/Setting fire to every house that’s in view/Lighting the ruin of my hope and my will/Till I’m like a shadow and I’m falling on you)
God Laughs, from Joe’s latest album also features blood and fire! (The stain of the sky has bled to my hands/––a tear moving through a hard letter––/the words coming free now conspire with me/a story I know I’d tell better + Oh soon may it come: the surrender to only this love, and all of its terror––/may we be consumed by the mystery this room and fire can only make clearer./Oh may we come clean with all that we mean, and all that we need now to cling to…/and may God laugh with you, see you as true, and may God see herself within me too)
Progress of Love (Dark Ground), from 2009 album Blood of Stars ((Life takes root in the deepest dark ground/Where bones blood and honor have been trampled down/And beaten like ponies and driven to town/Where reason is traded for rhyme)
Flesh and Blood, from Tiny Voices, 2003 and another song that engages both blood and fire (Come speak my name, fill my head with, oh, such foolish dreams/My flesh and blood is no more real to me than what they seem/My love for you is burning like a spark on a fuse/I feel your mark upon me now as surely as the hand that leaves a bruise)
Cheers
When Robert Smith (The Cure) was 39, he wrote the song ’39’ (on the 2000 Bloodflowers album).
It is worthy of a listen with its use of ‘fire’ as a metaphor for creative inspiration.
‘Yeah the fire is almost cold and there’s nothing left to burn
I’ve run right out of feeling and I’ve run right out of world
And everything I promised, and everything I tried
Yeah everything I ever did I used to feed the fire…..
…..Half my life I’ve been here
Half my life in flames
Using all I ever had, to keep the fire ablaze
To keep the fire ablaze…..’
Thanks for the Joe Henry material, Rick – three out of the five songs chosen illustrate how blood and fire are thematic / imagistic / spiritual ‘relatives’ and fit well in the same broad context. All the Henry songs selected are spot-on thematically, of course.
Thanks for Smith’s ’39’, Karl – with its use of a ‘fire’ metaphor, it definitely fits the bill as an excellent choice in terms of our current theme.
Good Friday morning KD
Here’s a few more from Dylan that suggest fire:
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
‘Well, strike another match
Yeah, go start new, go start new
‘Cause it’s all over now, baby blue’
Tangled Up In Blue
‘She lit a burner on the stove
And offered me a pipe
“I thought you’d never say hello,” she said
“You look like the silent type”’
Dark Eyes
‘But I feel nothing for their game where beauty goes unrecognized,
All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes’
Good morning to you, too, Karl.
Thanks for this Dylan trio, where fire is clearly part of the equation.
I’ll throw another song into the mix, while I’m thinking of it – Queen’s ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’. I love this bold, brassy song, with Freddy Mercury in full flight, in a theatrical sense. The song begins: ‘Are you gonna take me home tonight? / Oh, down beside that red firelight…’
I believe I’m encroaching on Gigs territory but I reckon he’ll be okay with my They Might Be Giants (TMBG) song suggestions, and probably has a few more up his sleeve. For now, here’s some TMBG:
Dog on Fire, written by Bob Mould, and used by The Daily Show since 1998 as its intro/outro, but by 2000, The Daily Show took up the TMBGs version
Kiss Me, Son of God, channeling Randy Newman here (I built a little empire out of some crazy garbage/Called the blood of the exploited working class/But they’ve overcome their shyness/Now they’re calling me “Your Highness”/And the world screams, “Kiss me, son of God”)
Bloodmobile, it’s a lesson in a song! (A delivery service inside us/To carry oxygen, nutrients, things that fight infections/Do the trash collection and deliver the mail/And we’re all (and we’re all)/Delivered by the Bloodmobile)
Mammal, what, another bloody lesson! Any more of this and I’ll set fire to the whole damn thing! Actually, this song come from their album Apollo 18 and TMBG were NASAs official music act at the time. (So the warm blood flows through the large four chambered heart/Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have)
You’re on Fire, and we’re back to kooky which TMBG do v well (Hi, I forgot your name/Whatever/My point is/Hi, your head’s on fire … Oh damn, you must’ve got one of them/Combustible heads/I read an article all about them)
Thanks, Rick, for the fine TMBG material. Our ‘fire’ theme possesses an apparently unquenchable flame – especially, it seems, when I read your song choices and comments connected to it!
I have many more songs to add to our list, too – and will insert them as they come to the forefront of my thinking. One example is AC/DC’s ‘If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It)’ from their Highway To Hell album (1979).
Here’s an Australian classic, Richard Clapton’s ‘Girls on the Avenue’ (1975). Note the last line in the first verse, it’s spot on, theme-wise:
‘Girls on the avenue
They’re tryin’ to get you in
Strollin’ by with their rosebud smiles
They’re all dressed up to kill
Lean on the window sill
Lookin’ your way with eyes of fire…’
Great song KD!
Strange Game, by Mick Jagger, theme song for TV show, Slow Horses (Hanging by your fingernails/You made one mistake/You got burned at the stake/You’re finished, you’re foolish, you failed)
Lake Marie, John Prine (The police had found two bodies in the woods/Nay, naked bodies/Their faces had been horribly disfigured by some sharp object/Saw it on the news, the TV news/In a black and white video/You know what blood looks like in a black and white video?/Shadows, shadows/That’s what it looks like)
Thanks, Rck, re the comment about ‘Girls on the Avenue’. I was listening to a Richard Clapton interview on ABC radio early this morning, and, in the process, was reminded of the lyrics of this classic song.
Thanks, also, for Jagger’s ‘Strange Game’ and Prine’s ‘Lake Marie’ – the former, to me, is perhaps most interesting musically for its compelling bluesy shuffle rhythm, while Prine’s song contains much to reflect upon, and bears repeated listenings.
Here’s a Dylan triplet of ‘blood’ lyrics (with an album title chucked in for good luck!):
Wedding Song (1974 – from the Planet Waves album)
‘What’s lost is lost, we can’t regain what went down in the flood,
But happiness to me is you and I love you more than blood’
Shelter From The Storm (1975 – from the Blood On The Tracks album’
”Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud’
Pay In Blood (2012 – from the Tempest album)
‘I got somethin’ in my pocket make your eyeballs swim
I got dogs could tear you limb from limb
I’m circlin’ around the Southern Zone
I pay in blood but not my own’
PS – loved the RC – Girls On The Avenue addition. It’s one I would have loved to have remembered.
Now that you mention John Prine, Rick.
6 O’Clock News – John Prine
“Sneaking in the closet and through the diary
Now, don’t you know all he saw was all there was to see
The whole town saw Jimmy on the six o’clock news
His brains were on the sidewalk and blood was on his shoes
C’mon, baby, spend the night with me
C’mon, baby, spend the night with me”
Birmingham Sunday – Joan Baez, lyrics by Richard Farina (who was Joan’s brother-in-law)
Come round by my side and I’ll sing you a song
I’ll sing it so softly, it’ll do no one wrong
On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine
And the choirs kept singing of freedom
This song refers to an incident in Birmingham Alabama in1963 when the Ku Klux Klan blew up an African-American Church and murdered four young girls aged between 11 and 14.
And now for a different genre and different level of drama.
Is that all there is? – Peggy Lee (written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller)
“I remember when I was a little girl
Our house caught on fire
I’ll never forget the look on my father’s face as he
Gathered me up in his arms and
Faced through the burning building out on the pavement
And I stood there
Shivering in my pajamas and
Watched the whole world go up in flames
And when it was all over
I said to myself
Is that all there is to a fire?
,
Thank you, Karl, for ‘Wedding Song’, ‘Pay In Blood’ and ‘Shelter From The Storm’ – and I do note the ‘Blood on the Tracks’ reference, of course, too. You’ve reminded me again that I should certainly buy a book of Dylan collected lyrics.
Thanks, Dave, for an array of splendid material. I’ll single out ‘Is That All There Is?’ for comment – so interesting, I believe, for its Kurt Weill / Lotte Lenya / Threepenny Opera feel and for the back story regarding the writing of the song, involving a Thomas Mann story and Jerry Leiber’s German-born wife, Gaby Rogers (nee Gabrielle Rosenberg). Interestingly, Rogers is still alive, aged 96.
Among my favourite songs of the seventies is 10cc’s witty ‘Rubber Bullets’, which contains a well-known reference to blood.The relevant part of the song is as follows:
“Sergeant Baker started talkin’ with a bullhorn in his hand
He was cool, he was clear, he was always in command
He said “Blood will flow, here Padre
Padre you talk to your boys”
“Trust in me
God will come to set you free”
Hey KD
I recently brought this song to your notice: Andy Hill’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’. He takes a Dylan album title, puts it a borrowed Dylan tune and writes, IMHO, a worthy song. The final verse is my favourite:
‘Sometimes I dream about my mother, and I forget she’s not alive
I put together what I know and in that moment she survives
When I realize I’m just chasing memories
Memories truer than the world in front of me
I’ve learned the things you can’t bring back
Are etched in blood on the tracks’
I’ll leave it to you, mighty & worthy captain, to bring up the century!
Thanks, Karl, for Hill’s ‘Blood on the Tracks’ – yes, I certainly recall you bringing it up.
We’ve now attained our century, with a quick single!
Congrats to all concerned!
Hey Kevin and especially Dave Nadel, WAY BACK on September 27th I already mentioned that HAUNTING classic from Peggy Lee IS THAT ALL THERE IS.
Yes, Fisho – thanks for noting this. I realised you’d already listed the song AFTER doing my latest response to Dave. At the same time, I think it was well worth detailing my additional information about the song – it does have a fascinating back story, and I encourage people to put forward such info if they wish. Cheers.
Now for one of the songs of the sixties: ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ by the Rolling Stones: ‘I was born in a crossfire hurricane…’ Then, later in the song: ‘I fell down to my feet and I saw they bled…’ Thematically speaking, therefore, it’s a blood AND fire song!
Hey KD
For some reason, your Jumpin’ Jack Flash reference fired up some neurons in my brain that immediately took me to this lyric:
‘Well, jumpin’ Judy can’t go no higher
She had bullets in her eyes, and they fire’
from Dylan’s ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’ (a 1966 studio outtake)
Brilliant, Karl – I really enjoy these kinds of connections.
Some great calls and connections guys. Can I add a huge selection?
The Murder Ballad, Jelly Roll Morton, a 30 min song from 1938. I’ll add details tomorrow.
Thanks, Rick, for ‘The Murder Ballad’ – I look forward to the details with great interest, and will respond more fully then.
Unless something springs to mind, here is my final triplet from the pen of Dylan – scattered across 6 decades:
North Country Blues – off the 1964 the Times They Are A-Changin’ album
‘Then the shaft was soon shut, and more work was cut
And the fire in the air, it felt frozen’
Death Is Not The End – off the 1988 Down In The Groove album
‘When the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men
Just remember that death is not the end’
My Own Version Of You – off the 2020 Rough & Rowdy Ways album
‘If I do it upright and put the head on straight
I’ll be saved by the creature that I create
I’ll get blood from a cactus, gunpowder from ice
I don’t gamble with cards and I don’t shoot no dice
Can you look at my face with your sightless eyes?
Can you cross your heart and hope to die?’
Back to Jelly Roll Morton. I don’t know a lot about him other than he is one of the pioneers of jazz, via New Orleans and a brilliant pianist. Due to his stubbornness + intransigence over the years he lost friends and allies, fell out of favour and work dried up. He was washed up, and working obscure dives in the 30s, at the same time his compositions like King Porter Stomp were huge hits. Then in 1938 Alan Lomax came a calling. Lomax like Harry Smith were musicologists and collected field recordings or recorded a wide range of blues, hillbilly and jazz musicians. It was during these recordings ostensibly for the Library of Congress that Jelly Roll played this 30 minute song, The Murder Ballad. While I don’t think it appropriate to include lyrics here, the song is incredible. It makes Springsteen’s Nebraska album seem like a puff piece in comparison. It is vivid and wild, crude and confronting, but more than that, it is a complex tale of love gone wrong and the vengefulness of a wronged heart. Or as one contemporary review put it, “Morton’s song revels in the nastiness of its heroine’s voice, whose feral physical energy lays claim to the violent impulses of a woman betrayed. The Murder Ballad delves into the myth of female madness and racialized representations of sexuality.” Cheers
Sorry Fisho. When the thread gets very long you tend to get careless about searching. I searched the list diligently for my John Prine song, knowing that there are three or four other posters who post Prine’s song. I knew that I was clear on the Richard Farina song because I am almost the only poster who posts Baez’s songs, and I guess I just forgot to check “Is that all there is?” Apologies again Fisho, but I am sort of glad I did repost it because it encouraged Kevin to post the back story of the song.
I also note how different the song is from most of Leiber and Stoller’s work. I mostly think of them as writers for Elvis and The Coasters. Good songs, but much less sophisticated than Is That All There Is? While we are talking about Leiber and Stoller I will post another of their songs which mentions fire. I heard this song as an eight year old in 1955. It was the first song I had heard about Motor Bikes.
Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots – The Cheers
“Then he took off like the Devil and there was fire in his eyes!! He
Said “I’ll go a thousand miles before the sun can rise.” But he hit a screamin’ diesel
That was California-bound”
And when they cleared the wreckage, all they found
Was his black denim trousers and motorcycle boots
And a black leather jacket with an eagle on the back
But they couldn’t find the ‘cicle that took off like a gun
And they never found the terror of High way 1 oh 1″
And while I’m at it, here’s another couple of murdery ballads:
The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia, Vicki Lawrence and a very strange story behind this song that it’s worth going to find out. Here are some lyrics: That’s the night that the lights went out in Georgia/That’s the night that they hung an innocent man/Well, don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer/’Cause the judge in the town’s got bloodstains on his hands.
Pretty Polly, Pete Seeger, although, his version comes from one branch of a song that has many different names, different lyrics and settings, and repercussions. Its origins are the UK at least 250 years ago. (He stabbed her to the heart, her heart’s blood it did flow/He stabbed her to the heart, her heart’s blood it did flow/And into the grave, Pretty Polly did go)
Thanks for the Dylan trio of songs, Karl. Overall, another wonderful effort on your part in terms of connecting Dylan’s work to the theme provided.
Thanks for ‘The Murder Ballad’ / Jelly Roll Morton information, Rick. I’ve heard and appreciated bits and pieces of his work over the years, but not ‘The Murder Ballad’, at least not in its totality – I’ll need to give the work some close attention. (As an aside, you may have heard what ‘Jelly Roll’ was African-American slang for – I won’t deal with that directly here, but it’s easy to look up.)
Thank you, also, for ‘The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia’ and ‘Pretty Polly’ and the accompanying material.
Thanks, Dave, for your latest input, including the additional Lieber / Stoller song. Excellent material, as usual.
Lou Reed – Magic & Loss (1992)
‘When the past makes you laugh and you can savor the magic
that let you survive your own war
You find that that fire is passion
and there’s a door up ahead not a wall’
The Cure – Bloodflowers (2000)
‘Never fade/Never die
You give me flowers of love
Always fade/Always die
I let fall flowers of blood’
Thanks, Karl, for the Reed and Cure songs – our twin theme is certainly provoking an excellent variety of responses.
I’ll add another:’Charlie’, written by Tim Finn, performed by Split Enz, on their Dizrhythmia album (1977). This wonderful, dark and disturbing song contains references to both blood and fire, which is perhaps not surprising.
I kid you not, now songs are finding me!
A couple of days ago Jason Isbell and Michael Stipe performed together at a Harris campaign concert. That’s pretty cool as is. I watched it last night. First song? REMs The One I Love, with the chorus, “fire”.
Prior to watching that concert, I was listening to the latest Jason Isbell album, n excellent live set, he has a great jamming band. Anyway, one of the songs on this album is a fave of mine, River., which includes these lyrics which lock in both blood and fire:
The river is my savior/The only one I’ll ever need
Wash my head when I’ve been sinnin’/Wash my knuckles when they bleed
Protect me from my neighbor/All his jealousy and greed
Take the body to the delta/Hide the weapon in the weeds
Now I’m tired and I just can’t get to sleep
I’ve been a wolf among these sheep for all my life
The lake of fire it consumes me in my dreams
And last night I woke up screaming at my wife
Cheers
“Everything’s On Fire” – Hunters & Collectors
“Fire” – Catherine Traicos
Hey Karl, did you include Dylan’s ‘Cross the Green Mountain in this theme? If not, I’ll throw it in, and note it includes both blood and fire:
Altars are burning with flames falling wide
The foe has crossed over from the other side
They tip their caps from the top of the hill
You can feel them come, more brave blood to spill
Thanks, Rick, for your most recent material – Stipe, Isbell and Dylan – hard to go wrong there! And REM happens to be one of my favourite American bands.
This fire and/or blood theme seems to be following me around too. Another one for the list mentions fire in its chorus – an early-ish Dragon number called ‘Konkaroo’. It’s not among their best songs, but worth a mention nevertheless.
Welcome aboard, Luke! Thank you for the Hunters and Traicos songs.
Now for something completely different:
Bap Kennedy – Drunk On The Blood Of Christ
This will be of particular interest to you KD as it includes a very tuneful Herbie Flowers on tuba – well worth a listen.
…and Dylan’s ”Cross The Green Mountain’ was missed by my trawling net, so thanks Rick for picking it up.
Thanks. Karl, for Bap Kennedy’s ‘Drunk On The Blood Of Christ’ – just had a listen to the song and loved it, including Herbie’s simple yet super-effective bassline on the tuba.
Another one for our list is ‘Tumbling Down’ by Scottish singer-songwriter / composer / folk artist, Dougie MacLean. I remember hearing him play this moving and magical song at the Sir Charles Hotham Hotel in Geelong sometime in the nineteen-eighties, and the song and his performance have stayed with me ever since. The song begins:
‘Seaward they came
On the wings of the wind, on the edge of the flame
To these ancient shores
For the cancer they bring destroys as it roars
And it’s tumbling down
You had your chance but it’s tumbling down…’
Hi KD
I knew you would enjoy Herbie’s tuba playing.
I have a final Dylan lyric – from his 39th studio album, 2020’s ‘Rough & Rowdy Ways’.
The entire disc 2 is devoted to his longest ever recorded song – the 16m 54s ‘Murder Most Foul’ in which he responds. in his unique way. to the assassination of JFK
The final line of the song is:
‘Play, “The Blood-stained Banner” play, “Murder Most Foul”‘
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Murder Most Foul’.
And your latest song choice involving Herbie Flower may well mean that a theme of ‘popular songs of the rock’n’roll era involving tuba’ would actually be successful! (Just as a past theme of ‘songs involving cowbell’ worked very well.)
‘Kisses of Fire’ is an upbeat pop number by ABBA on their Voulez-Vous album (1979).
Hi Kevin, as a very big fan of ABBA, I’m amazed I didn’t think of “Kisses of Fire” .
A few great countryish singer/songwriters (and three of these song use both blood and fire lyrics).
Rodney Crowell, The Long Journey Home:
In dreams of mile-high cotton fields
We once ran barefoot through
My dead drunk Uncle Fireball growls these words
“Blood don’t make you family, Boy
And I’ve got news for you
Rattlesnakes don’t sing like speckled birds
Robbie Fulks, That’s Where I’m From:
And that’s where I’m from
Where time passes slower
That’s where I’m from
Where it’s “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir”
Can’t tell I’m country
Just you look closer
It’s deep in my blood
Neko Case, Dirty Knife:
He laid down on the floor and he slept like iron
While the dirty knife worked deep
Into his spine
The blood runs crazy
Robert Earl Keen, Jesse With the Long Hair:
Flesh and blood it turns to dust
Scatters in the wind
Love is all that matters in the end
James McMurtry, Copper Canteen:
Honey, don’t you be yelling at me when I’m cleaning my gun
I’ll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season’s done
We got one more weekend to go
And I’d like to kill one more doe
Hi Fisho. Sometimes it’s like that – funny how memory works. The ABBA song just came to my mind suddenly – but I double-check that you hadn’t mentioned it already, being aware of your ABBA knowledge!.
Thanks for your latest song choices with a decidedly country ‘bent’, Rick – what evocative lyrics! (‘Copper Canteen’, for example, sounds chillingly ominous.)
Two great Americana artists who are coming to Australia and we will be seeing, so that’s a woo and a hoo!
Margo Cilker:
Keep it on a Burner:
I got sidewalks, I got sunburned, I got books I haven’t read
I got neighbours telling neighbours they’ll b? burning up when they’re d?ad
I got wasted, I got waylaid, I got stuck in Lodi again
I’ve got time now, I’ve got know-how, I’ve got only to write the end
Crazy or Died:
Maggio was a hug with two eyes
Served his country and his family, fought fire from the skies
Through the bullets and the smoke, he made it alive
But the end of his tale brings a tear to my eye
Beggar for your Love:
It takes two to tie up a line only sometimes
You can get a good fire to burn through the night if the wind’s right
I’ve been looking at the answers trying to find the in-between
I’ve been watching it all from this porch unravelling
Waxahatchee
Tiger’s Blood:
You’re laughing and smiling, drove my Jeep through the mud
And your teeth and your tongue bright red from tiger’s blood
We were young for so long, seersuckers of time
Drank someone else’s juice, left only the rind
Drank someone else’s juice and left only the rind
Fire:
And that’s what I wanted
It’s not as if we cry a river, call it rain
West Memphis is on fire in the light of day
Give me something, it aint enough
It aint enough
Thanks, Rick, for the Margo Cilker and Waxahatchee song choices. What a wealth of fine material you’ve placed under the blood and/or fire umbrella!
Note: NEW SONG THEME WILL COMMENCE NEXT FRIDAY 18TH OCTOBER.
Here are some more songs connected to our theme of the moment…
‘Love Lies Bleeding’, recorded by Elton John (part of a medley with ‘Funeral for a Friend’), written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, from the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road double album (1973). The lyrics (partly reproduced below), mention both blood and fire:
‘Oh, it kills me to think of you with another man
I was playing rock and roll and you were just a fan
But my guitar couldn’t hold you, so, I split the band
Love lies bleeding in my hands
I wonder if those changes have left a scar on you
All the burning hoops of fire that you and I passed through’
‘Summer of ’69’ written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, recorded by Bryan Adams (1985):
‘I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played it ’til my fingers bled
Was the summer of ’69’
‘The Flame’, written by Bob MItchell and Nick Graham, recorded by Cheap Trick (1988). (Cheap Trick are one of my favourite American bands, by the way). Here’s the chorus:
‘Wherever you go, I’ll be with you
Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you
Whenever you need someone
To lay your heart and head upon
Remember after the fire, after all the rain
I will be the flame
I will be the flame’
‘When Will You Fall For Me’, written by Mark Seymour, recorded by Vika and Linda Bull (1994).. The song’s Middle 8 is as follows:
‘My love, you can’t deny it
You won’t know until you try it
Give it air, let it breathe
Let it burn like a fire
I can’t contain my desire
Give it air, let it breathe’
A few more Paul Kelly songs, and all of them pearlers.
Don’t Stand So Close to the Window:
Don’t stand so close to the window
Somebody out there might see
Then the word on the wire
Would be just like Ash Wednesday bushfire
Kiss me quick, kiss me warm
Put your dress on and hurry back home
I Don’t Remember a Thing:
They took me to a house, I knew that I’d been there before
There were men with tape and pencils, there was blood upon the floor
The sergeant asked me softly ‘Now do you recalI?’
It all looked so familiar as though I’d dreamt it all
I don’t remember a thing
Maralinga (Rainy Land):
A strangeness on our skin
A soreness in our eyes like weeping fire
A pox upon our skin
A boulder on our backs all our lives
Pigeon/Jundamurra:
Pigeon – that’s the name we gave him
But he’s got another name
It’s spreading all across the valleys
Jundamurra! – like a burning flame
White Train:
Standing at my doorway
I wondered why his hand was painted red
‘It’s just a scratch’ he said
Here we go again
We stumbled to the car
By the time we hit Prince Henry’s he was white
I said ‘You look such a sight’
He said, ‘I don’t feel no pain’
Thanks for these PK songs, Rick. The quoted lyrics serve to remind me that I should buy a copy of his collected lyrics, maybe the book called Don’t Start Me Talking – that appears to be the most comprehensive one available.
And yes, some more!
‘Thunder in My Heart’, written by Leo Sayer and Tom Snow, recoded by Leo Sayer (1977) (Most relevant lyric – ‘There’s a fire inside me I can’t explain’)
‘Bright Eyes’, written by Mike Batt, recorded by Art Garfunkel (1978)
Many would know this chorus:
‘Bright eyes, burning like fire
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes’
‘It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)’, written by Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Michael Stipe, recorded by REM (1987). To my way of thinking, this is one of THE songs of the 1980s – and it involves both blood and fire in its rapid stream of language (for example,’wire in a fire’, ‘listen to your heart bleed’, ‘Slash and burn’, ‘book burning, bloodletting’.)
‘Eternal Flame’, written by Tom Kelly, Susanna Hoffs, Billy Steinberg, recorded by the Bangles (1988)
Hi Kevin
Long time reader of your themes, first time commenter…..I’d like to add to this list:
Karl Dubravs – Sitting By A Fire
‘Sitting by a fire, burning my desire over you’
Thanks, Moondance! Welcome aboard!
OK – it’s time for that ‘I can’t believe we haven’t listed this one yet’ moment…
‘I’m On Fire’, by Bruce Springsteen, from (of course) his Born in the U.S.A. album (1984).
And another song in the same vein as immediately above – ‘I’m Goin’ Down’, by Bruce, from (of course) the same album. Here’s the second verse:
‘We get dressed up and we go
Out, baby, for the night
We come home early, burning, burning
Burning in some firefight
I’m sick and tired of you setting me up, yeah
Setting me up a-just to knock-a-knock-a-knock-a me down…’
and of course let’s not forget ‘Dancing in the Dark’ (same Bruce, same album)
Who doesn’t know this lyric? may be the question:
‘You can’t start a fire
You can’t start a fire without a spark
This gun’s for hire
Even if we’re just dancin’ in the dark…’
Great Bruce calls KD, and here’s a couple more:
Long Time Comin’ (brings a tear to the eye)
Blood Brothers (includes fire and blood!)
Cheers
Thanks so much, Rick, for the comment and the additional Bruce material. I’ll throw in yet another couple – the first is ‘Born in the U.S.A.’, from the album of the same name, as most readers would know. The lyrics of this song involve fire as follows:
‘Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I’m ten years burnin’ down the road
Nowhere to run, ain’t got nowhere to go…’
And yet another song from Born in the U.S.A.album, possibly my favourite one on it, ‘No Surrender’, involves fire. From Verse 2:
‘Well, now young faces grow sad and old
And hearts of fire grow cold…’
Now, The Clash:
Spanish Bombs:
Back home the buses went up in flashes
The Irish tomb was drenched in blood
Spanish bombs shatter the hotels
My senorita’s rose was nipped in the bud
Stay Free:
I did my very best to write
How was Butlins? Were the screws too tight?
When you lot get out were gonna hit the town
We’ll burn it fucking down to a cinder
Corner Soul:
Is the music of grove skin rock
Soaked in the diesel of war boys war?
Blood, black gold and the face of a judge
Is the music calling for a river of blood?
Washington Bullets:
Oh! Mama, Mama look there!
Your children are playing in that street again
Don’t you know what happened down there?
A youth of fourteen got shot down there
The Kokane guns of Jamdown Town
The killing clowns, the blood money men
Are shooting those Washington bullets again
London’s Burning:
London’s burning (With boredom now)
London’s burning (Dial 99999)
London’s burning (With boredom now)
London’s burning (Dial 99999)
Thanks for the Clash material, Rick. Love the quoted lyrics! (Might do a little Clash listening in the next couple of days as a result of your latest choices.)
‘Wonderwall’, written by Noel Gallagher, performed by Oasis (1995): ‘Backbeat, the word is on the street that the fire in your heart is out’.
Some Taylor Swift songs re this theme:
Bad Blood – weakest song on an excellent album, 1989
The Albatross,
And when that sky rains fire on you
And you’re persona non grata
I’ll tell you how I’ve been there too
And that none of it matters
loml:
Our field of dreams engulfed in fire
Your arson’s match, your somber eyes
And I’ll still see it until I die
You’re the loss of my life
my tears ricoche (includes both fire and blood)t:
We gather here, we line up, weepin’ in a sunlit room
And if I’m on fire,?you’ll?be made of?ashes, too
Even on my worst day,?did I deserve, babe
All the hell you gave me?
Down Bad:
Now I’m down bad, cryin’ at the gym
Everything comes out teenage petulance
“Fuck it if I can’t have him”
“I might just die, it would make no difference”
Down bad, wakin’ up in blood
Starin’ at the sky, come back and pick me up
Thank you for the Swifty material, Rick – a lot of your song choices remind me of songs I should listen to more. 1989 is in my CD collection – I will pluck it out and give it a listen.
While we’re on the subject of female singers… ‘Tell Him’, written by Bert Berns, recorded by (among many others) Linda Ronstadt, on her 1982 album, Get Closer. ‘Tell Him’ begins:
‘I know something about love
You’ve gotta want it bad
If that guy’s got into your blood
Go out and get him…’
More Springsteen (and some incredibly sad songs):
American Skin (41 Shots):
41 shots, and we’ll take that ride
‘Cross this bloody river to the other side
41 shots, I got my boots caked with this mud
We’re baptized in these waters (baptized in these waters)
And in each other’s blood (and in each other’s blood)
It ain’t no secret (it ain’t no secret)
No secret my friend
You can get killed just for living in
You can get killed just for living in
You can get killed just for living in your American skin
Sinaloa Cowboys:
You could spend a year in the orchards or make half as much in one ten-hour shift
Working for the men from Sinaloa, ah, but if you slipped
The hydriodic acid could burn right through your skin
They’d leave you spitting up blood in the desert if you breathed those fumes in
Death to My Hometown:
Well, no cannonballs did fly, no rifles cut us down
No bombs fell from the sky, no blood soaked the ground
No powder flash blinded the eye, no deathly thunder sounded
But just as sure as the hand of God, they brought death to my hometown
They brought death to my hometown, boys
No shells ripped the evening sky, no cities burning down
No army stormed the shores for which we’d die, no dictators were crowned
I awoke from a quiet night, I never heard a sound
The marauders raided in the dark and brought death to my hometown, boys
Death to my hometown
Great, Rick. Many thanks for these Springsteen additions. Springsteen songs have constituted such an important part of our ‘blood and fire’ list.
And now we’ve reached our 150! A big thank you to all involved in this milestone.