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 fifth book-length poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws ... I'm Feeling Too Indolent, was published in late 2023 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, which was 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?
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