For other songs of this name, see Fire (song)

"Fire" is a song written by Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

, written around 1977. Though written and first recorded during the troubled sessions that followed Born to Run

Born to Run

The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...

, Springsteen's version of the song remained unreleased until his 1986 live compilation Live/1975-85

Live/1975-85

Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs...

.

The Live/1975-85 version of the song was released as a single in January 1987, reaching #46 on the pop charts. Springsteen's studio recording of the song remained unreleased until 2010's The Promise

The Promise (Bruce Springsteen album)

The Promise is the 17th studio album by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen, released November 16, 2010 on Columbia Records. It is a double CD compilation of previously unreleased songs drawing from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The album is also available as part of the box set...

. In addition, "Fire" has been covered by a number of notable artists, including Robert Gordon

Robert Gordon (musician)

Robert Gordon is an American rockabilly musician. Gordon rose to fame performing in several genres including alternative rock, punk rock, and rock and roll.- Early days:...

, The Pointer Sisters, Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...

 and Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

.

Background

"Fire" was written during the troubled sessions that followed Born to Run

Born to Run

The album's release was accompanied by a $250,000 promotional campaign by Columbia directed at both consumers and the music industry, making good use of Landau's "I saw rock 'n' roll's future—and its name is Bruce Springsteen" quote. With much publicity, Born to Run vaulted into the top 10 in its...

. The song was written as a tribute to Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

, who died during the recording sessions on August 16, 1977. A studio take of "Fire" was recorded during the sessions, but would not see official release until 2010's The Promise

The Promise (Bruce Springsteen album)

The Promise is the 17th studio album by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen, released November 16, 2010 on Columbia Records. It is a double CD compilation of previously unreleased songs drawing from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The album is also available as part of the box set...

 box set.

Although he performed the song live from his 1978 tour

Darkness Tour

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Darkness Tour was a concert tour of North America that ran from May 1978 through the rest of the year, in conjunction with the release of Springsteen's album Darkness on the Edge of Town...

 onwards, Springsteen himself did not release his own recording of the song until his 1986 Live/1975-85

Live/1975-85

Live/1975–85 is a live album by Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. It consists of 40 tracks recorded at various concerts between 1975 and 1985. It was released as a box set with either five vinyl records, three cassettes, or three CDs...

 album, which contains his December 16, 1978 performance at Winterland in San Francisco. The recording was heavily edited, to eliminate Springsteen's on-stage hijinks. This version was released as a single, scoring number 46 on the U.S. pop chart. The B-side was a live version of "Incident on 57th Street".

A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was released at the time, but included a completely unrelated 1986 acoustic performance at a Bridge School Benefit

Bridge School Benefit

The Bridge School Benefit is an annual non-profit charity concert held in Mountain View, California, every October at the Shoreline Amphitheatre. The concerts are all organized by musician Neil Young and his wife, Pegi....

 concert. The song was also released on 'The Promise

The Promise (Bruce Springsteen album)

The Promise is the 17th studio album by American rock singer Bruce Springsteen, released November 16, 2010 on Columbia Records. It is a double CD compilation of previously unreleased songs drawing from the Darkness on the Edge of Town sessions. The album is also available as part of the box set...

' and a video version appears on the associated 'The Promise: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Story' as part of the Thrill Hill Vault Houston '78 Bootleg: House Cut DVD.

Notable cover versions

"Fire" was first released by Robert Gordon

Robert Gordon (musician)

Robert Gordon is an American rockabilly musician. Gordon rose to fame performing in several genres including alternative rock, punk rock, and rock and roll.- Early days:...

 during 1978, and he received some modest album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock

Album-oriented rock is an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock artists.-Music played:Most radio formats are based on a select, tight rotation of hit singles...

 radio broadcasting with it. Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...

 had an early single release with it too in 1978 as a B-Side to his early single Endless Sleep. It was swapped to the A-Side within a very scarce Dutch picture sleeve pressing of the single, which now is valued at £200+.

Also in 1978 the Pointer Sisters recorded "Fire" for their Energy

Energy (Pointer Sisters album)

Energy is the fifth studio album by The Pointer Sisters, released in 1978 on the Planet label.-History:After a brief split following sister Bonnie's departure from the group, a musically reinvented and recharged Pointer Sisters returned composed of Ruth, Anita and June. Their first album for...

 album with the track, featuring Anita Pointer

Anita Pointer

Anita Pointer is an American R&B/soul singer-songwriter and a member of The Pointer Sisters.-Biography:...

 on lead, being issued as lead single. The inaugural single by the Pointer Sisters as the trio of Anita, June

June Pointer

June Antoinette Pointer Whitmore was an American Pop/R&B singer and was a founding member/and lead vocalist of the vocal group The Pointer Sisters.-Early life and career:...

 and Ruth Pointer

Ruth Pointer

Ruth Pointer is an American R&B singer, best known for being the eldest member of The Pointer Sisters.-Early life:Pointer was born in Oakland, California. She began her vocal training as a director of a junior choir in her father's church.-The Pointer Sisters:Joining her sisters in 1972, the...

, "Fire" brought the Pointer Sisters to a new level of success marking the group's Top Ten debut; rising as high as #2 on the Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

 magazine in February 1979 "Fire" would eventually be tied by both "Slow Hand

Slow Hand

Slow Hand is a ballad written by John Bettis and Michael Clark and recorded by the Pointer Sisters. It was first released in the spring of 1981 as the advance single for Black & White.-Background/ Impact:...

" and "Jump (for My Love)

Jump (for My Love)

"Jump " was the opening track of the Pointer Sisters' 1983 album, Break Out.Released prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics games, the song's video featured footage of athletes competing in track and field events. The song was the second of four Billboard Hot 100 top 10 singles in a row for the sisters...

" as the Pointer Sister's highest charting single. A hit on Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

 and Adult Contemporary charts at respectively #14 and #22, "Fire" would also afford the Pointer Sisters an international chart hit reaching #1 in Belgium, the Netherlands and New Zealand also charting n Australia (#7), Austria (#10), Canada (#3), Germany (#35) and the UK (#34).

A number of other artists covered the song in the 1990s and 2000s. Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

 performed the song on the "Love Hurts Tour

Love Hurts Tour

The Love Hurts Tour was the third concert tour by American recording artist Cher. The tour supported her twenty first studio album, Love Hurts and the soundtrack, Mermaids. The tour reached Europe and North America...

" in 1992. Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...

 and Tom Jones

Tom Jones (singer)

Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...

 performed the song live, but did not include it in any album. The fictitious Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n artist Kurt Ostbahn (played by musician Willi Resetarits

Willi Resetarits

Wilhelm Resetarits , better known as Willi Resetarits and Dr. Kurt Ostbahn, is an Austrian singer, comedian and human rights activist....

) made a German cover of the song called "Feuer" (The word "fire" sounds similar in Viennese dialect) in the year 1985. A cover version of "Fire" was recorded by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Des'ree

Des'ree

Des'ree is an English pop/soul singer who was popular during the 1990s. She is well known for her hits: "Feel So High", "You Gotta Be", "Life", and "Kissing You"...

 for the soundtrack

Hav Plenty (soundtrack)

Hav Plenty is the soundtrack to the 1998 romantic comedy film Hav Plenty, directed by Christopher Scott Cherot. It was released on June 9, 1998 through Sony Music Soundtrax and consisted of mainly contemporary R&B with some hip hop...

 of the 1998 motion picture Hav Plenty

Hav Plenty

Hav Plenty is a 1997 American independent film released by Miramax Films, based on an eventful weekend in the life of Lee Plenty , written and directed by Cherot...

.

Link Wray

Link Wray

Fred Lincoln "Link" Wray Jr was an American rock and roll guitarist, songwriter and occasional singer....

, rockabilly guitarist who played on the Robert Gordon version, released his own version on his 1997 live album Walkin' Down A Street Called Love. In 2001, contemporary jazz guitarist Chuck Loeb

Chuck Loeb

Chuck Loeb is a guitarist who performs numerous styles of music, most notably jazz. Loeb's own solo projects have generally been commercially successful crossover jazz, which has "contemporary" or "smooth" jazz....

 covered the song on his release In a Heartbeat.

In popular culture

In a famous stand-up routine, Robin Williams

Robin Williams

Robin McLaurin Williams is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork and Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance...

 performed the song as if it were sung by Elmer Fudd

Elmer Fudd

Elmer J. Fudd/Egghead is a fictional cartoon character and one of the most famous Looney Tunes characters, and the de facto archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheon . His aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring...

.

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth

Kristin Chenoweth is an American singer and actress, with credits in musical theatre, film and television. She is best known on Broadway for her performance as Sally Brown in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown , for which she won a Tony Award, and for originating the role of Glinda in the musical...

 and Matthew Morrison

Matthew Morrison

Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...

, in character as April Rhodes and Will Schuester

Will Schuester

William "Will" Schuester, often referred to as Mr. Schue, is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Matthew Morrison and has appeared in Glee since its pilot episode, first broadcast on May 19, 2009. Will was developed by Glee...

 respectively, sing "Fire" as a duet in the Glee

Glee (TV series)

Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...

 episode "Home

Home (Glee)

"Home" is the 16th episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on April 27, 2010. It was directed by Paris Barclay and written by series creator Brad Falchuk...

".