About The Song
“I’m on Fire” is a song written and performed by American rock performer Bruce Springsteen. Released in 1985, it was the fourth single from his album Born in the U.S.A.
“I’m on Fire” was first recorded in January 1982 during the first wave of Born in the U.S.A. sessions, but the album version and the single were cut on May 11, 1982, at The Power Station.This took place in impromptu fashion when Springsteen started making up a slow tune on guitar for some lyrics he had, some of which had been written for “Spanish Eyes”, which would later surface on The Promise, and drummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan, hearing it for the first time, created an accompaniment on the spot. The result was a moody number that merges a soft rockabilly beat, lyrics built around sexual tension, and synthesizers into an effective whole; it was one of the first uses of that instrument in Springsteen’s music.
Cash Box said that the song is “at once a quiet and tense tune of pent up desire.”
The song peaked at No. 8 on the Cash Box Top 100 and No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1985. It was the fourth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. The single also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands for 3 weeks in July and August 1985, while two other Springsteen singles (“Dancing in the Dark” and “Born in the U.S.A.”) were also in the top ten. This marked the first time for an artist to have as many as three singles inside the Dutch top ten since the Beatles did so in 1965.
Video
Lyrics
Hey little girl is your daddy home
Did he go away and leave you all alone
I got a bad desire
I’m on fireTell me now baby is he good to you
Can he do to you the things that I do
I can take you higher
I’m on fireSometimes it’s like someone took a knife baby
edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley
through the middle of my soulAt night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet
and a freight train running through the
middle of my head
Only you can cool my desire
I’m on fire