WCSX Classic Cuts : Fire
WCSX Classic Cuts
Bruce Springsteen: “Fire”
The Hook: Drummer Max Weinberg felt it must’ve been written for Elvis Presley (and he was right, though Elvis never got to do it).
Album: Live 1975-85
Year: Live version recorded in 1978 and released 1986
Writer: Bruce Springsteen
Stats: Peaked at number-46 on the Billboard Hot 100 seven years after The Pointer Sisters’ cover of it reached number-two.
Background: Drummer Max Weinberg’s timeline for the recording the demo of “Fire,” may be slightly off, since Bruce Springsteen apparently did send it to Elvis Presley before he died. That said, Weinberg’s memory of The Boss’s intent with the song is pretty spot on.
E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg on “Fire.”
“I remember recording ‘Fire’ as a demo shortly after Elvis Presley died. We were recording the Darkness at the Edge of Town album and I never heard it articulated, but it just seemed to make sense that this song was sort of inspired by Elvis, at least in the treatment that Bruce sang. It’s a great smoldering, sexy track. It would have been perfect for Elvis to sing. It was always fun to play in concert and, y’know, Gary Tallent always loved it, because he got to start it.”
