"I'm on Fire" by Bruce Springsteen

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  2223
Date:  02/16/1985
Debut:  54
Peak:  6
Weeks:  20
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  This song would serve as the fourth single from Springsteen's mega-hit album Born in the U.S.A. It debuted as the previous single, the title-track, was just finishing up its run on the Pop chart. It would sail into the Top 10 at Pop while reaching #4 at Rock. The ballad would also be Springsteen's first entry to reach the AC chart. It did well getting to #6. As this song was debuting on the singles chart, the album returned to #1 for three weeks. It had already spent four weeks at #1 in the summer of '84, so for the LP to get back to the top spot six months later was a remarkable feat.

ReduxReview:  When I first got the album and heard this song, I thought it was one of those dark, smokey, sensual songs that was perfect for cruising in the car with the windows down on a hot summer night. It nearly sounded like an outtake from Springsteen's Nebraska album. It was pretty great, but I never thought of it being a single. I guess it made sense as his run of Born singles had all been rockers, so something like this would be a nice change of pace. It ended up working quite well and it sounded great on the radio.

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  Two of Springsteen's previous singles had videos created for them and those mainly consisted of concert footage. However, the video for this song set aside stage performances in favor of one that had Springsteen acting out a story line that reflected the lyrics. The video won Springsteen an MTV Music Video award for Best Male Video. It was directed by John Sayles, who had made a few well-received films including 1980's Return of the Secaucus 7 and 1984's The Brother from Another Planet. He was also the writer of the 1978 b-movie horror flick Piranha. He was later twice nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category for 1992's Passion Fish and 1996's Lone Star, both of which he directed as well.

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