Fire Lake

"Fire Lake" is a song written and recorded by the American musical artist Bob Seger. He had planned to record "Fire Lake" for his 1975 album Beautiful Loser, but the track was not finished. The song had been partly written years before, in 1971, and was finally finished in 1979 and released in 1980 on Seger's album Against the Wind. The single reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] A live version of the song appeared on the album Nine Tonight, released in 1981.

For the lake in Quebec, see Fire Lake, Quebec.
"Fire Lake"
Single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
from the album Against the Wind
B-side"Long Twin Silver Line"
ReleasedJanuary 1980
GenreRock, heartland rock
Length3:30
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)Bob Seger
Producer(s)Bob Seger and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band singles chronology
"Old Time Rock and Roll"
(1979)		 "Fire Lake"
(1980)		 "Against the Wind"
(1980)

Background and writing

Seger and colleagues decided to make "Fire Lake" the first single from Against the Wind because it was "totally and unequivocally unlike anything I'd ever done before."

  • "The lyric is very ... different ... and very kind of unique. It's about taking risks. About risking love, chucking it all and just heading off with a bunch of wild people, whatever.
  • "It is one of my favorite lyrics down through the years, and the track is very unusual. It's sort of an R&B meets country kind of thing.
  • "I really wanted it to be the first single but I never thought Capitol would agree to it, and I believe it was Punch (Andrews, Seger's manager and often co-producer) who talked them into it. What I liked about it was that it broke new ground for us. It really showed that we were unafraid to push the envelope of what we were doing before, which was basically pretty hot rock and roll, you know, with a few ballads thrown in."

Music critic Maury Dean describes the song as an "ominous ballad" about "4th of July fireworks."[2] Dean praises the song's intensity, Seger's vocal and the "nifty" minor chords the song uses.[2] Dean speculates that the title may not be entirely figurative, as there may be a hidden reference to a midwestern body of water which literally caught fire, the Cuyahoga River in Ohio.[2] Billboard Magazine describes "Fire Lake" as an "excellent song [that] is paced by acoustic guitar which lends a folk flavor" and the lyrics as describing "the subversion of small town life."[3]

Production

Three of the Eagles provided the backing vocals for this track: Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit. Seger's recording engineer David Cole makes reference to the song on his website when he talks of his history with Seger: "I was there when the Eagles sang 'Who wants to go to Fire Lake?' and many other great moments during the Stranger in Town album".[4]

Chart performance

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References
  1. Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Pop Songs: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 218.
  2. Dean, Maury (2003). Rock 'n' Roll Gold Rush. Algora Publishing. p. 359. ISBN 087586208X.
  3. "Top Singles Picks" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. February 23, 1980. p. 58. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
  4. "David Cole homepage". Davidcolemusic.com. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. "Top 100 Singles (1980)". RPM. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  7. "1980 Talent in Action – Year End Charts : Pop Singles". Billboard. Vol. 92 no. 51. December 20, 1980. p. TIA-10. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
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