"Fire" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the fifth track on the band's 1981 album, ''

October October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the sixth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôct� ...

'', and it was released in July 1981 as the album's first single.

History

The ''October'' album version of "Fire" was recorded at

Compass Point Studios Compass Point Studios was a music recording studio in the Bahamas, founded in 1977 by Chris Blackwell, the owner of Island Records. The concept of the studio was of a recording facility supported by in-house sets of artists, musicians, producer ...

in the Bahamas while U2 took a break from the

Boy Tour A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is ...

in April 1981. After its initial release, "Fire" was U2's first song to chart in the UK, where it managed to break the top 40, peaking at No. 35. Some vinyl and cassette versions of U2's debut album ''

Boy A boy is a young male human. The term is commonly used for a child or an adolescent. When a male human reaches adulthood, he is described as a man. Definition, etymology, and use According to the ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', a boy is "a ...

'' included a 30-second instrumental hidden track after the album's closer, "

Shadows and Tall Trees A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two- dimensional silhouett ...

." This track featured the same guitar riff as the one from "Fire." It was not until the release of the 2008 Deluxe Edition of ''Boy'' and its bonus CD that this track was shown to be "Saturday Night," a previously unreleased song that featured the same guitar riff from "Fire" and almost the same instrumentation, but with different lyrics. "Saturday Night" was eventually rewritten into what became "Fire".

Live performances

"Fire" was played in concert for the first time on 27 May 1981 a month after the album version was recorded. It was the second of two songs from the ''October'' album played on the

with the first being "I Fall Down". "Fire" was a set list regular for much of the October Tour, although it was not played at any of the tour's shows where U2 acted as support for

the J. Geils Band The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica and saxophone player Richard "Magic ...

. It then appeared on the

War Tour War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regula ...

's "Pre-Tour", and its last live performance was at the first proper date of the War Tour on 26 February 1983. Most of its live appearances were in the encore, often as the first encore song. "Fire" was also the song U2 played for their first appearance on

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

Releases

The July 1981 single release came in three versions – a two-track 7-inch vinyl, a double 7-inch vinyl pack, and a 12-inch vinyl single titled "U2 R.O.K.," a pun on the word "

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

" and on the phrase "U2 are OK." A fourth version was released ten years later on CD in 1991, also under the title "U2 R.O.K." The song was later included as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

on the Japanese version of the "

A Celebration "A Celebration" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It was released as a non-album single in March 1982, between the records ''October'' (1981) and ''War'' (1983). The song's music video was filmed at the Kilmainham Gaol former prison in Dublin. ...

" single in 1982, and as a live version on several versions of the "

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

" single in 1983. The single was not released in North America. "Fire" was reissued on

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

in 2021 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of its original release. It was pressed on vinyl picture disc, with "Fire" and "J. Swallo" on the A-side and two live versions of "Fire" on the B-side.

Formats and track listings

Charts

References

External links

"Fire" Single Discography Entry
at U2songs.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fire (U2 Song) 1981 singles U2 songs CBS Records singles Island Records singles Songs written by Bono Songs written by the Edge Songs written by Adam Clayton Songs written by Larry Mullen Jr. Song recordings produced by Steve Lillywhite 1981 songs