Song Review: The Saints-- "Just Like Fire Would"

There would be no Clash and no Sex Pistols if it weren't for the highly influential punk rock band The Saints.  The group, led by singer-songwriter Chris Bailey, could be viewed as Australia's answer to the Ramones. In fact, The Saints released the second ever "punk rock" single in 1976 with (I'm) Stranded.  Their sound eventually shifted to include more mainstream rock flavors, and by the time 1986 rolled around, their sound was barely recognizable.  All Fools Day was released in 1986, and the record includes "Just Like Fire Would," the single that finally helped propel the group into the U.S. market.  

image: www.recordsale.de

The opening guitar riff is an Australian national treasure, and the song sounds triumphant, but the lyrics paint a lonely portrait of an isolated man.  He sits in his hotel room, "eyes cast like steel," and "stays only to defy."  He speaks of the cold world outside before saying, "and just like fire would/I burn up."  The image is doubly powerful because "would" also projects an image of fire "wood" burning.  I'm not sure whether the proclamation is meant as an internal rallying cry (the warmth of the fire) or a death sentence (burning up into nothing).  I'm leaning towards the rallying cry.  Now, I'm not too religious, but I did take the "Bible as a Story" class for my theology credit.  Jeremiah 23:29 reads: "'Does not my word burn like fire?'  says the Lord, 'Is it not like a mighty hammer that smashes rock to pieces?'"  The song could be telling of a man who is grappling with some sort of moral or religious sin, and he must decide whether to attempt to move forward or do nothing and wait for the storm to come or pass.  

Meanwhile, time is passing too quickly, and life's a struggle:

Five hundred miles I have gone today

Tomorrow it's five hundred more

Outside my window the world passes by

It's stranger than a dream

The final stanza seems to question the existence of karma or even an afterlife, mired in the insignificance of each day.  Is day to day living worth the effort when death looms like "ice on the door?"

I go to work and I earn my pay load

And the sweat, it falls to the ground

I see you now, but we may never meet again, child

The ice is hanging on the door

But I can't leave you on that note.  If the will to thrive is strong enough, the tables can be turned and death becomes insignificant.