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| "Fire" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK/Irish cover | ||||
| Single byU2 | ||||
| from the albumOctober | ||||
| B-side | "J. Swallo" | |||
| Released | 27 July 1981[1] | |||
| Recorded | April 1981 | |||
| Studio | Compass Point (Nassau, Bahamas) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:48 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter | U2 | |||
| Producer | Steve Lillywhite | |||
| U2 singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Fire" is a song by Irish rock bandU2. It is the fifth track on the band's 1981 album,October, and it was released in July 1981 as the album's first single.
TheOctober album version of "Fire" was recorded atCompass Point Studios in the Bahamas while U2 took a break from theBoy Tour 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.[2]
Some vinyl and cassette versions of U2's debut albumBoy included a 30-second instrumental hidden track after the album's closer, "Shadows and Tall Trees". This track featured the same guitar riff as the one from "Fire". It was not until the release of the 2008 Deluxe Edition ofBoy 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".
"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 theOctober album played on theBoy Tour 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 forthe J. Geils Band. It then appeared on theWar Tour'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 onTop of the Pops.
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" and on the phrase "U2 are OK". A fourth version was released ten years later onCD in 1991, also under the title "U2 R.O.K."
The song was later included as aB-side on the Japanese version of the "A Celebration" single in 1982, and as a live version on several versions of the "New Year's Day" single in 1983.
The single was not released in North America.
"Fire" was reissued onRecord Store Day 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.[3]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fire" | 3:48 |
| 2. | "J. Swallo" | 2:18 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fire" | 3:48 |
| 2. | "J. Swallo" | 2:18 |
| 3. | "11 O'Clock Tick Tock/The Ocean" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 7:03 |
| 4. | "Cry/The Electric Co." (Live atParadise Rock Club,Boston, Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 4:53 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fire" | 3:50 |
| 2. | "J. Swallo" (Listed as "Johnny Swallow" on record) | 2:20 |
| 3. | "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston,Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 4:52 |
| 4. | "The Ocean" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 2:14 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fire" | 3:48 |
| 2. | "J. Swallo" | 2:18 |
| 3. | "11 O'Clock Tick Tock" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 4:52 |
| 4. | "The Ocean" (Live at Paradise Rock Club, Boston, Massachusetts, 6 March 1981) | 2:14 |
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Irish Singles Chart[4] | 4 |
| UK Singles Chart[5] | 35 |
