Touch me through your screen door

I want to remember you

They that seek me are behind me

against the moon

Recall how we used to ride

juiced underneath the power lines

in the inferno valley

when your daddy was still alive

I worked with dirt in my eyes

old blood upon my wound

dreaming aloud

of seeing you soon

I came home from day at the mill

I came home and cared for you

the year that we lived

in secret fire

I took my razor blade

I layed old Rubeun in the shade

and I heard the radio moan

I took my place in the hills

jagged with secret fires

I called you through the valley

down along the wires

with dust upon the sands

came the first day of the year

I saw a house where no one lived,

on the black land and under the red sky

you washed my hair and skin

against the firelight

so, touch me through your screen door

I want to remember you

we struggled

the year we lived in secret fire


Lyrics submitted by John91783

Secret Fires Lyrics as written by

Lyrics © COHEN AND COHEN

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Secret Fires song meanings
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5 Comments

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  • +1
    General Comment

    i agree that there are def. dark undertones to this song (as with most of jeffrey lee pierce's lyrics). i think basically it is about a lost love or about a fading love rather. the "year we lived in secret fire" is a refrence to better days when their love was passionate and burning strong. he is now in a different and miserable place both physically and emotionally without this woman's love. she may not necessarily be "gone" from him but their love is more or less a shadow of what it once was during that first year together. see the lyrics for their song "a house is not a home" it has similar themes.

    great song and unbelievably underrated band: thanks for posting!

    mr.von September 09, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I cannot hear this song enough. It is simply mesmerizing.

    I know the this has a dark message... but can someone let me know more about it's meaning?

    John91783on February 01, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    whatever their songs are about (which i have no idea), gun club songs are my favorite, based on jeffrey's voice, the instrumentation,and the energy to the songs.

    tealeaveson November 20, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Like a lot of Jeffrey Lee Pierce's lyrics, I'm sure much of this has personal meanings for him that generally can't be literally interpreted. But the vagueness and imagery and metaphor is what makes it become so personal for those it touches. What a beautiful, beautiful song.

    waoflon July 16, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I think this song is about committing arson. While beautiful and tantalizing, I think pierce is mimicking watching something burn. It can be vague enough to apply to a lost love, seeing its ashes succumb to the wind. However, literally, I think the dude is talking about burning up the "mill." Hes talking about living in hiding. "You washed my hair and skin against the firelight"... he called his love and she is literally washing the ash and smoke from his body. He knows their time is up and it is only a matter of time before he is indicted.

    devon10123on June 17, 2021   Link

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