Cold Blue Steel And Sweet Fire Lyrics
One eye for the beat police
Sweet Fire calling
"You can't deny me
Now you know what you need"
Underneath the jungle gym
Hollow-grey-fire-escape-thief
Looking for Sweet Fire
Shadow of Lady Release
"Come with me
I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
Leave someone a letter
You can come now
Or you can come later"
Edgy-black cracks of the sky
"Pin-cushion-prick-
Fix this poor bad dreamer!"
"Money" cold shadows reply
Pawnshops crisscrossed and padlocked
Corridors spit on prayers and pleas
Sparks fly up from Sweet Fire
Black soot of Lady Release
"Come with me
I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
Does it really matter
If you come now
Or if you come on later?"
Fever and the scum brown bowl
Blue Steel still begging
But it's indistinct
Someone's Hi-Fi drumming Jelly Roll
Concrete concentration camp
Bashing in veins for peace
Cold Blue Steel and Sweet Fire
Fall into Lady Release
"Come with me I know the way" she says
"It's down, down, down the dark ladder
Do you want to contact somebody first
I mean what does it really matter
You're going to come now
Or you're going to come later"
I think it's about the bittersweet seduction of heroin addiction. Cold blue steel is the needle, sweet fire the junk. "Black soot of lady release" refers to 'cooking' the heroin in a spoon over a flame (the spoon gets sooty),lady release is the orgasmic pleasure of the drug taking effect. Another outstandig lyric from the master!
@Zubby I agree. I believe it relates to her partner at the time, James Taylor and his issues with heroin addiction.
@Zubby I agree. I believe it relates to her partner at the time, James Taylor and his issues with heroin addiction.
This song didn't mean much before I used, but after using for awhile – It hit me and I understood (completely). I interpreted the cold blue steel to be the needle and the sweet fire -- the fire under the spoon to cook up with. I was around 20 when I began using – that’s when I discovered pawn shops. I’d never had a need before that. Money is necessary to get that sweet relief. I am somewhat amazed that Joni wrote this song without actually being an addict. I guess that’s part of her innate ability to experience how others perceive things.
She was coming out of a relationship with James Taylor, who had a heroin addiction at the time. Looks like she saw it all...up close and personal.
She was coming out of a relationship with James Taylor, who had a heroin addiction at the time. Looks like she saw it all...up close and personal.
Cold Blue Steel is a gun. Sweet Fire is heroin addiction. Lady Release can be both death and the heroin high. Down the Dark Ladder is death, the ultimate outcome. Sweet Fire leads the Junkie through playgrounds and slums using the lure of Lady Release. The Junkie uses Cold Blue Steel in burglaries and robberies so Sweet Fire will bring Lady Release. Either Cold Blue Steel or Sweet Fire can take the Junkie Down the Dark Ladder by suicide, violent death or overdose. This is too often the way heroin addiction ends. Further dark symbols in this song reference the squalor, sickness and desperation of the Junkie's world. It is easy to let Joni's lyrics and music transport you through this nightmare. Further explanation would be redundant. Joni is a treasure! I love you Joni. Here's to you! May your Father Time never be unkind.
I know most people think this is about heroin addiction, and it may be, but for me it was about suicide and cutting (cold blue steel) leaving a note,suicide note. I know I was hearing it through my own struggles though. Down,down,down was intense depression. For me this was a terrifying song and I made a suicide attempt while listening to it.
@terri10205 Drug addiction is deeply connected with suicide and depression. I speak from experience
@terri10205 Drug addiction is deeply connected with suicide and depression. I speak from experience
Possibly Joni's best lyrics ever (and that's saying a lot). So intimately describes heroine addiction, yet never mentions the word. Incredible.
@princejoni I meant to type heroin, not heroine. :-)
@princejoni I meant to type heroin, not heroine. :-)
is sweet fire a prostitute or perhaps blue steel's lover?
cold blue steal is a gun and sweet fire is death. a song about suicide. great artist!
Ah, thanks no1knows...this song makes sense to me now...I loved the music but hadn't really listened to the lyrics...and everyone knows how sometimes you can't understand what she's saying...I ended up thinking it was about like...some strange lesbian affair in grade school...But now I see that you're right. Only, wrong about one thing, cold blue steel is a gun, but sweet fire would be just that...the gunshot, gunfire, and Lady Release is death.
another possible take on this song is that it is about heroin addiction
I'm totally with you. It's about Heroin addiction. I think I read it on her website but if you've ever been involved in addiction issues it is apparent. :-)
I'm totally with you. It's about Heroin addiction. I think I read it on her website but if you've ever been involved in addiction issues it is apparent. :-)
this was my favorite song off the album; I loved the funky blues creeping into folk-pure (at the time!) Joni... yeah, I've always understood it as the gun and the heroin habit... ("bashing in veins for peace" sort of nails it).