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Fire In The Hole Lyrics
decline
To walk the line
They tell me that I'm lazy
Worldly wise
I realize
That everybody's crazy
A woman's voice reminds me
To serve and not to speak
Am I myself or just another freak
Don't you know
There's fire in the hole
And nothing left to burn
I'd like to run out now
There's nowhere left to turn
With a cough
I shake it off
And work around my yellow stripe
Should I hide
And eat my pride
Or wait until it's good and ripe
My life is boiling over
It's happened once before
I wish someone would open up the door
Don't you know
There's fire in the hole
And nothing left to burn
I'd like to run out now
There's nowhere left to turn
To walk the line
They tell me that I'm lazy
Worldly wise
I realize
That everybody's crazy
A woman's voice reminds me
To serve and not to speak
Am I myself or just another freak
There's fire in the hole
And nothing left to burn
I'd like to run out now
There's nowhere left to turn
I shake it off
And work around my yellow stripe
Should I hide
And eat my pride
Or wait until it's good and ripe
My life is boiling over
It's happened once before
I wish someone would open up the door
There's fire in the hole
And nothing left to burn
I'd like to run out now
There's nowhere left to turn
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This song is about being in a public place and needing to pass gas. Think about it: "With a cough I shake it off And work around my yellow stripe" (jeans have yellow stripes) "Should I hide and eat my pride or wait until it's good and ripe" (I'm sure you've heard a fart described as "ripe") "My life is boiling over It's happened once before I wish someone would open up the door" (to bring in a little air so nobody will smell it!). Do I have to yell you what the "hole" is? Yes, "Fire in the hole" was a Vietnam term, but Fagen & Becker are not that direct.
I Honestly feel as if the narrator of this song is in the process of being detained by police." i decline to walk the line " ...has a slight similarity to the " Yellow stripe" Once spoken about. Think about it...When your caught durnk driving..You are usually asked to Walk that yellow line in the street. Yet our narrator doesnt want to do so...Because he knows it will show his drunkeness. " a Womens voice reminds me to serve and not to speak" may have been a female police officer maybe ? he also speaks of WORKING around his yellow...
I Honestly feel as if the narrator of this song is in the process of being detained by police." i decline to walk the line " ...has a slight similarity to the " Yellow stripe" Once spoken about. Think about it...When your caught durnk driving..You are usually asked to Walk that yellow line in the street. Yet our narrator doesnt want to do so...Because he knows it will show his drunkeness. " a Womens voice reminds me to serve and not to speak" may have been a female police officer maybe ? he also speaks of WORKING around his yellow stripe. maybe an indication to how intoxicated he may be during his struggle to walk straight! He knows he will be taken to jail.." My life is boiling over...its happend Once before" " I Wish someone would open up the door " Anyone who's been in the back of a police car knows That feeling of finality ! LOL " theres nothing left to burn" Drug Bust ? I dont know...i normally hate when people assume drug references in Dan songs...but then again...Its Quite Possible knowing these Guys....But..that about sums what i got from it in a nutshell. Feel free to add...!!!!!
Ok, that was funny!
Ok, that was funny!
@JTBcat Jesus Christ, are you fkn serious, needing to fart?
@JTBcat Jesus Christ, are you fkn serious, needing to fart?
Extremely poetic and the tonality/modality sits beneath the lyrics in a way Robert Frost would compose, if he were musically inclined.
This song is about a man going to see a dominatrix- that's the woman's voice. He's repentant about his perceived transgressions and frustrated about the disparity between his worldly wisdom and failure to excel in the corporate world. The questioned self identity arises in an effective BDSM session; of course he feels like a freak. The fire in the hole is from anal play. The yellow stripe is just that- perhaps from a sound caning.
Songs mean whatever that squishy fluid floating around your brain tells you they mean! That's beautiful ain't it and that is why I think so many musical artist refuse to tell you what a song really means. Sorry to get on the soap box there but had to get it off my chest.
Here is just my interpretation:
The dude has turned down the offer to conform to society which was handed to him like a steaming turd on a silver platter. He will not walk the "line" layed out for him. So he is accused of just being morally inferior because he is lazy but in reality he is clued in to the fact that it is our society that is crazy and not himself. He is hip to it all (worldly wise). But a women's voice tells him to shut up and serve...just take it boy. It is like his mother or an overzealous corporate cheerleader is egging him on. So he asks if he has his own identity. Is he a human being or just a freak in their eyes.?
The dude is completely worn out at this point. Society has raked his identity over the coals and burned him out. He is at the end of his rope and he has nowhere left to turn. Maybe he was drafted to Vietnam, maybe the rat race drove him crazy, it can mean whatever chips away at you so fill in your OWN blank. The dude has to continue breathing though so he shakes it off and attempts to live a constructive life around the negative label (yellow strip) that people have put on him for not conforming.
The dude (gotta call him or her something but this all equally applies to females) is always kept as an outcast though so he can't really commune with people and be himself at the same time. He is choking because no one will open the door. He feels trapped.
The song takes a punch at society and its pressures with its witty lyrics and the brilliant piano adds to Its class. Long live Steely Dan!
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about...
@itwhatyouthink I think your interpretation has a general accuracy to almost everything Steely Dan wrote. Especially refusing the conformity on a hot platter. In all the photos I see of them from the 70’s (especially Fagan) I feel a vibe (in his eyes and his facial posture) of a guy who generally distrusts almost everyone except Becker. He embraced jazz at an early age when most people don’t “feel” music they just hear it, and I feel like he carried a certain disdain for “mainstream” society for not feeling what he felt for jazz. (the part you referenced about him being clued in thats it’s the rest of society with the problem not him) Even the way he would look at the camera in photos when he happened to not be wearing shades, it was an “I don’t trust you or your ignorance” vibe. So to me your interpretation goes beyond just this song and to him in general. Even in those videos where he is with that piano expert dude explaining how he came up with the cords for Peg and Josie, he is so uncomfortable talking on camera and seems only able to conduct the session BECAUSE he gets to lose himself in his music.
In an interview he talked about having a nervous breakdown sometime after Nightfly was recorded. He also talked about the music industry keeping people out of real life and not even knowing what a mortgage was until he was in his 40’s. I am guessing the “nervous breakdown” came from what’s stated above AND that he wanted his music to be his reality. And when he finally realized it couldn’t be his full reality, and that he needed to have a better acceptance of the rest of society AND maybe society wasn’t as uninformed as he wanted to think….he had to swallow how his life outlook needed to change. And since then if you hear his interviews he seemed less guarded and paranoid. He even pokes fun at himself a little, and there is a SMALL hint that he wishes he had done things just a little different in the 70’s w Steely Dan. He says his favorite SD albums are the most recent cuz they had improved their skills and uses the term “juvenile” in reference to their 70’s music.
He’s a very complicated dude who has probably simplified himself over the years as a way to better survive. I am guessing he has a SUPER high IQ, and a lot of people like that who are genius in their field end up suicidal (Robin Williams comes to mind) and Fagan “simplifying” his view of society some prolly helped him avoid that. If you watch that live in studio piece he does with Paul Shaffer….he has so much patience for Shaffer’s obnoxiousness that he never would have had in his younger days.
I enjoyed your interpretation of this song cuz I think it gave me a little more clarity on MY views of him.
Seriously? Did anybody on this site ever take English literature? He has an STD. Goddamn. No wonder Trump got elected.
@Libe9 With a cough, I shake it off, and walk around my yellow stripe. ????Jesus!
@Libe9 With a cough, I shake it off, and walk around my yellow stripe. ????Jesus!
As amusing as JTBcat’s theory is, no, Fire in the Hole is not about farting in public, although it is about bodily functions.
The key to understanding this rather obscure song is its link to another song on the album, "Dirty Work". On the back cover of the LP, where the song titles are listed, each song name is followed by a coy or sarcastic comment on the song. Thus, "Turn that Heartbeat Over Again" gets the sarcastic “A solemn prayer for peace”, and "Only a Fool Would Say That" is described as “A message cha-cha”. Three songs get the same comment: “How’s my little girl?” Those are "Dirty Work", "Reelin’ in the Years", and "Fire in the Hole".
"Reelin’ in the Years" and "Dirty Work" are straightforward songs, as far as their meanings go. Both are about sexual/romantic relationships gone bad, which, along with the comment after the song title, indicates that "Fire in the Hole" is also about a such a relationship.
"Reelin’" is a heartfelt denunciation of an old flame who dumped the protagonist. The protagonist gets back at her by calling her trivial, snobby, and immature in a sizzlingly great pop song.
But, as a story, "Reelin’" stands on its own. I suspect that "Dirty Work" has a much stronger connection to "Fire in the Hole". Both songs are the second song on their respective sides of the album, and both songs use workplace imagery in reference to a sexual relationship. In "Dirty Work", the protagonist is providing free (“you’re afraid to pay the fee”) sexual services to a wealthy (she has a maid) woman who is probably married (“when your man is out of town”). The woman holds the power in the relationship, initiating the sessions, locking the door. Rather than bragging about this situation, the protagonist feels cornered, “foresees terrible trouble” and declares in the chorus: “I’m a fool to do your dirty work; I don’t want to do your dirty work no more.”
"Fire in the Hole" returns us to that relationship. We have the dominating woman “A woman’s voice reminds me to serve and not to speak.” We have workplace imagery (yellow striping is used on factory floors to warn workers when they are in the proximity of dangerous machinery). And we know from the comment after the song title that this is about a sexual or romantic relationship.
So what is going on in this song? The protagonist is embarrassed (“should I hide, or eat my pride”), and would “like to run out now; there’s nowhere left to turn.” Indeed he wishes “someone would open up the door.” And why is that?
Well, his “life” is “boiling over” and “it’s happened once before”.
Remember mik91’s comment about getting an orgasm from the piano solo? Think about the rhythm of the first notes of that solo. Of the many male orgasms to be rendered in pop song instrumental solos, this has to be the most woeful. It is literally minor key.
So now you know, boys and girls, this is a song about the bane of a young man’s sexual existence: orgasming too soon. She’s not there yet, but he’s done: “Don’t you know there’s fire in the hole, and nothing left to burn?”
Ouch! I’ll be running now . . .
I love the piano-solo in this song, each time i hear it i get an orgasm
@mik91 in a hole?
@mik91 in a hole?
Could be a war song,however I get pretty turned on by the piano solo too.
'Fire in the Hole' was a phrase used by US soldiers in Vietnam when they tossed grenades into VC bunkers - meaning stand clear, there's going to be an explosion. May not be relevant.
@pconl I am sure there is SOME connection between that and the meaning of the song. But like always, figuring that connection out is difficult AND not an exact science. Amd I don’t think he and Becker wanted to help anyone in that regard, because if you figured out exactly what their song lyrics meant, it would help you figure THEM out and they didn’t want that.
@pconl I am sure there is SOME connection between that and the meaning of the song. But like always, figuring that connection out is difficult AND not an exact science. Amd I don’t think he and Becker wanted to help anyone in that regard, because if you figured out exactly what their song lyrics meant, it would help you figure THEM out and they didn’t want that.
agrea with classic but the fire in the hole part is used ib war but it can also be used as a fire pit were the flames are kept inside there boundries hence he wish someone would help make them bigger but hes stuck in that hole cause he is set in his ways
@toast0126 given that they were in a liberal arts college together in the late 60’s it’s almost guaranteed that the song title has SOME Vietnam association.
@toast0126 given that they were in a liberal arts college together in the late 60’s it’s almost guaranteed that the song title has SOME Vietnam association.