Fire on the Mountain

Song of my childhood. MTB is so underrated.

My guess is its about the gold rush in california and the hardships faced.

First off, how disappointing the publishers are being typical of the music industry and failing to realize that it's bad to try to skrew over the fans. That being said, I have memories about this song. Some time ago, a long long while back (well, maybe not that long), something sparked fragment of a memory, a couple notes of a song that I once heard but couldn't remember. I spend a few years actively listening to the radio (this was before the Internet as we know it, not that it would have helped) trying to figure out which song, based on one or two half-remembered notes. It was starting to drive me crazy. Then ... Success! I heard the opening steel-guitar riff and knew I'd found it. Some months or years later, I learned the Marshal Tucker Band would be in concert at the County Fair that year. Not going into my motivation, I got permission from my parents to take the bus to the fair, though -- I was probably about 10 or 12 at the time -- I had to be home by 8pm. Fates be darned, that was when the concern was scheduled to start. A normally obedient child, I decided whatever trouble I would get into would be worth the risk. Unfortunately, the audience that began to fill the auditorium could best be described as looking like Hell's Angels bikers. Probably nice people, but as a scared little boy alone at the fair, I decided it was best to head home. I would miss my deadline, but not too much. An explaination that I missed my bus (not untrue) plus reasonable parents meant I didn't get in trouble. I did manage to hear snippets of the song I came to hear as I waited for the bus. Flash forward to adulthood, my music tastes have shifted somewhat, and I realize there's still some "need-to-get" music missing from my collection. Normally, I try to get full albums instead of "Best Of"s, but for Marshall Tucker, it was all I could find. Sadly, I was disappointed. "Fire on the Mountain" is still a beautiful song, but almost all the others I don't care for at all.

As for the meaning, lyrically it seems pretty straight-forward. Gold-rush/Western era, a man has hopes for himself and his family on the frontier, but ends up murdered. Musically, though, it's fantastic.

it's got the same theme of "California Cottonfields", "Grapes of Wrath" and Jack London books. a great piece of music, and the message is loud and clear; being alive is what matters in the end; not going through all this for a worthless claim and ending up losing everything.

Yes thats the exact meaning. Great song.