Set the World Afire Lyrics
They said it'd never come, we knew it was a lie
All forms of life die now the humans all succumb
Time to kiss your ass goodbye the end has just begun
Weeds once underneath your feet have grown into vines
Bodies melted like a candle, a land without a face
No time to change your fate, no time left, it's too late
And if it comes, the living will envy the dead
Racing for power, and all come in last
No winning first stone cast
This falsehood worldly peace
It's treaties will soon cease
No one will be left to prove that numbers existed
Maybe soon the children will be born open fisted
We all live on one planet it will all go up in smoke
and now the final scene, a global darkening
Towering overhead both far and wide
There's unknown tools of World War III
Einstein said "We'll use rocks on the other side"
No survivors set the world afire

This song is about nuclear holocaust and basically mankind blasting itself back to the stone age.

The line, "Einstein said 'We'll use rocks on the other side'," is a reference to the quote by Albert Einstein quote: "The next World War will be fought with stones".
The line, "The arsenal of Megadeth can't be rid of," appears to be sourced from a pamphlet by California Senator Alan Cranston which contains the statement: "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to."

anybody noticed how Dave crams all these ideas and riffs into the song before the actual verses start? more than some bands nowadays put into a whole album

this song was one of the first mustaine wrote after being kicked out of metallica. It was originally entitled MEGADEATH. But dave decided to call the band that name without the A so it got changed to burnt offerings then to set the world afire

i noticed something weird with this song (unless i'm wrong because he meant to say it) there is one line that he says like this "Distorted figures walk the streets 1999"
the lyrics on here and in the cd say 1989...anyway kick ass song!