Songoftheday 2/8/14 - Sometimes it's like someone took a knife, baby, edgy and dull and cut a six-inch valley through the middle of my soul...

Bruce Springsteen - "I'm On Fire"
from the album Born In The U.S.A. (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today' Song of the Day is from "The Boss", Bruce Springsteen, whose landmark album Born In The U.S.A. had already scored three top-10 pop hits with "Dancing In The Dark", "Cover Me", and the title track. For the record's fourth release, "I'm On Fire", Bruce gives an emotionally restrained yet passionate vocal performance, with the feeling of someone with an underlying burning inside for a possibly illicit love. Meanwhile the musical backdrop is full of echo and a churning percussive beat that reminds me of something locomotive, as in Elvis' "Mystery Train"...

"I'm On Fire" became Bruce's fourth top-ten pop hit from the album in April of 1985, while also making it to #4 on the rock radio chart in Billboard, as well as #6 on the adult-contemporary (or "easy-listening") format. Internationally, the single went to #1 in the Netherlands and Ireland (the latter as a double-sided single with "Born In The U.S.A."). It also reached the top-10 in England and New Zealand, and top-20 in Canada, Australia, and Germany.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Bruce on the tour behind the album in 1985...