"I'm on Fire" was first recorded in January 1982 during the first wave of Born in the U.S.A. sessions, but the album version and the single were cut on May 11, 1982, at The Power Station.^[6] This took place in impromptu fashion when Springsteen started making up a slow tune on guitar for some lyrics he had, some of which had been written for "Spanish Eyes", which would later surface on The Promise, and drummer Max Weinberg and keyboardist Roy Bittan, hearing it for the first time, created an accompaniment on the spot. The result was a moody number that merges a soft rockabilly beat, lyrics built around sexual tension, and synthesizers into an effective whole; it was one of the first uses of that instrument in Springsteen's music.

Cash Box said that the song is "at once a quiet and tense tune of pent up desire."^[7]

The song peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles charts in early 1985. It was the fourth of a record-tying seven Top 10 hit singles to be released from Born in the U.S.A. The single also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands for 3 weeks in July and August 1985, while two other Springsteen singles ("Dancing in the Dark" and "Born in the U.S.A.") were also in the top ten. This marked the first time for an artist to have as many as three singles inside the Dutch top ten since the Beatles did so in 1965.^[8]

The music video for the song was shot in March 1985 in Los Angeles, and was directed by filmmaker John Sayles.^[9] Unlike the previous videos from the album, the video was not a performance clip, but rather a dramatic interpretation of the song's themes.

In it, Springsteen plays a working class automobile mechanic with an attractive, married, very well-to-do, mostly unseen female customer who brings her vintage Ford Thunderbird in for frequent servicing, always requesting that he does the work. She leaves a small bunch of keys with him when she leaves in her car, possibly including house keys implying that she wishes to start an affair with him, but declines his offer to bring the car out to her house when it's ready. Later that night, he drives the car up to her mansion high in the hills above the city. He looks to a second floor window with the light on and is about to ring the bell, when he thinks better of it and drops her keys in the mailbox next to the door. He smiles wistfully and walks away down towards the city lights below.^[10]

The video began airing in mid-April, received extensive MTV airplay, and later in the year won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video.

1. "I'm on Fire" – 2:36
2. "Johnny Bye Bye" (Springsteen, Chuck Berry) – 1:50

The B-side of the single, "Johnny Bye Bye" - Just before he was sentenced to three years for violating the Mann Act in 1962, Chuck Berry wrote "Bye Bye Johnny", a sequel to "Johnny B. Goode", where a mother sent her musician son off to Hollywood to be a star. "She drew out all her money from the Southern Trust, and put her little boy aboard the Greyhound Bus." It was not a big hit for Berry, but Springsteen decided to use those lines in 1981, for a new song that used most of the lyrics from "Come On Let's Go Tonight", calling it "Johnny Bye-Bye". Springsteen had first started performing it in 1981 at the tail end of The River Tour. It was then recorded in April 1982 during the "Electric Nebraska" sessions. The official version was recorded on January 4, 1983, at Thrill Hill West, Los Angeles, CA, and one of the mixes was released on February 6, 1985, as the B-side to "I'm On Fire". The song appeared on preliminary song lists for inclusion on what would become Born in the U.S.A. but was ultimately left off the final album.

"I'm on Fire" was performed only sporadically at the start of the Born in the U.S.A. Tour, but a couple of months later, it settled into a regular place in the middle of the second set. It was usually preceded by a long musical introduction, during which Springsteen spoke about not being able to sleep at night when he was young and his parents were struggling and the house was cold. The song was also given an extended coda of Springsteen's moans against waves of synthesizer. Such a rendition from an August 19, 1985, performance at Giants Stadium is included on the Live/1975-85 box set, but with the spoken part of the introduction edited out.

In some cases, red lighting from stage floor focused on Springsteen's face was used to further accentuate the song. On the Tunnel of Love Express, the song was still a regular. On the Human Rights Now! Tour, Springsteen conducted crowd sing-alongs during the chorus and coda parts. After some appearances on the "Other Band" Tour, the song went into a long retirement, not emerging again until occasional performances on 2005's solo Devils & Dust Tour, when he performed it on banjo with the red lighting back.

Between 1999 and 2008, the song was only performed on eight occasions with the E Street Band: once on the Reunion Tour (June 17, 1999, Bremen), once on The Rising Tour (April 18, 2003, Ottawa) and six times on the Magic Tour. The song has made surprise return on a semi-regular basis during the European leg of the 2009 Working on a Dream tour. As of November 2009, it has been performed live 245 times.

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon:^[11]

• Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar
• Roy Bittan – keyboard
• Max Weinberg – drums

Works cited

• Brucebase recording sessions history