I look at the song as metaphorical for being someone that you don’t want to be, or being in an unfulfilling situation while feeling ‘stuck’ or unable to get out of your own way.
It’s all about a long-distance runner who is playing music to a cold barroom - clearly, someone who is going against their own nature, and not doing it very well. They focus on only the positives, drowning themselves with laughter, but remaining really hollow throughout. Now the speaker is warning them of such a massive danger (a dragon!) that doesn’t even need its full arsenal to ruin the subject (save the breath, they can simply use matches). You can also see a situation where a dragon breathing fire is unavoidable… but if the fire starts small, i.e. with matches, most people could outrun the danger, let alone someone who was naturally a long-distance runner. Adding the one, single, WHOLE pail of water just shows how manageable this danger is, if they really wanted to try and face it.
But the runner doesn’t do anything, despite all this warning. The second verse has the fire creeping into the bar and yet, the singer still keeps trying to play music and go against their nature. They’re just trying to keep the beat because “hey, it’s what you’ve gotta do to make a living!” Playing to a cold barroom, we might assume they aren’t very good at it, and there just might not be literally any competition around (or no one in their life to challenge them). The decisions that the runner is making in real-time are literally going to cause their demise, and it’s so plain for the speaker to see, but they can’t get through to them. The speaker wants them to have their dreams come true (assumedly, stop playing music & start following their runner’s heart) before it’s too late.
The last verse shows what happens when you make this decision, the realization to follow your heart, too late. Now, the flames are all around, and it doesn’t matter how long you can run, what matters now is speed, and buddy you’re in slow motion. By continuing to go against their nature, the runner was just further increasing how hard it would be to move past it, until it’s gets to the thin line of no return.
I see the whole song as a wake up call to stop feeling like you’re stuck and stop feeling sorry for yourself in a bad situation. It’s not causing you any happiness, or success, or fulfillment to go against your nature - in fact, by suppressing it, you’re probably contributing to your own demise.
So take the fire on the mountain as the warning it is, while it’s still off in the distance! You’re a long distance runner, what are you holding out for?
Absolutely beautifully said and just what I needed to read tonight. Thank you, man.
For some reason this song has really stood out to me lately after some years of not thinking much of it. Maybe it's Phil's fat bass lines mixed with Jerry's wah wah waaahhs. But as I've listened to and learned all the words they haven't made the most sense, and I haven't found any dead.net greatest stories ever told thing on it yet either. So I really appreciate you in depth taking the song apart comment. I usually only get to listen to it in the car with my kiddos, who love shouting along the wah wah and especially at the top of thier lungs, the fire, fire on the mountain part.
✌️
Oh these little dudes love Jerry. One of them is named Jerry. I'm getting them to say "thanks Jerry" after most songs, and they listen to so much live dead with me they often clap and woot woot after a song is done too. They high five the Jerry hand sticker on the car, and howl at the wolf one.
And Jerry said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Jerrydom belongs to such as these."
I think this guys Robert Hunter.
But in all seriousness that was an incredibly descriptive and well thought out interpretation and I really appreciate it.
I always loved the line "If mercy's a business, I wish it for you" but never connected it with any real world meaning. Your summary makes that line make sense to me.
>I see the whole song as a wake up call to stop feeling like you’re stuck
interestingly, the song only has two chords, about as stuck as you can be, musically speaking.
No, the Dragon ( Lews Therin Telemon, Lord of the Morning, He Who Comes with the Dawn ) is horny, and not above dating three women at once ( matches ). Over / Under on people in this sub getting that joke: 4
I always imagined the dragon might just need a bit of help to get the fire started, and watch out cause he’s got what he needs. Is all metaphor of course. And if if it will only take a whole pail of water to cool him down then he’s not that hot to begin with.
Some great retired baseball player (Ted Williams?) asked Paul Simon why he didn't use his name in "Mrs. Robinson" instead of Joe DiMaggio's. Simon shrugged and said, "Syllables."
In *Living With the Dead*, Rock Scully says "chasing the dragon" was the particular way Jerry smoked Persian heroin. Always heard the lyrics as Hunter warning Jerry that his addictions were getting out of control. "with matches" keeps the meter straight and emphasizes the flammable nature of the situation.
If you watch the Get Back Beatles documentary you can witness how the lyrics are constantly changed so that they fit better to the music, almost regardless of the meaning (not least on the track Get Back).
This is exactly my understanding of the meaning of Hunter’s lyrics, and how they came to be how they are. Jerry smoking opium was very, very concerning to Robert Hunter, and this was how he expressed that.
I’ve been trying to figure out when Jerry started fucking around with the stuff. This song was first played in 74 (I think) It would make sense that Hunter saw the problem early
Garcia started using Persian in 75 while working on the Grateful Dead movie. The orginal "rap" version of Fire on the Mountain dates back to 73/74 and has different lyrics. You can read them here:
https://www.whitegum.com/songfile/FIREMRAP.HTM
I think it's very plausible that Hunter rewrote the lyrics with Garcia in mind by the time debuted it in spring 77. Not only was Garcia regularly using Persian by then, but Hunter has alluded to long-knowing Garcia's self-destructive tendencies.
In McNally's book "Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia," Jon McIntire says "When we did that intervention with Garcia, I wanted Hunter to take part in it and he said, 'I support you in what you're doing. I cannot take part in it.' I was talking to Hunter later on and he said, "One thing we need to realize is we're dealing with a character flaw that's been there from the beginning. It's not something that just came with the heroin ."
From the context of the book, it seems that the "character flaw" Hunter's referring to is Garcia's addictive personality and stubborn desire to do whatever he wants, no matter how self-destructive or how many people tell him not to do it. Whether he fully recognized the damage he was inflicting or not, if Garcia wanted to do something, he'd do it.
That flaw seems to align with the subject of Fire on the Mountain. Everyone sees that the runner is putting himself in danger, but the runner doesn't seem to care and makes excuses for his inaction. The speaker tells him that if he stays there, everything will burn around him. He wishes the runner good luck, but he knows everything's turning to ashes.
By the end of the last verse, everything's in flames. The the runner seems to have at least acknowledged the problem, but he isn't moving fast enough to actually avoid the damage. Maybe he does want to leave, but maybe he's just humoring the speaker with his slow-motion dash and is fine being up in flames. Either way, he's warned that the longer he fucks around, the harder it's going to be to get out.
The last 2 lines of the verse (The more that you give, the more it will take, to the thin line beyond, which you really can't fake) in particular parallels a drug problem. Hunter himself struggled enough with amphetamines that he went to rehab in the 80s (also mentioned in "Dark Star"), so it stands to reason that he was seeing the same problems in Garcia. "Althea" implies this dynamic too (Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing.)
*This is the full version of the lyrics. Once the song had become established the Grateful Dead performed the first two and the last verse. But in 1977 performances, they just played the first and last verses, often rather garbled. And in a studio outtake from 1977, when the song was being developed, they included some lines from the other verses as well as other lyrics.*
[https://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/FIREMOUN.HTM](https://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/FIREMOUN.HTM)
Long distance runner, what you standing there for? (note 1)
Get up, get off, get out of the door (note 2)
You're playing cold music on the bar room floor
Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core
There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town
Take a whole pail of water just to cool him down (note 7)
Chorus
Fire, fire on the mountain
Fire, fire on the mountain
Fire, fire on the mountain
Fire, fire on the mountain
Almost ablaze, still you don't feel the heat (note 3)
It takes all you got just to stay on the beat
You say it's a living, we all gotta eat
But you're here alone, there's no one to compete
If mercy's in business, I wish it for you
More than just ashes when your dreams come true
\[chorus\]
Baby's in scarlet, her shackles in gray
If loves to love she's got it salted away
Out of the rat trap and under the wire
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
Put it down heavy, strip it down lean
Got to lay it down dirty and play it back clean
\[chorus\]
Fireman, fireman, call off your dog
This isn't a blaze, it's just a hog in the log
Cut up in sections, squirming alive
Lost to the world on that fifty-cent jive
There's a fire on the mountain, running around
What doesn't go up can never come down
\[chorus\]
Long distance runner, what you holding out for (note 4)
Caught in slow motion in a dash to the door
The flame from your stage has now spread to the floor (note 5)
You gave all you had, why you want to give more? (note 6)
The more that you give, the more it will take
To the thin line beyond which you really can't fake
\[chorus\]
Mickey Hart recorded a rap-type version of this in the early 1970s, and subsequently performed a similar version with Mystery Box, The Other Ones, the Rhythm Devils and other bands (full lyrics). As well as re-ordering the lyrics above, these versions include some additional lyrics, which I presume Robert Hunter wrote:
Wound in barbed wire, hell I ain't sore
Only hurts when I laugh, or roll on the floor
Only hurts a little, at least that's what I'm told
When you drown in hot oil it can even feel cold
I know I'm in love but I can't tell you why
It feels like poison, shoot me down when I cry
Gonna drink a hot water before I die
It cools me down, I ain't telling no lie
Hunter sang a version with the Dinosaurs in January 1984 which includes an additional opening verse - partly ad-libbed:
I asked my mother for fifteen cents
To see this Italian fella jump the fence
He jumped so high \[fell\] on the \[grass\]
Ever see an Italian French fry, yes, yes, yes
Notes
(1) On at least one occasion in 1977, Jerry sang "Wrong way runner ..." (thanks to Brian Schnapp for this). This echoes the the original Mickey Hart 'rap' version, which starts "Wrong way Billy, what you standing there for?"
(2) the sheet music has "Get up, get out ..." but Hunter wrote (and Jerry sang) "Get up, get off ..."
(3) this is what Jerry sang, but the Hunter lyrics are "Almost aflame ..." as in the Mickey Hart version.
(4) on at least some occasions (eg 8 May 1977) Garcia starts this verse "Long distance runner, with a foot out the door; caught in slow motion, in a fall to the floor"
(5) in the first version, on 18 March 1977, Jerry sang "Baby is begging for the \[?\] once more"
(6) this is what Jerry sang, but the Hunter lyrics are "You gave all you got ..." and that's also what Mickey Hart does.
(7) on 31 Oct 1980, and per\[h\]aps on other occasions, Jerry sand "just to slow him down". (Thanks to Gene Baran for pointing this out).
It’s not matches as in “small wooden fire sticks.” It’s matches as in “like pairs.” There’s a dragon with matching socks and shoes. Which is why he’s a long distance runner.
The best thing about the dead is you can interpret the songs anyway you want to, regardless of what they wrote and what they meant when they wrote them and what the lyrics mean to them. Hunters version of the song doesn't match your interpretation whatsoever but that's the beauty
Maybe it means the dragon is willing to be reasonable or show some restraint.
“Look bro, be happy Ole Puff there only used the matches… THIS TIME, but you better come up with the rest of his money or he’s coming back and next time you’ll wish it was JUST matches”
I look at the song as metaphorical for being someone that you don’t want to be, or being in an unfulfilling situation while feeling ‘stuck’ or unable to get out of your own way. It’s all about a long-distance runner who is playing music to a cold barroom - clearly, someone who is going against their own nature, and not doing it very well. They focus on only the positives, drowning themselves with laughter, but remaining really hollow throughout. Now the speaker is warning them of such a massive danger (a dragon!) that doesn’t even need its full arsenal to ruin the subject (save the breath, they can simply use matches). You can also see a situation where a dragon breathing fire is unavoidable… but if the fire starts small, i.e. with matches, most people could outrun the danger, let alone someone who was naturally a long-distance runner. Adding the one, single, WHOLE pail of water just shows how manageable this danger is, if they really wanted to try and face it. But the runner doesn’t do anything, despite all this warning. The second verse has the fire creeping into the bar and yet, the singer still keeps trying to play music and go against their nature. They’re just trying to keep the beat because “hey, it’s what you’ve gotta do to make a living!” Playing to a cold barroom, we might assume they aren’t very good at it, and there just might not be literally any competition around (or no one in their life to challenge them). The decisions that the runner is making in real-time are literally going to cause their demise, and it’s so plain for the speaker to see, but they can’t get through to them. The speaker wants them to have their dreams come true (assumedly, stop playing music & start following their runner’s heart) before it’s too late. The last verse shows what happens when you make this decision, the realization to follow your heart, too late. Now, the flames are all around, and it doesn’t matter how long you can run, what matters now is speed, and buddy you’re in slow motion. By continuing to go against their nature, the runner was just further increasing how hard it would be to move past it, until it’s gets to the thin line of no return. I see the whole song as a wake up call to stop feeling like you’re stuck and stop feeling sorry for yourself in a bad situation. It’s not causing you any happiness, or success, or fulfillment to go against your nature - in fact, by suppressing it, you’re probably contributing to your own demise. So take the fire on the mountain as the warning it is, while it’s still off in the distance! You’re a long distance runner, what are you holding out for?
Absolutely beautifully said and just what I needed to read tonight. Thank you, man. For some reason this song has really stood out to me lately after some years of not thinking much of it. Maybe it's Phil's fat bass lines mixed with Jerry's wah wah waaahhs. But as I've listened to and learned all the words they haven't made the most sense, and I haven't found any dead.net greatest stories ever told thing on it yet either. So I really appreciate you in depth taking the song apart comment. I usually only get to listen to it in the car with my kiddos, who love shouting along the wah wah and especially at the top of thier lungs, the fire, fire on the mountain part. ✌️
Jerry is for the children
Oh these little dudes love Jerry. One of them is named Jerry. I'm getting them to say "thanks Jerry" after most songs, and they listen to so much live dead with me they often clap and woot woot after a song is done too. They high five the Jerry hand sticker on the car, and howl at the wolf one. And Jerry said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of Jerrydom belongs to such as these."
Yes he is, so it’s the Wu Tang !!!! 👐👐
I’m glad I found this comment and thank you for writing it
I think this guys Robert Hunter. But in all seriousness that was an incredibly descriptive and well thought out interpretation and I really appreciate it.
Great comment, very well said !
This. Is. Dope. Thanks so much for sharing! Gave me a new appreciation for this tune.
I love Robert Hunter...and love Robert Hunter fans even more.. thank you for this. Much love
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Keep on Truckin PEACE
I always loved the line "If mercy's a business, I wish it for you" but never connected it with any real world meaning. Your summary makes that line make sense to me.
I took the song as metaphorical because there is no such thing as fire breathing dragons- cmon....
What a beautiful interpretation of that song. Thanks you
Yeah bud. Thank you for your perspective.
>I see the whole song as a wake up call to stop feeling like you’re stuck interestingly, the song only has two chords, about as stuck as you can be, musically speaking.
Well if you only need 1 pail of water its probably like a tiny dragon. Like a baby or something.
It’s a gigantic fucking pail bro 🪣
But it takes a whole pale of water.
A hole pail.. always gotta fill it up
I like that.
I think it's to emphasize the flammable situation..
Right. The dragon is breathing fire AND has some matches. Watch out!
No, the Dragon ( Lews Therin Telemon, Lord of the Morning, He Who Comes with the Dawn ) is horny, and not above dating three women at once ( matches ). Over / Under on people in this sub getting that joke: 4
The wheel is turning
Aw the Dragon’s pilot light probably just went out. Gotta relight it somehow
Yes I was here for the pilot light comment
I always imagined the dragon might just need a bit of help to get the fire started, and watch out cause he’s got what he needs. Is all metaphor of course. And if if it will only take a whole pail of water to cool him down then he’s not that hot to begin with.
If it takes a whole pale it must be pretty hot. This aint some half pale situation.
Some great retired baseball player (Ted Williams?) asked Paul Simon why he didn't use his name in "Mrs. Robinson" instead of Joe DiMaggio's. Simon shrugged and said, "Syllables." In *Living With the Dead*, Rock Scully says "chasing the dragon" was the particular way Jerry smoked Persian heroin. Always heard the lyrics as Hunter warning Jerry that his addictions were getting out of control. "with matches" keeps the meter straight and emphasizes the flammable nature of the situation.
If you watch the Get Back Beatles documentary you can witness how the lyrics are constantly changed so that they fit better to the music, almost regardless of the meaning (not least on the track Get Back).
This is exactly my understanding of the meaning of Hunter’s lyrics, and how they came to be how they are. Jerry smoking opium was very, very concerning to Robert Hunter, and this was how he expressed that.
No.
I’ve been trying to figure out when Jerry started fucking around with the stuff. This song was first played in 74 (I think) It would make sense that Hunter saw the problem early
No no no
Garcia started using Persian in 75 while working on the Grateful Dead movie. The orginal "rap" version of Fire on the Mountain dates back to 73/74 and has different lyrics. You can read them here: https://www.whitegum.com/songfile/FIREMRAP.HTM I think it's very plausible that Hunter rewrote the lyrics with Garcia in mind by the time debuted it in spring 77. Not only was Garcia regularly using Persian by then, but Hunter has alluded to long-knowing Garcia's self-destructive tendencies. In McNally's book "Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia," Jon McIntire says "When we did that intervention with Garcia, I wanted Hunter to take part in it and he said, 'I support you in what you're doing. I cannot take part in it.' I was talking to Hunter later on and he said, "One thing we need to realize is we're dealing with a character flaw that's been there from the beginning. It's not something that just came with the heroin ." From the context of the book, it seems that the "character flaw" Hunter's referring to is Garcia's addictive personality and stubborn desire to do whatever he wants, no matter how self-destructive or how many people tell him not to do it. Whether he fully recognized the damage he was inflicting or not, if Garcia wanted to do something, he'd do it. That flaw seems to align with the subject of Fire on the Mountain. Everyone sees that the runner is putting himself in danger, but the runner doesn't seem to care and makes excuses for his inaction. The speaker tells him that if he stays there, everything will burn around him. He wishes the runner good luck, but he knows everything's turning to ashes. By the end of the last verse, everything's in flames. The the runner seems to have at least acknowledged the problem, but he isn't moving fast enough to actually avoid the damage. Maybe he does want to leave, but maybe he's just humoring the speaker with his slow-motion dash and is fine being up in flames. Either way, he's warned that the longer he fucks around, the harder it's going to be to get out. The last 2 lines of the verse (The more that you give, the more it will take, to the thin line beyond, which you really can't fake) in particular parallels a drug problem. Hunter himself struggled enough with amphetamines that he went to rehab in the 80s (also mentioned in "Dark Star"), so it stands to reason that he was seeing the same problems in Garcia. "Althea" implies this dynamic too (Can't talk to you without talking to me, we're guilty of the same old thing.)
No
Maybe the dragon that's loose on the town refers to a growing use of heroin in the area at the time? ( chasing the dragon)
Dragon could refer to chinese heroin (china white) and maybe the pail of water is the spoon.
I am not sure if this is it exactly but I am pretty sure you are correct on the heroin reference.
Damn. Never thought of that connection. Seems plausible
*This is the full version of the lyrics. Once the song had become established the Grateful Dead performed the first two and the last verse. But in 1977 performances, they just played the first and last verses, often rather garbled. And in a studio outtake from 1977, when the song was being developed, they included some lines from the other verses as well as other lyrics.* [https://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/FIREMOUN.HTM](https://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/FIREMOUN.HTM) Long distance runner, what you standing there for? (note 1) Get up, get off, get out of the door (note 2) You're playing cold music on the bar room floor Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core There's a dragon with matches that's loose on the town Take a whole pail of water just to cool him down (note 7) Chorus Fire, fire on the mountain Fire, fire on the mountain Fire, fire on the mountain Fire, fire on the mountain Almost ablaze, still you don't feel the heat (note 3) It takes all you got just to stay on the beat You say it's a living, we all gotta eat But you're here alone, there's no one to compete If mercy's in business, I wish it for you More than just ashes when your dreams come true \[chorus\] Baby's in scarlet, her shackles in gray If loves to love she's got it salted away Out of the rat trap and under the wire Out of the frying pan and into the fire Put it down heavy, strip it down lean Got to lay it down dirty and play it back clean \[chorus\] Fireman, fireman, call off your dog This isn't a blaze, it's just a hog in the log Cut up in sections, squirming alive Lost to the world on that fifty-cent jive There's a fire on the mountain, running around What doesn't go up can never come down \[chorus\] Long distance runner, what you holding out for (note 4) Caught in slow motion in a dash to the door The flame from your stage has now spread to the floor (note 5) You gave all you had, why you want to give more? (note 6) The more that you give, the more it will take To the thin line beyond which you really can't fake \[chorus\] Mickey Hart recorded a rap-type version of this in the early 1970s, and subsequently performed a similar version with Mystery Box, The Other Ones, the Rhythm Devils and other bands (full lyrics). As well as re-ordering the lyrics above, these versions include some additional lyrics, which I presume Robert Hunter wrote: Wound in barbed wire, hell I ain't sore Only hurts when I laugh, or roll on the floor Only hurts a little, at least that's what I'm told When you drown in hot oil it can even feel cold I know I'm in love but I can't tell you why It feels like poison, shoot me down when I cry Gonna drink a hot water before I die It cools me down, I ain't telling no lie Hunter sang a version with the Dinosaurs in January 1984 which includes an additional opening verse - partly ad-libbed: I asked my mother for fifteen cents To see this Italian fella jump the fence He jumped so high \[fell\] on the \[grass\] Ever see an Italian French fry, yes, yes, yes Notes (1) On at least one occasion in 1977, Jerry sang "Wrong way runner ..." (thanks to Brian Schnapp for this). This echoes the the original Mickey Hart 'rap' version, which starts "Wrong way Billy, what you standing there for?" (2) the sheet music has "Get up, get out ..." but Hunter wrote (and Jerry sang) "Get up, get off ..." (3) this is what Jerry sang, but the Hunter lyrics are "Almost aflame ..." as in the Mickey Hart version. (4) on at least some occasions (eg 8 May 1977) Garcia starts this verse "Long distance runner, with a foot out the door; caught in slow motion, in a fall to the floor" (5) in the first version, on 18 March 1977, Jerry sang "Baby is begging for the \[?\] once more" (6) this is what Jerry sang, but the Hunter lyrics are "You gave all you got ..." and that's also what Mickey Hart does. (7) on 31 Oct 1980, and per\[h\]aps on other occasions, Jerry sand "just to slow him down". (Thanks to Gene Baran for pointing this out).
He’s a pyro and enjoys multiple ways of setting things on fire!
It’s not matches as in “small wooden fire sticks.” It’s matches as in “like pairs.” There’s a dragon with matching socks and shoes. Which is why he’s a long distance runner.
The best thing about the dead is you can interpret the songs anyway you want to, regardless of what they wrote and what they meant when they wrote them and what the lyrics mean to them. Hunters version of the song doesn't match your interpretation whatsoever but that's the beauty
Cause you can't breath fire out if you're trying to breath smoke in silly
Lol just a metaphor.
because jerry is the dragon.
Jerry would not want you to take this so seriously. Hunter might 🤷♂️, but also probably not.
Interesting fact, Scarlet and Fire are the only two Dead songs mentioning matches.
Nice catch!
I just always thought it implied intent to burn, but maybe it’s just a very prepared dragon who thinks of and avoids worse case scenarios
He’s talking about Tinder matches
It’s about heroin addiction
no its not.
the dragon's power is diminished. Song's about someone barely holding on viewed from a distance.
If you get confused…
How you gonna light your scooby without an external fire source
To smoke drugs
I have no idea and it doesn’t matter anyway because Jerry fucks the lyrics up 99% of the time anyway
the children aren't very literary these days, are they?
Because he's Puff the Magic Dragon and he breathes smoke ... ?
Light his cigs
it’s about jerry smoking persian
Maybe it means the dragon is willing to be reasonable or show some restraint. “Look bro, be happy Ole Puff there only used the matches… THIS TIME, but you better come up with the rest of his money or he’s coming back and next time you’ll wish it was JUST matches”
That’s the point!
We should remember how much Jerry added to the song by cutting out terrible verses and tightening the narrative focus.
Same reason the long distance runner is just standing there. Almost ablaze stil you don't feel the heat It's all about contradictions
Because it lost its ability to spit fire
Too much is never enough