Fire in My Heart
Encyclopedia
"Fire in My Heart" is the tenth single by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...

. It was the second single to be taken from the group's 1999 album Guerrilla
Guerrilla (album)
Guerrilla is the third studio album by by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Album Charts. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular...

, and reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 after its release on 9 August 1999. The track, originally titled "Heartburn", has been described by the band's singer Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...

 as a country and western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song with lyrics that offer "soul advice".

Critical reaction to "Fire in My Heart" was generally positive with the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

stating that it confirmed the band's position as the best British singles band in "ages and ages" and placing the track at number 25 in their singles of the year chart
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...

 for 1999. The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was directed by Jake & Jim and shows Super Furry Animals waiting to leave the planet Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

, having played a concert there.

Themes and recording

"Fire in My Heart" was originally called "Heartburn", a name which the group's singer Gruff Rhys felt was more poignant and gave the song "a twist", but other members of the band were not happy with the title so the name was changed. Rhys has described the track as a country and western
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 song which was written with absolute sincerity despite featuring clichéd lyrics. The song is "soul advice" and is about "all kinds of people in your life". The track was recorded in the middle of 1998 at Real World Studios
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...

, Box, Wiltshire
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....

, along with the rest of Guerrilla
Guerrilla (album)
Guerrilla is the third studio album by by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Album Charts. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular...

, and was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 by the Super Furry Animals. B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 "The Matter of Time" was considered for inclusion on Guerrilla, but the band felt the album would be too self-indulgent if the song were added to the record's track listing. The group instead opted to include the "stupid" song "The Teacher", a decision which Rhys has called a decisive moment in the creation of the record.

Composition

"Fire in My Heart" is 2 minutes and 45 seconds long and is in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...

 of E major
E major
E major is a major scale based on E, with the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps .Its relative minor is C-sharp minor, and its parallel minor is E minor....

. The song begins with Gruff Rhys singing the first verse backed only by finger picked
Fingerstyle guitar
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking ....

 acoustic guitar. Rhys's vocals are joined by sparse drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

, a synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

, organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 and harmony backing vocals
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...

 in the second verse which immediately follows the first at 31 seconds. The drums become louder during the third and final verse which leads into a bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...

 that begins after 1 minute and 31 seconds. During the bridge Rhys sings the lines "Oh the monkey puzzle tree has some questions for the watchdogs of the profane, and I ask, is it sad that I'm driving myself mad as this fire in my heart turns blue". A key change
Modulation (music)
In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...

 to F♯ major follows for the final verse, with Rhys repeating the line "I've got a fire in my heart for you" backed by multiple harmony vocals. The song ends with a coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...

 during which Rhys elongates the word "you" over the chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 A minor, A, G minor and F.

Release and critical reception

"Fire in My Heart" was released on CD, cassette
Cassette single
A cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette.- History :...

 and 7"
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 on 9 August 1999, and reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. The track was included on the band's 'greatest hits' compilation album Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 collects all of the Super Furry Animals singles released between 1996 and 2004 as well as B-side "Blerwytirhwng?" . Songbook... was released in the UK in October 2004, debuting at #18 on the UK album charts...

, issued in 2004.

The Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

called the track a "lovely song, a real scarf-waver", although the magazine expressed disappointment that "Fire in My Heart" did not see the band "howling at the moon in their more deep-throated manner". American model Caprice
Caprice Bourret
Caprice Bourret is an American supermodel, actress, television personality and businesswoman. She currently resides in the United Kingdom where she runs her company By Caprice Lingerie Ltd.- Early life :...

–in the role of guest reviewer for the Melody Maker–likened the song to the music of Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...

 and Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones
Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

 and said that the track is "just about the words" and is an example of the sort of music that "never goes out of fashion". The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

described the song as a "bizarre psychedelic-folk-gospel record" and said that it confirmed the band's position as the best British singles band "in ages and ages". The magazine later placed the track at number 35 in their singles of the year
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...

 chart for 1999. Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...

 called the track a heartbreaking song of "staggering genius". Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

described "Fire in My Heart" as "trad-sounding" four chord folk, while Pitchfork
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

 stated that the track was a song of "country endearments". The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 called "Fire in My Heart" an "idiosyncratic love song". The song was placed at number 17 in the 1999 Festive Fifty
Festive Fifty
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...

 on John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

's BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

 show.

Accolades

Publication Country Accoladej Year Rank
John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

 show, BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

John Peel's Festive 50
Festive Fifty
The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show...

1999 17
NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

Singles of 1999
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...

1999 35

Music video

A promotional music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was produced to accompany the release of "Fire in My Heart" as a single. The video was directed by Jake & Jim, who also directed the video for the group's subsequent single "Do or Die
Do or Die (song)
"Do or Die" is the eleventh single by Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be taken from the Guerrilla album and was the band's last release for Creation Records. The track reached number 20 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 17 January 2000...

", and shows the Super Furry Animals waiting to leave Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 having played a concert on the planet. The video begins with Gruff Rhys standing alone on the Martian soil, singing along to the song. A silver, computer generated, spaceship is seen landing behind Rhys. Around one minute into the track the camera pans
Panning (camera)
In photography, panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or video camera, or the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device...

 back to reveal the rest of the Super Furry Animals sitting down to the left of Rhys. Guitarist Huw Bunford is sat on the floor playing an acoustic guitar while the rest of the group are sat on three metal seats which are connected together. Two aliens are seen walking from the spacecraft towards the band while drummer Dafydd Ieuan pours some of the Martian sand through his hands. When the aliens arrive, one of them, with a bald head, sunglasses and pointy ears, places his left hand on Rhys's right shoulder. Rhys turns around and looks at the other alien who has one eye in the centre of a large round face and is wearing a blue hoodie
Hoodie
A hoodie is a sweatshirt with a hood. The characteristic design includes large frontal pockets, a hood, and a drawstring to adjust the hood opening. They are sometimes worn with sweatpants. Some hoodies have zippers on them to allow easy removal much like a jacket...

. The alien smiles at Rhys who then turns around and looks up to see the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 in the sky above. Ieuan and keyboardist Cian Ciaran are also shown looking at the Earth before the camera moves behind them to reveal hundreds of aliens stood in front of several minaret
Minaret
A minaret مناره , sometimes مئذنه) is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic mosques, generally a tall spire with an onion-shaped or conical crown, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The basic form of a minaret includes a base, shaft, and gallery....

-like towers, waving at the group. The band are shown picking up a suitcase and guitar before walking towards the spaceship as the song finishes. The aliens were designed by regular Super Furry Animals collaborator Pete Fowler
Pete Fowler
Pete Fowler is a Welsh artist best known for his artwork for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals. He is a freelance illustrator and "monster creator" inspired by Japanese art, folklore, myths, psychedelia and super nature...

, who acted as "creative advisor" for the video. According to Rhys the aliens were animated by the same special effect
Special effect
The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....

s team that worked on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...

. Rhys has stated that he considers his performance in the video to be "wooden" as he was forced to take painkillers
Analgesic
An analgesic is any member of the group of drugs used to relieve pain . The word analgesic derives from Greek an- and algos ....

 during the shoot due to a "stiff neck".

Tracklisting

All songs by Super Furry Animals.
  • CD (CRESCD323), MC
    Cassette single
    A cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette.- History :...

     (CRECS323), 7"
    Gramophone record
    A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

     (CRE323)

  1. "Fire in My Heart" – 2:45
  2. "The Matter of Time" – 5:47
  3. "Mrs Spector" – 3:01

Personnel

The following people contributed to "Fire in my Heart":
  • Gruff Rhys
    Gruff Rhys
    Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...

     – vocals
  • Huw Bunford
    Huw Bunford
    Huw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...

     – guitar
    Guitar
    The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

  • Guto Pryce
    Guto Pryce
    Guto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....

     – bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Cian Ciaran
    Cian Ciaran
    Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...

     – keyboards
  • Dafydd Ieuan
    Dafydd Ieuan
    Dafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....

     – drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....


Singles chart positions

Chart Peak
position
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

25
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