Fires Are Burning
Dark clouds are building, fires are burning
Lightning is flashing, world may stop turning
Voices are calling, far in the distance.
Straining to hear them, but makes no difference.
Chorus:
I hope you’ll meet me down by the riverside
By the tall cottonwood trees
I will be waiting just for a little while
Come run away with me.
No way to stop this, that chance is over.
Face it together, now it’s much closer.
Maybe we’ll wake up, maybe we’re dreaming.
We were so naïve, and unbelieving
Bridge:
I dream of mountains, a sandy seashore
Children around us, an opening door
The curtain’s lifting, the clouds are clearing
The smile you give me that’s so endearing.
I dream of you…….I always dream of you.
If this is over, where do we turn to?
So much has happened that we can’t undo.
No one would listen, we were complacent
First came the stealing, then comes the payment.
In the summer of 2025 there were many fires in Southwest Colorado and there was a very serious danger due to drought. That influenced the start of the lyrics for this song, but it morphed into a song that is perhaps about an Armageddon-type situation. I’m not really sure. Leslie and Fred thought my chorus needed to have the word “tall” in it (“By the tall cottonwood trees”) because my original version didn’t have that word. They thought my cadence didn’t work, so I changed it. The song drones in D, which makes it feel dark. I love the bridge in this one especially. The bridge is a dream that the singer has, where things are peaceful and safe. I especially like the line, “I dream of you, I always dream of you.” That’s about Leslie, of course.
