Bob Seger: Fire Lake Meaning
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Song Released: 1980
Fire Lake Lyrics
Who's gonna make that first mistake?
Who wants to wear those gypsy leathers
All the way to fire lake?
Who wants to break the news about Uncle Joe?
You remember Uncle Joe?
He was the one afraid to...
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1TOP RATED
#1 top rated interpretation:This wonderful Song by Bob Seger is about taking risk. First a chrome 3 wheeler is a motorcycle with three wheels used by old Bikers For Old vets as a means to show they still have it! The reference to who's going to make that first mistake is simple your first mistake on a motorcycle may very well be your last but still you take that risk. The term Gypsy leathers is a reference to a biker that is either not a member of a club or a member of a club who chooses not to be in a specific chapter of that club. Firelake is an actual place Google it. And no Uncle Joe he was the one afraid to cut the cake I believe that makes reference to a wedding cake Joe just didn't want to be obligated to poor Aunt Sarah. And now the bronze Beauties lying in the Sun makes reference to a blond headed woman hot and has a terrific body that's been kissed by the Sun. So let your imagination run with that one for a second. Okay the final verse who wants to play the eights and Aces well we all know that that's the dead man's hand. Some superstitious gamblers will actually fold that hand and not take the risk but again take the risk play those eights and Aces. Live everyday like it may be your last!
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2TOP RATED
#2 top rated interpretation:There really is a Fire Lake in the Uper Peninsula of Michigan, Bob Seger's home state... but the song isn't really about an actual place. It's about a dream- a dream that inspires people to abandon their inhibitions and their boring old lives in search of something more exciting.
One theory that makes sense to me is that "Fire Lake" is actually Michigan's Silver Lake, which used to be a mecca for motorbikers. In the Sixties, a kid from an ordinary middle class family in Michigan would see motorcycle gangs heading off the Silver Lake, and would hear rumors about wild parties and scantily clad biker chicks... and it sounded EXCITING. That kid probably dreamed of how cool it would be to get his own motorcycle and head out on the open road to a place where he could do ANYTHING he wanted, and where he could find gorgeous, sexually uninhibited biker mamas.
Even if a middle class kid KNEW he was never likely to do anything like that in real life, the dream was enticing.
Who is "Uncle Joe"? Probably a typical, ordinary middle-class married man who got bored with his life and left his family in pursuit of the freedom and excitement he's never had. For him, "running off to Fire Lake" just means having a midlife crisis, chucking all his responsibilities, and going off to have fun.
In this song, Bob Seger is saying, "Whoever you are, whatever age you are, don't settle for a boring existence. Go out and pursue your passions."
Fire Lake represents all the wild, crazy things you've always wanted to do but never dared to try. -
3TOP RATED
#3 top rated interpretation:I believe it's about a man who is middle class he wasn't faithful and in the end you pay the price the funny thing is my father's name was Joe and my mother's name was Sarah and my father died when I was 15 he committed suicide but he had gotten into really bad things and everytime I hear the song I think of them both.
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Eights and axes is the dead man's hand. It's what Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was murdered.
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Uncle joe was just that,his uncle joe.he wrote the song at uncle joe's wake. Sitting around the fire with uncle joe's friends,the lake which he'd visit with his uncle joe.the place he could get away from it all.
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I think maybe Lake Havasu or Lake Mead, watch the video. I'm sure he had something to say about it. Doesn't it show the Hover dam.
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Chrome three wheeler is the first mistake it doesn’t handle joe wouldn’t cut the coke just going for a wild week end eights and aces long shot gambles just go for it there is such a place google fire lake
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I, Like a few others, interpret this to be possibly a suicide note. Fire lake being Hell, Chrome three wheeler is a casket ridden funeral procession, Gypsy Leathers meaning there is no one to blame. Bronze Beauties meaning a Dream that will never come true. Eights and aces is a dead man’s hand. Long Shot Gamble is rolling the dice with the Reaper. Uncle Joe did not want to cut the cake that meant he was a year older.
May be dark but this is what I Hear! -
I thought uncle Joe was from petticoat junction. But who would want to leave those bronze beauties?I think there was a lot more going on in that water tower then people think!
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https://wcsx.com/episodes/seger-explains-meaning-behind-fire-lake/
Mystery solved! Bob Seger actually explains what he was thinking...though he doesn't go very deep in his thoughts. Also talks about how the Eagles wanted to cover his song. -
The mistake - is reference to a motorcycling error that results in fatality. The chrome three-wheeler - is a chromed casket-transport motorcycle that has a platform where a sidecar would be & it carries the casket-full of human remains. Gypsy leathers - references going on to eternity alone, not as part of a group. Eights & aces - refers to mortals dying. Fire Lake - is Hell, the abyss holding the Lake of Fire that was made only for Satan but will hold ALL who reject Jesus (Revelation 20:10-15) after they're moved-on from Hades to that final, inescapable destination (Revelation 20:13). Afraid to cut the cake - refers to fearing becoming married. Joe's _ to Fire Lake - means his eternal destination after the irreversible stay in Hades, is Hell, because he broke the vow with Aunt Sarah & went to the bronze-beauties (Proverbs 23:27-28).
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OMG. Jesus. U on Coke? The last man that interpreted this song is really out there. It can mean what you want it to mean. Everyone has a “Fire Lake.” That dude took it way too damn far. Ask Bob, please!!
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Fire Lake is from book of Revelation, the lake of fire. Oh lord am I really here at last?
It is about selling your soul to the devil.
For a raise, a stake, a long shot gamble.
Ride that chrome 3-wheeler,
Make that first mistake,
Wear the gypsy leather all the way to Fire Lake.
Dark enough? -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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first i've been to Fire Lake it is Silver lake.(i live in Mi.) the chrome 3 wheeler the first mistake. takes only one on a bike. Gypsy leathers are leathers not affiliated with a gang/club.or you're not identifying with,which used to be dangerous.this song it old remember.
OKAY Cut the cake it s term slang for sex, but it can also mean staying together the wedding cake they cut together means this..
Either way uncle Joe isnt staying with poor aunt sarah either because uncle Joe is gay,or uncle joe is running off to fire lake because hes done with his vows.
the bronzed beauties~ sirens to keep you there.
dead mans hand take the risk..
BOB'S TAKE on the sONG ~ eger and colleagues decided to make "Fire Lake" the first single from Against the Wind because it was "totally and unequivocally unlike anything I'd ever done before."
"The lyric is very ... different ... and very kind of unique. It's about taking risks. About risking love, chucking it all and just heading off with a bunch of wild people, whatever.
"It is one of my favorite lyrics down through the years, and the track is very unusual. It's sort of an R&B meets country kind of thing.
"I really wanted it to be the first single but I never thought Capitol would agree to it, and I believe it was Punch (Andrews, Seger's manager and often co-producer) who talked them into it. What I liked about it was that it broke new ground for us. It really showed that we were unafraid to push the envelope of what we were doing before, which was basically pretty hot rock and roll, you know, with a few ballads thrown in."
Quote:
Three of the Eagles provided the backing vocals for this track: Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit.
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Silver Lake used to be a party spot for hanging out. Likely, it still is.
At night the wind coming off the water could chill you to the bone even in the summer. There were barrels around, probably for trash, we'd gather around and burn driftwood in to stay warm.
But the reflection of the flames off the water made it look like the water was on fire.
Everyone called it Fire Lake from way before I was a kid longing to grow up and be cool.
Maybe I never quite made it to being cool, but the experience of being there WAS totally cool.
I believe Silver Lake really is the Fire Lake he wrote about.
Best guess on Uncle Joe being afraid to cut the cake is that Joe was a bit older than the crowd he hung with hence the nickname Uncle Joe. Afraid to cut the cake is a nice way of saying he'll never keep his promise of getting married to his old lady Sarah.
Joe will keep chasing the teenybopper chicks till he's so far over the hill he becomes a bad joke.
But the nature of real art is that a hundred people will see a hundred different things, and they will all be correct in their interpretations.
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