What does Burn mean?

Deep Purple: Burn Meaning

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Album cover for Burn album cover

Burn Lyrics

The sky is red, I dont understand,
Past midnight I still see the land.
People are sayin the woman is damned,
She makes you burn with a wave of her hand.
The citys a blaze, the towns on fire.
The womans flames are reaching higher.
We were...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    gargoland
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    Apr 18th 2010 !⃝

    The song is about the end of the world or the apocalypsis.
    the woman is the civilization or the empire that rules.
    it is based in prophesy, it says that, at the end, the civilization will collapse in huge war burning it all.
    All those who didn´t listen to the warnings, will not have time to repent and save themselves.

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Jan 18th 2012 !⃝

    I believe this song is about a third world war. The woman (or witch) is the symbol of war in this song. She is called "the devil's sperm," meaning that she originates from hell, and many would say war is the devil's creation. She burns everything, "the city's ablaze, the town's on fire," exactly the way a war destroys everything.

    The people did not think that war would ever reach their land: "Curse you all, you'll never learn, / The people laughed till she said 'burn!'" When the people were warned that war is coming, they did not believe it: "Warning came, no one cared." Even when the danger was evident they did not do anything: "Earth was shakin, we stood and stared."

    When the war was over everything was destroyed, no one was unaffected, and many people died: "When I leave theres no return" and "When it came no one was spared." The middle of the song is a kind of flash back from after the war, trying to explain why no one did anything: "You know we had no time,
    We could not even try."

    So, yes, in a way gargoland is right it is kind of like an apocalypse.

  3. IRONMAC
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    Nov 10th !⃝

    it is not that deep. it's about burning a witch. She warns them and curses them with a wave of her hand. still everyone wants her to burn.

  4. anonymous
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    Dec 21st 2021 !⃝

    I believe it's about Cassandra warning Trojans that the horse is full of Greek spies, and it should be burned. She tried to do it herself but wasn't allowed as wasn't believed, as she was cursed not to be believed. As the result Troy was destroyed.

  5. anonymous
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    Apr 30th 2019 !⃝

    Possibly a village centuries ago in the South Pacific on the edge of an Erupting volcano. Volcanos were looked upon as habitats of gods and eruptions usually meant that those gods were displeased. Plenty of warnig signs usually come with eruption and the magnitude of such an event would certainly invoke stories and accounts pertaining to much of what the lyrics pertain to.

  6. anonymous
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    May 6th 2017 !⃝

    Read the book "Stormbringer" by Michael Moorcock

  7. anonymous
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    Apr 30th 2017 !⃝

    I think it's about love. Supposing a man is in love with a woman but don't believe that she would leave him if he does not behave himself decently. But he does not believe the warning, and she leaves, and the whole world is ruined for the man, as if burning. Plus generalization: collective man feels the same way towards that one and only woman.
    I dismiss any satanic interpretaions, just in case.

  8. anonymous
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    Feb 27th 2017 !⃝

    I think the song is about the most evil demon in the world, possibly the daughter of the Devil, on Earth in the human form of the most gorgeous woman in the world! She's maneater! Now this may sound like a dark song, but still, it's an AWESOME song!

  9. anonymous
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    Apr 2nd 2016 !⃝

    The Song is about Our Lady of Fatima in 1917, appearing to the 3 children warning of war because too many people were offending God.

  10. anonymous
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    Nov 14th 2015 !⃝

    Well she did weigh as much as a duck.

  11. anonymous
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    Oct 12th 2015 !⃝

    Dark Phoenix?

  12. kooljohn176
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    Aug 13th 2015 !⃝

    This song by Deep Purple could be about the revelation in feeling the''bern'' of a woman that was burned herself in the past by the fools that never learned and believed she was a lying witch, which cursed them while she closed the path behind her all the way up to the sands of the present time in becoming revengeful herself when she got her hands and claws on real power to bring on a Doomsday end of times [god forbid] that we all will get burn in it one way or another.

  13. anonymous
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    May 30th 2014 !⃝

    Definitely a war concept and the woman in the story could symbolize nuclear war. The woman could also represent the Enola Gay that dropped an H bomb on Japan.

  14. Geoff
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    Oct 25th 2012 !⃝

    Very entertaining Gentlemen. I think Richie and the boys were just making it up as they went along. The riff is everything with this classic heavy rock tune so we shouldn't worry too much about the meaning. Enjoy!

  15. Geoff
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    Oct 25th 2012 !⃝

    Very entertaining Gentlemen. I think Richie and the boys were just making it up as they went along. The riff is everything with this classic heavy rock tune so we shouldn't worry too much about the meaning. Enjoy!

  16. anonymous
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    Jul 28th 2012 !⃝

    Millions of women were not "burned" during the inquisition. This is a complete fallacy.
    The comments placed here show such ignorance and stupidity that I almost can believe what I see. They have nothing to do with the middle ages.

  17. anonymous
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    Mar 25th 2012 !⃝

    I believe that this song is basicaly about the end of the world and the foolishness of mankind

    In the first verse the narrator has regreted mocking the woman. and because they called her a liar she burned they're town to the ground (making me believe that she is mother nature)

    In the second verse she is warning them that the end is coming but they instead mocked by calling her the devils sperm. And they all laughed at her until she said burn. Then the earth was shaking and everyone died(except the narrator)

    Then in the bridge the narrator talks about how they had no time and they could not even try to survive.

    Then the third verse is the first and second verse assembled. The sky turns bloody red. Although it is late at night the narrator can still see his town(because of the sky). And the people call the woman a witch and altough it's over the narrator is traumatized ( making me believe this could also be metaphorical apocalypse meaning war)

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