Fire On The Mountain (Grateful Dead Song)

Fire On The Mountain (Grateful Dead Song)

"Fire on the Mountain" is a song by the Grateful Dead. It was written by lyricist Robert Hunter and composed by drummer Mickey Hart. It was commercially released on the album Shakedown Street in November 1978. An earlier instrumental version of this song titled "Happiness is Drumming" appeared in 1976 on Mickey Hart's album "Diga" with the "Diga Rhythm Band". The song should not be confused with the Marshall Tucker Band single of the same name.

Prior to the Dead recording, the song premiered at a concert on March 18, 1977 at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco. The song would often be paired with "Scarlet Begonias" during live performances, producing lengthy musical excursions. The paired songs were soon nicknamed "Scarlet Fire". One notable performance of the paired Scarlet Begonias / Fire On The Mountain, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY on May 8, 1977, lasted for a total of 25 minutes and 50 seconds.

"Fire on the Mountain" was performed in concert by the Grateful Dead 253 times between 1977 and 1995. It appears on numerous Grateful Dead albums. An outtake of the song appeared as a bonus track on the 2004 reissue of Terrapin Station.

This song is also featured as downloadable content for the video game Rock Band.

Read more about Fire On The Mountain (Grateful Dead Song):  Cover Versions

Famous quotes containing the words fire, mountain and/or dead:

    Love can no more continue without a constant motion than fire can; and when once you take hope and fear away, you take from it its very life and being.
    François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)

    The mountain sheep are sweeter,
    But the valley sheep are fatter;
    We therefore deemed it meeter
    To carry off the latter.
    Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866)

    All know that all the dead in the world about that place are stuck
    And that should mother seek her son she’d have but little luck
    Because the fires of Purgatory have ate their shapes away;
    I swear to God I questioned them and all they had to say
    Was fol de rol de rolly O.
    William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)