Build A Fire

Album: It's About Time (2020)
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Songfacts®:

  • "Build a Fire" is about Patty Smyth's 25-year relationship with tennis legend John McEnroe. She told Spin that their relationship was still strong. "The deeper you go with somebody the deeper your fire can get."
  • Before this song (and the rest of It's About Time), Smyth, who fronted the band Scandal, hadn't released a solo album since before getting together with McEnroe. It had been 28 years.

    Her last solo release was in 1992, with Patty Smyth, which featured her hit duet with Don Henley, "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough."
  • Smyth told American Songwriter that "Build a Fire" was "an older song." It had started with a different title, and she wrote it with two Nashville songwriters, but didn't specify who they were.

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