When a Fire Starts to Burn

Album: Settle (2013)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This features a sample of speaker and self-styled Hip-Hop preacher Eric Thomas rhythmically reciting the lyrics. However, Thomas wasn't Disclosure's first choice. "I got really annoyed because we wanted to get a rapper on the album and we couldn't," Disclosure's Howard Lawrence explained to Billboard magazine. "We wanted someone like Kendrick [Lamar] or A$AP [Rocky] and we got really close but schedules just didn't quite work out. So I Googled 'motivational speaker from Harlem.'

    "He was just chatting about business strategy for like, an hour," Howard continued. "I bought it on iTunes and sampled it – just rhythmically cut it up to make it sound like he was rapping. I basically made him rap on the album. We just put a beat to it and Guy mixed it up a little bit and that's the track."
  • Thomas' passionate message was also sampled for the intro to the album as it reflected the band's shifting identity. Howard Lawrence told NME: "The same sample of him talking about how change is inevitable and it kind of made sense with our project, how we started out in the whole club scene and then we've developed our sound and now we have vocalists, so it kind of made sense."
  • Guy Lawrence on the production of the song: "It's definitely an undoubtable jacking Chicago house track, pretty much. We used lots of retro sounds in it like 909 drum machines, which was very heavily used in Detroit techno and Chicago house and just a simple bass line. I think that's quite a distinct thing with our sound - we've gotten a lot simpler with time. When we started out, we were making quite complex, experimental grooves, and now it's more about the song and the hook, you know, because that sample is so like right in your face, it just didn't really need a lot underneath it going on. So we just kept it simple."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. Televangelists

Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk: Rock vs. TelevangelistsSong Writing

When televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart took on rockers like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica, the rockers retaliated. Bono could even be seen mocking the preachers.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Gentle Giant

Gentle GiantSongwriter Interviews

An interview with Ray and Derek Shulman of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant to discuss counterpoint, polyrhythms, and... Bon Jovi.

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors Examined

Deconstructing Doors Songs With The Author Of The Doors ExaminedSong Writing

Doors expert Jim Cherry, author of The Doors Examined, talks about some of their defining songs and exposes some Jim Morrison myths.

Album Cover Inspirations

Album Cover InspirationsSong Writing

Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.

Artis the Spoonman

Artis the SpoonmanSong Writing

Even before Soundgarden wrote a song about him, Artis was the most famous spoon player of all time. So why has he always been broke?