Bonfires

Album: Balm In Gilead (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • Rickie Lee Jones wrote this song about Lee Cantelon, who she called her "Christian boyfriend." They had a long-term relationship that ended a few years before the release of Balm in Gilead. It's a very personal song for Jones, who makes it clear that she suffered in the breakup:

    You hurt me bad this time
    You nearly tore me from my mind


    Introducing this song at a concert, Jones said: "I got my heart broken recently. I wrote this song and it saved me."
  • When Jones sings that she will "Light the bonfires of hell," that's a reference to the religious differences between her and Lee Cantelon; he was a committed Christian, she was raised Catholic but struggled with religion.

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