HOUSE ON FIRE is a song written by Bruce Springsteen and is known from a demo tape that he recorded in early 1993 (see section below for more details). One take of HOUSE ON FIRE is available on that tape, clocking at 0:45 only. The recorder is stopped and re-started once during this performance.
During an extended break in the World Tour 1992-1993 (Jan-Mar 1993), Springsteen recorded a collection of acoustic guitar demos at his home in Beverly Hills, CA. A private tape of 14 songs from these sessions (or possibly one session) exists, but is not circulating among collectors:
A comment heard on that tape regarding a well-documented news event indicates that most -- or very likely all -- of this audio was recorded on 25 Feb 1993. These recordings are similar in sound quality and recording style to Springsteen's 1979 and 1981 home demos cassette recordings. They are not professional studio recordings. Springsteen utilizes a cassette recorder that he manually stops and starts as needed.
None of these recordings exhibit a finished songwriting product. These are unfinished compositions, both musically and lyrically, and are in varying stages of completeness. However most of these songs show enough musical and lyrical development that it's probable that Springsteen finished them sometime during the 1993-1995 period and they exist as fully realized demo or studio recordings in his archive vault.
The above info about the 1993 home demo tape is taken from Brucebase.
If you have the lyrics to this song or any additional info about it or about the 1993 home demo tape, please contact me via the below form or by email: .
List of available versions of HOUSE ON FIRE on this website:
HOUSE ON FIRE