# Help me identify a song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571 "2002-05-17T15:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/1 "2002-05-17T15:47:19Z")
I’m going crazy trying to identify a half-remembered song, probably ~5 years old, sung in the first person by an arsonist who likes to set fires and watch the building burn. It’s in the alternative rock genre and is generally a pretty dark song. Internet searches have turned up zilch, mostly because I can’t actually remember a single lyric. For the love of my sanity, please help. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/2 "2002-05-17T16:34:43Z")
I can’t recall the artist or title but if it’s the song I’m thinking of part of the chorus is something like “the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire / we don’t need no water let the mother \*\*\*\*er burn / burn mother \*\*\*\*er bur.” Maybe that’ll help you search. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/3 "2002-05-17T16:45:50Z")
BLOODHOUND GANG “Fire Water Burn” ---
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/4 "2002-05-17T17:32:08Z")
Thanks, but no dice. That’s _definitely_ not the song I’m thinking of… Keep those guesses coming! ---
**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/5 "2002-05-17T17:55:33Z")
My guess is **MC 900 Foot Jesus**. Very minimal instrumentation, about an arsonist…this was, is, a great album that more people should have heard. The album is called “Welcome to my Dream”. It’s more than five years old, though, more like eleven. More than likely this isn’t it, but it’s worth a shot! Here’s a link to the lyrics: [http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/lyrics/m/mc-900-foot-jesus/](http://www.letssingit.com/?http://www.letssingit.com/lyrics/m/mc-900-foot-jesus/) ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/6 "2002-05-17T18:09:23Z")
Yeah, someting about watching it from the parking garage? Rings a bell. Sort of had a “Butthole Surfers” Pepper sound to it. ---
**Author:** ![Spritle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Spritle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spritle)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/7 "2002-05-17T18:11:34Z")
Yeah! That’s the song I was thinking of. (I remembered it as soon as I saw Ich Bin’s post. The wierd time stamp and order is a bit perplexing, though. ---
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/8 "2002-05-17T19:14:58Z")
Ahhhhh, the teeming handful have ganged up to produce the song that’s been driving me crazy and even stumped two local radio station deejays. MC 900 Foot Jesus’ “While The City Sleeps” is definitely the song – I just downloaded it to make sure. It’s weird: I’ve never heard of the group (as far as I know), and it’s not the kind of music I usually listen to. I simply have no idea how I got fixated on this song. It’s strange, too, the way memory works. I thought I remembered something about the arsonist working in the rain, but didn’t want to mention it for fear of throwing someone off the track with my uncertain recollection. Thanks again, IB! ---
**Author:** ![Ich\_Bin\_s](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Ich\_Bin\_s](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ich_Bin_s)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/9 "2002-05-17T22:15:21Z")
All right! 103 posts and my first, honest-to-gosh 100% correct answer! Glad this tiny morsel of knowledge was able to help. I have to admit, though, not patting myself on the back too hard, but this was a fairly obscure question, and it’s ironic that you got an answer in two hours. Now I know why I can’t remember birthdays. I’m going off to gloat now! ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-identify-a-song/109571/10 "2002-05-18T01:03:13Z")
Hmmm…mod rock? I’ve heard some MC 900 Foot Jesus and he always seemed more like a DJ with some very slight hip-hop tendencies in an early 90’s sorta way. Colin