# What is the Bob Seger song Fire Lake about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419 "2011-10-12T13:59:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/21 "2012-12-07T17:46:19Z")
Minor nitpick with your astute synopsis \*\*Evil Captor \*\*, Arnold the Pig was on ‘Green Acres’, not ‘Petticoat Junction’. ---
**Author:** ![CRidder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@CRidder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRidder)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/22 "2013-11-12T20:52:47Z")
Why does everyone think this needs to be some metaphor for hell or homosexuality. Seger never wrote anything so complicated, and that’s the beauty of his songs. They are straightforward and honest. from [songfacts.com](http://songfacts.com) - For years, Seger never publicly commented on the actual place this song was written about. There were theories that it is symbolic of the biblical Lake of Fire, and it was noted there is an actual Fire Lake in Iron County, Michigan (the state where Seger grew up), as well. Seger eventually stated that it is about a lake in Michigan called Silver Lake. He told Toledo Free Press in March 2011: “It was written about Silver Lake in Dexter, about being in the Pinckney-Hell-Dexter area.” ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/23 "2013-11-12T22:24:08Z")
> [@CRidder](#): > > **Why does everyone think this needs to be some metaphor for hell** or homosexuality. Seger never wrote anything so complicated, and that’s the beauty of his songs. They are straightforward and honest… > > Seger eventually stated that it is about a lake in Michigan called Silver Lake. He told Toledo Free Press in March 2011: “It was written about Silver Lake in Dexter, about being in the Pinckney- **Hell** -Dexter area.” Ahem. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/24 "2013-11-13T19:27:38Z")
There’s a Fire Lake a few miles outside Anchorage, Alaska too. Not that I think he was singing about that one, but it’s what I always think of when I hear the song. It has a float plane airport on the far side, and the near side’s where the teenagers back in the day (1970s) used to go to swim, drink beers, and party on the beach… ---
**Author:** ![CRidder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@CRidder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRidder)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/25 "2013-11-14T11:49:51Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > Ahem. You are reaching so much. Are you really that superstitious? ---
**Author:** ![InTime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/50afbb/32.png) [@InTime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InTime)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/26 "2014-11-11T09:20:26Z")
Maybe more to it then you realize. 😉 Cake could be explained better, if you realize that. [Edgar Buchanan - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Buchanan) \<\ **Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/27 "2014-11-11T09:30:20Z") > [@RedBetty](#): > > > [@panamajack](#): > > > > Set in a future where “records” have video on them as well. Hence why he’s listening to them “by myself”. He doesn’t like the new stripper named Tango, either. > > > > Written from the perspective of a transvestite dancer who also turns tricks. What else could “ridin’ 16 hours” mean? > > > > A teenager who wants to be a stripper, but has been told her body’s not quite the right type learns from an older, more experienced woman. Not sure why they couldn’t find a better place to practice than the back seat of a car, though. > > > > Imagines another dystopic future where whores have no identity, just numbers. Despite being a full citizen, he feels his life is almost similar to theirs (“work my back 'til it’s wracked with pain”). Somewhat ironically he seeks comfort for himself by turning to a whore (‘number’ being slang for the nameless whores). > > > > 1. They’re sexbots. > > > > The Fire Inside? Stripper with chlamydia. > > Against the Wind? Stripper who mimes. > > Her Strut? Stripper who daylights as a civil engineer. > > :smack: Joking right? I see interpretation of pop song lyrics as being like a Rorschach test. It says a lot more about the interpreter than the lyricist. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/28 "2014-11-11T10:07:05Z")
A lake on fire? Who’s to say other than Bob Seger? Ask him. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/29 "2014-11-11T10:14:02Z")
Seger’s explanation. I didn’t know the Eagles provided backing vocals. > **[Fire Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Lake)** > > "Fire Lake" is a song written and recorded by the American musical artist Bob Seger. He had planned to record "Fire Lake" for his 1975 album Beautiful Loser, but the track was not finished. The song had been partly written years before, in 1971,\[citation needed\] and was finally finished in 1979 and released in 1980 on Seger's album Against the Wind. The single reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. A live version of the song appeared on the album Nine Tonight, released in 1981. > Seger and col... > [@](#): > > Seger and colleagues decided to make “Fire Lake” the first single from Against the Wind because it was “totally and unequivocally unlike anything I’d ever done before.” > > ``` > "The lyric is very ... different ... and very kind of unique. It's about taking risks. About risking love, chucking it all and just heading off with a bunch of wild people, whatever. > "It is one of my favorite lyrics down through the years, and the track is very unusual. It's sort of an R&B meets country kind of thing. > "I really wanted it to be the first single but I never thought Capitol would agree to it, and I believe it was Punch (Andrews, Seger's manager and often co-producer) who talked them into it. What I liked about it was that it broke new ground for us. It really showed that we were unafraid to push the envelope of what we were doing before, which was basically pretty hot rock and roll, you know, with a few ballads thrown in." > > ``` > [@](#): > > Three of the Eagles provided the backing vocals for this track: Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/30 "2014-11-11T13:19:56Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > When you guys finish with this song, can you explain Neil Young’s _PowderFinger_? And _Wipeout_. What’s the deal there? ---
**Author:** ![Zoezoloft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7feea3/32.png) [@Zoezoloft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoezoloft)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/31 "2025-10-03T23:54:14Z")
Fire Lake is basically a version of the afterlife that those of us who are pretty thoroughly certain we wont make the cut to get into heaven are on some level wistfully hopeful exists . Like, its hell, but its not actually all suffering and misery like the “man” has always threatened, but rather a place where the various outlaws and free spirits amongst us can all meet up in the afterlife and carry on throwing down. Afraid to cut the cake is a euphemism for being reluctant to grow up or move on into the next phase of life. Uncle Joe just never did manage to outgrow the wild, rebel hearted spirit of his youth. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/32 "2025-10-04T02:27:39Z")
Welcome, **Zoezoloft**! Plenty of opportunities to find meaning in obscure songs/movies here - thanks! . > [@kayaker](#): > > > [@phungi](#): > > > > When you guys finish with this song, can you explain Neil Young’s _PowderFinger_? > > And _Wipeout_. What’s the deal there? And _IS_ the bird really the word? (Hey, if we’re resurrecting this thread, I want to get some answers to make it worth it) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2025, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/33 "2025-10-04T04:13:10Z")
Who put the bomp? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2025, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419/34 "2025-10-04T21:25:08Z")
I always thought it was about my Uncle Joe and Aunt Sarah. They lived over 1,000 miles away and basically i only saw them on Thanksgiving. We always had pumpkin pie, so there was no need to cut a cake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-bob-seger-song-fire-lake-about/599419.md?page=1)