"This Fire" is a song by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

band

Franz Ferdinand Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria, (18 December 1863 – 28 June 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I. F ...

, the seventh track on their self-titled debut album. It was written by

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos Huntley (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and author. He is best known as the lead singer and guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the ...

and

Nick McCarthy Nicholas John McCarthy (born 13 December 1974 in Blackpool, England) is an English-German musician. His main focus is on songwriting and song production. He is also a guitarist, singer and keyboard player. McCarthy was the guitarist, backing/ ...

and produced by the band themselves at their studio in Scotland during 2003. A new version of the song, produced by

Rich Costey Rich may refer to: Common uses * Rich, an entity possessing wealth * Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling ** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting Places United States * Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated commun ...

, was released as a single on 4 October 2004, titled "This Fffire". The single artwork is based on

El Lissitzky Lazar Markovich Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Ла́зарь Ма́ркович Лиси́цкий, ; – 30 December 1941), better known as El Lissitzky (russian: link=no, Эль Лиси́цкий; yi, על ליסיצקי), was a Russian artist ...

's art work '' Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge''.

Song history

The song was later sampled for "Burn This City" by

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

and

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (formerly Tung Twista), is an American rapper and record producer. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the t ...

. "This Fire" was Franz Ferdinand's standard set closer until July 2009, when it was replaced with "

Lucid Dreams A lucid dream is a type of dream in which the dreamer becomes aware that they are dreaming while dreaming. During a lucid dream, the dreamer may gain some amount of control over the dream characters, narrative, or environment; however, this is n ...

". In 2022, the Rich Costey version of the song was selected as the intro song to the ''

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing video game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Set in Night City, an open world set in the ''Cyberpunk'' universe, players assume the role of a customisable mercenary know ...

'' tie-in anime from

Studio Trigger , also known as Studio Trigger, is a Japanese animation studio founded by former Gainax employees Hiroyuki Imaishi and Masahiko Ōtsuka in 2011. It has produced anime works including '' Kill la Kill'' (2013), ''Little Witch Academia'' (short fi ...

, '' Cyberpunk: Edgerunners''.

Release and reception

In the United States and the United Kingdom, the song was released as a radio and download single, respectively, reaching number 17 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart and number eight on the

UK Download Chart The UK Singles Downloads Chart is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the music industry. Since July 2015, the chart week runs from Friday to Thursday, with the chart date given as the following Thursday. The main chart con ...

. In Australia, the song was released as a

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

and reached number 62 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. In the same country, it was ranked number 29 on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2004.

Music video

The music video, directed by Stylewar, echoes the style of 1920s-era Soviet art and propaganda (

Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

etc.), including Cyrillic lettering, and shows the members of the band spreading a world-wide "hypnosis epidemic".

Track listings

All tracks were written by

and

except "Missing You", written by Kapranos. * Digital download # "This Fffire" (Rich Costey re-record) – 3:38 # "This Fire" (Playgroup remix) – 8:13 * European enhanced CD single # "This Fffire" # "This Fire" (Playgroup remix) # "This Fffire" (video) * Australian CD single # "This Fffire" (Rich Costey re-record) # "Love and Destroy" # "Missing You"

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2004 singles Franz Ferdinand (band) songs Songs written by Alex Kapranos Songs written by Nick McCarthy 2004 songs Domino Recording Company singles