"Ana's Song (Open Fire)" is a song by the Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Silverchair Silverchair was an Australian Rock music, rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, Ben Gillies on drums, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got thei ...

. It was released in May 1999 as the second single from their third album, ''

Neon Ballroom ''Neon Ballroom'' is the third studio album by Australian alternative rock band Silverchair, released in March 1999 by record labels Murmur and Epic. The songs " Anthem for the Year 2000", " Ana's Song (Open Fire)" and " Miss You Love" were r ...

''. The song is about lead vocalist

Daniel Johns Daniel Paul Johns (born 22 April 1979) is an Australian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the Lead vocalist, frontman, guitarist, and main songwriter of the Rock music, rock band Silverchair. Johns is also one half of The Dissociat ...

' struggle with

anorexia nervosa Anorexia nervosa (AN), often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by Calorie restriction, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. Individuals wit ...

. "Ana's Song" peaked at 14 on Australia's

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 ...

, at No. 12 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 advertis ...

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

chart, and at No. 28 on the ''Billboard''

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart. At the

ARIA Music Awards of 1999 The 13th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) was held on 12 October 1999 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Hosted by Paul McDermott and Bob Downe, and prese ...

, it was nominated for two awards. The track also earned Silverchair a Comet Award in Germany.

Background

"Ana's Song (Open Fire)" was written by the group's lead singer,

. In 1999, Johns announced that he had developed the eating disorder

due to anxiety and depression. Johns noted that the lyrics to "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" dealt with his disorder, where he would "eat what he needed ... to stay awake". Ana is the nickname given to anorexia nervosa by people affected by it. He revealed that his eating problems developed from the time of ''

Freak Show A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "Freak, freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual Human#Anatomy and physiology, humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, t ...

'' (May 1996) and when ''Neon Ballroom'' was written he "hated music, really everything about it", but felt that he "couldn't stop doing it; I felt like a slave to it." Johns sought therapy and medication but felt "It's easier for me to express it through music and lyrics". Johns eventually overcame the disorder, realising that he would never be cured of the disease but could live a fulfilled life by learning to cope with it.

Reception

"Ana's Song (Open Fire)" peaked at No. 12 on ''

''s

. On the

it reached No. 14. According to ''

100 Best Australian Albums ''The 100 Best Australian Albums'' (a.k.a. ''One Hundred Best Australian Albums'') is a compendium of rock and pop albums of the past 50 years as compiled by music journalists Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell. The book was ...

'', by three Australian journalists, John O'Donnell,

Toby Creswell Toby Creswell (born 21 May 1955) is an Australian music journalist and pop-culture writer. He was editor of ''Rolling Stone'' (Australia) and a founding editor of ''Juice''. In 1986, he co-wrote, his first book, ''Too Much Ain't Enough'' a bio ...

and

Craig Mathieson Craig Mathieson (born 1971) is an Australian music journalist and writer. His books include, ''Hi Fi Days'' (1996), '' The Sell-In'' in (2000) and the '' 100 Best Australian Albums'' in 2010, with Toby Creswell and John O'Donnell Biography ...

, "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" directly focused on Johns' eating disorder, " tbecame a hit all over the world and opened up for discussion the fact that males could also be affected by anorexia".

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic Jason Anderson thought that "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" was one of the three highlights from ''Neon Ballroom''.

Music video

The music video was directed by Cate Anderson, who also made the band's video for the song " Emotion Sickness". Australian actress

Sarah Aubrey Sarah Aubrey is a British-born Australian actress. She has had guest roles in episodes of ''Pieces of Her (TV series), Pieces of Her'', ''The Secret Life of Us'', ''All Saints (TV series), All Saints'', ''Water Rats (TV series), Water Rats'' and ...

played the girl at the sink washing her hands, while having a distorted image of their cleanliness through the mirror. The video was nominated for an

ARIA Award The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...

for Best Video in 1999.

Track listings

Australian CD single (MATTCD086) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "Trash" # " Anthem for the Year 2000" (

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" (acoustic) Australian limited 7-inch vinyl (MATTV086) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "Anthem for the Year 2000" (a cappella) European CD single (6671072) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "Anthem for the Year 2000" (a cappella) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" (acoustic) European CD single (with different cover) (6673455) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" (acoustic) # "Trash" UK deleted CD single (6673452) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "The Millennium Bug" ( The Paul Mac remix) # "London's Burning" UK limited 7-inch picture disc (667345 7) # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" # "Ana's Song (Open Fire)" (acoustic)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1998 songs 1999 singles Columbia Records singles Epic Records singles Murmur (record label) singles Silverchair songs Song recordings produced by Nick Launay Songs about diseases and disorders Songs about eating disorders Songs written by Ben Gillies Songs written by Daniel Johns