The first five tracks on the record were full of exclamation marks. “I Own The Fire” has just one — in the last line of the final chorus. The last two tracks have none at all.
The way of speaking changes: from shouts to sentences that sound like certainty.
The Weight of Words
The first line: “I carried the weight of every word they said.” Right after it comes one of those words, “you’re not enough,” still ringing in the head.
“I swallowed the shame, I digested the doubt.”
And a line that ties this track to “No More Silence”: “I was drowning in silence, choking on fear.”
Scars Like Armor
“Every scar on my body tells a story of war / I don’t hide them no more — I wear them like armor.”
In “King Of My Chaos” the scars hung on the wall as trophies. Here they are worn on the body, and they protect.
The pre-chorus: “I was born in the flames… I learned how to burn… / Now the fire is mine…”
The Phoenix
The second verse starts from the darkest place: “I remember the nights when I wanted to quit.”
And then: “But something inside me refused to stay dead / It screamed through the ruins and lifted its head.”
The end of the verse: “I’m the phoenix, the monster, the king of these lands.” The phoenix appears on the record only here. The monster was already in “Wake Up The Beast,” the king in “King Of My Chaos.”
A Drawn-Out Fire
The chorus: “I own the fiiiiiiire… burning in my veins…” The word “fire” is written with seven “i”s, drawn out the way it is sung.
The title in its ordinary spelling, “I own the fire,” appears in the lyric only once — in the outro, as the last words of the track.
The bridge ends with the line “This is my legacy… this is my name…” It is the first time the word “legacy” appears on the record. Two tracks later it becomes a title.
You can hear the track on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.
In the next post I will write about “Fire In My Veins” — a sister track, about a spark that survived the freeze.
Thank you for being here.
Adam Smentoch Creator of the Dust Anthem project
