I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire

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"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" is a pop song written by Bennie Benjamin, Eddie Durham, Sol Marcus and Eddie Seiler.

It was written in 1938,[1] but was first recorded three years later by Harlan Leonard and His Rockets.[2] It was covered by several musicians and groups, most successfully by Horace Heidt on Columbia Records, whose version reached number one on the US pop chart; and by The Ink Spots on Decca,[3] whose version reached number 4 on the same listing. Other early versions included those by Tommy Tucker, Mitchell Ayres, and (in Britain) Vera Lynn. The song, with its lyrics starting with "I don't want to set the world on fire/ I just want to start a flame in your heart..." became especially popular after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.[4]

The song was later recorded by Betty Carter, Frankie Laine, Brian Hyland, Anthony Newley, Suzy Bogguss and others.[2] It has also become synonymous with the open-world adventure video game series Fallout. The song is briefly used in season 5 of ABC's Once Upon a Time.

In popular culture

The Ink Spots 1941[5] version is featured in the Bethesda Softworks video games Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76 on the in-game radio.[6]

Samples

This song was quietly sampled by thrash metal band Megadeth on their song Set the World Afire[7][8] on their 1988 studio album So Far, So Good... So What!.

This song was also sampled by Joji under the alias "Pink Guy", where the sampled song known as "Asian Pizza" is accompanied by Pink Guy rapping. The song was published on the TVFilthyFrank YouTube channel on August 5, 2017.[9]

References

  1. ^ Don Tyler (2007). Hit Songs, 1900-1955: American Popular Music of the Pre-Rock Era. McFarland. p. 257. ISBN 9780786429462. I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire
  2. ^ a b "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire", SecondhandSongs.com. Retrieved 4 April 2017
  3. ^ "Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #6". Digital.library.unt.edu. 1972.
  4. ^ "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire", ElectronicPoetryCenter. Retrieved 4 April 2017
  5. ^ Goldberg 1998, p. 283.
  6. ^ Chism, Carlos (10 November 2015). "The Full Diamond City Radio Playlist From Fallout 4". Gameranx.com. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Megadeth So Far So Good... So What". Metal Nerdery. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  8. ^ Christopher, Michael ChristopherMichael. "30 Years Ago: Megadeth Release 'So Far, So Good ... So What!'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2022-09-19.
  9. ^ "Asian Pizza". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
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