We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Set Myself on Fire

by Beau James Wilding

/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 4 Beau James Wilding releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of seeing i god, Set Myself on Fire, The Amor Fati of Crazy Cloud, and Violet of the Pacific. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $16.80 USD or more (30% OFF)

     

about

This is the first single from my upcoming album, due for release in April 2023. I was inspired to write “Set Myself on Fire” after watching a documentary about an activist who died on hunger strike. The documentary discussed activism in the 20th century and referenced the nuns who immolated themselves to protest the Vietnam War. Tears of awe, sadness, connection and inspiration flowed down my cheeks as I watched. The imagery stayed with me and would not let me go until I created a piece to process my feelings. The lyrics are an exploration, an inquiry into what it means to die or to live fully for something. What does it mean to give everything I have? Does it mean living or dying for a cause? Working obsessively for a cause? Languishing in enjoyment of the “finer things”? What does it mean to make the most of our one precious life? How can I maintain a practice of asking myself this question in every moment? The lyrics play with pairs of opposites and the dichotomy of balance. How can I make a difference if I die for a cause? How can I work effectively without rest? How can we take life seriously without somehow simultaneously taking aspects of it lightly? The song fuses elements of Irish Traditional Music (bodhran and Irish Bouzouki) with dirty electric guitars, energetic pacing and Satchmo meets Henry Rollins style vocals. Heavily influenced by classic blues, Irish Traditional Music and 80s hardcore punk, the sound is one that intentionally plays with the aforementioned pairs of opposites, juxtaposing a shimmering Irish Bouzouki alongside an aggressive vocal style and droning electric guitar alongside a galloping bodhran rhythm. Thank you for considering my song. May you be well and happy.

lyrics

Set Myself on Fire


whenever silence hits
I just can’t seem to stop thinking
I guess its’ true what they say
I’m just the millionth star-light blinking
But if comets find their way
And if the frozen streets in hell stop stinking
It’s then I’ll close my eyes
And let illumined mind start sinking

I’m going to set myself on fire
burn burn like the sun in desire
stand tall through the muck and the mire
until I’m done

It’s a promise and a boast,
A reminder and an oath
To keep the lamps trimmed and burning
And keep the hope
It’s a letter to a friend
An epithet to the end
In defiance of nothing
But to bend

I’m going to set myself on fire
burn burn like the sun in desire
stand tall through the muck and the mire
until I’m done

Discipline is only valuable when you break it
Spontaneity is only riotous when you tame it
It’s the Birth of the fool
The Evaporation of the cool
The one who reclines in peace
behind all your pleadings

I’m going to set myself on fire
burn burn like the sun in desire
stand tall through the muck and the mire
until I’m done

credits

released January 13, 2023
Written and performed by Beau James Wilding.

license

tags

about

Beau James Wilding image

Beau James Wilding Carpinteria, California

Gritty and poetic folk-punk-blues-rock. Organic earnestness with a brazen rasp. “Brilliantly eccentric songcraft” –Aldora Britain Records

contact / help

Contact Beau James Wilding

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Beau James Wilding, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now