There is an answer, some day we will know,
And you will ask her, why she had to go,
We live and die, we laugh and we cry,
And you must take away the pain,
Before you can begin to live again;
So let it start, my friend, let it start,
Let the tears come rolling from your heart,
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;
There is a river rolling to the sea,
You will be with her for all eternity,
But we that remain need you here again,
So hold her in your memory,
And begin to make the shadows disappear;
Yes let it start, my friend, let it start,
Let the love come rolling from your heart,
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart;
And when you need a light in the lonely night,
Carry me like a fire in your heart,
Carry me like a fire in your heart.
"This was written for a friend of mine, Mark Cavanagh, who was the guy that gave me the job in the hamburger restaurant in Dublin during 1972; way back at the beginning. I've known Mark and his wife, Lynda, for years - they're lovely people. Mark is kind of a leading businessman here in Dublin, and he and Lynda moved house recently, to a beautiful place in the country, because Lynda loved riding horses. They've got a young family - an eight-year-old boy and two girls of four and 15 - and they all moved to the south. About three months later, Lynda went out riding with a companion, a 22-year-old girl, and they were both thrown off their horses into a river. And they were drowned. Lynda's body was found about four days later, and the other girl has never been found. It deeply upset a lot of people, and I went out to see Mark after they had just found Lynda. We walked round the garden, just he and I, and he was being a complete Colossus; he wasn't allowing the grief to break through. I went home and I wrote this song for Mark and Lynda in an afternoon. After the funeral, it was just extraordinary... there were about 300 people at their house, all friends, and the love in the place was just palpable. And Mark was amazing, he said 'God, Lynda would have loved this.' She was a real party-goer, and it was a terrific atmosphere. At the end of the night, there were about 20 close friends left, and I went to the piano and played the song. As you can imagine, the place was in tears.
The theme of the song is 'You must grieve for her, you must cry, you must let your grief come out - but you must also remember there are many here who want to help you. And when the day comes that you need help, carry me like a fire in your heart in the lonely night - call me. You know, the moment all the fuss and the bother is over, and you're still left with all your loneliness - call me.' It's a song to a friend. It's also an immediate thing; something I was moved to do because of something that happened around me. The last song I did like that was for the Enniskillen disaster - which is another song I was thinking about putting on the album. However, I swore at the time that I wasn't going to, although it's a terrific song. But I'd said 'No, I don't want to release it; it's a personal reaction.' I might play it at a concert once in a while, but I didn't put it on the album.
The Getaway Gazette, September 1988
Albums
"Carry Me (Like A Fire In Your Heart)" appears on the following albums:
