Why is this line in so many songs?

Where does it come from?

Who was the first to use it and what was the meaning?


Sorting out my CD’s i’ve found it in a Rancid song, what’s it all about?

Please someone help

A quick google reveals that the term may have originated in the deep south of the good ol' US of A referring to offers to put out fires involving either negro homes or klan crosses. Not a phrase to use in polite society, I'd say.

Interesting.

Rancid are very anti racism and i've heard the line in a lot of funk/soul songs.


The plot thickens.

Thanks for the help

I've been to clubs in the south and heard this chanted, thought it was very strange at first as everyone was shouting it and i had never heard it before. When the DJ shouted that the roof was on fire, i was about to leg it to the exit! :D

There are a few songs with similar lyrics, but I think the one you mean is by The Bloodhound Gang.

The US troops have an amusing habit of singing it as they bomb the s**t of out of Baghdad. The chorus goes:

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the mother f****r burn
Burn mother f****r burn

I don't think it's from any one particular song, i believe it has been put in songs because it is something people do in clubs, the DJ shout 'the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire' and the crowd reply with the rest of it. Odd, would be interesting to find out where and when it first started.

Originally posted by mojoworking
There are a few songs with similar lyrics, but I think the one you mean is by The Bloodhound Gang.

The US troops have an amusing habit of singing it as they bomb the s**t of out of Baghdad. The chorus goes:

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
We don't need no water let the mother f****r burn
Burn mother f****r burn

I remember this from the Michael Moore film, it was a specific song that soldier put no the sound system. in their tanks. I can’t remember who it was by however.

I have remembered that both Coal Chamber and Slipknot do a song with these lyrics in however.

Originally posted by Disco_Cat
I remember this from the Michael Moore film, it was a specific song that soldier put no the sound system. in their tanks. I can’t remember who it was by however.

I have remembered that both Coal Chamber and Slipknot do a song with these lyrics in however.

As I said above, it's by the Bloodhound Gang. That's the version used in the Michael Moore film and the version that's played most often. It's quite a slow version and the singer sounds totally bored - ring any bells?

Here's a part of a review of Fahrenheit 9/11:

"Another (soldier) tells Moore that going into combat is “the ultimate rush”. One soldier recounts how he and his comrades listened to the Bloodhound Gang's “The Roof is on Fire” while they took part in the assault on Baghdad. Grinning, he sings to the camera: “The roof is on fire/We don't need no water/Let the motherf****r burn/Burn motherf****r, burn”."

Originally posted by Disco_Cat
I have remembered that both Coal Chamber and Slipknot do a song with these lyrics in however.
The song 'Roof On Fire' was originally Coal Chambers. :)

Chris.

yes but the song is not called roof on fire. It is called 'Fire, water, Burn'

Wilf

i've seen it on the Nelly video - Hot in here. It used to be on there all the time when the video first came out but then one day the video changed and that bit was cut out.

Originally posted by BrainThrust
yes but the song is not called roof on fire. It is called 'Fire, water, Burn'
D'oh.

Chris.

im pretty sure i heard these lyrics before coal chamber, slipknot, bloodhound gang etc..had even released albums...

mid to late 80's rap song ..... before i turned ROCK!!... cant remember who it was though

Disco_Cat
Do you know what's the song name by Coal Chamber and Slipknot which include lyric ? Thanx!

Coal chamber song was called Sway

Was also in Esham - Devil's Night

Also Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three - The Roof Is On Fire (1984).
Got a feeling this is the one you were thinking of MTheo

Snoop dogg used those lyrics in the track we can take it back to 85 off the Eastsidaz album but I suspect he was reffering back to that era as the title suggests.

Reminds me must get some of the classic snoop dogg stuff out really loved the classic doggystyle album

I think hiphop outfit The Pharcyde used it in a song from their second album too. So, I don't think it's really considered to be racist even if that's where it originated from.

How weird is this?!
I've just downloaded a Missy Elliot & Tweet song called We Dont Need No Water!
Its the same lyrics, but its quite good!

the oldest song i can find with 'we don't need no water let the motherf***ers burn" is Bratmobile's Poloroid Baby off Pottymouth released 1993 but its probably older then that

The Coal Chamber song was called sway, it was on their first album.

Yeah, I think Tupac had a song where he sang the East is on fire...etc.
Coal Chamber sang it in Sway, yeah, and Fire Water Burn uses it.
Also, I'm glad to see Mighty_Boosh listens to Esham.

I had a version of "follow da leader" which started off with the roof is on fire chant.

Lost it when my pc died, wish I could get it again - anyone know who did it ?

Gosh, those wacky Americans, eh? I wonder what songs they will be singing if captured by some of the Iraqi victims of the bombings? If the Vietnamese treatment of captured US pilots or 'flying bandits' is anything to go by it will be a shrill, pleading version of 'Please Release Me [Let Me Go]'.

Bloody hound gang did a song called fire water burn with those lyircs in it

Gosh, those wacky Americans, eh? I wonder what songs they will be singing if captured by some of the Iraqi victims of the bombings? If the Vietnamese treatment of captured US pilots or 'flying bandits' is anything to go by it will be a shrill, pleading version of 'Please Release Me [Let Me Go]'.

More likely "The Torture Never Stops" by Zappa.

"Flies all green and buzzing, in this dungeon of despair,
Prisoners grumble and **** their clothes and scratch their matted hair".

It was also the anthem for a party scene in an old hip hop classic movie 'House Party' starring Kid and Play.

The name of the original song is "The Roof Is on Fire," by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three.

A quick Wikipedia search will give you a long list of artists who sample/allude to it. Bratmobile's not on there, for some reason.

Spam filter, else I'd post the link.

Think Girls Aloud have used this in some of their finest 'works'

The name of the original song is "The Roof Is on Fire," by Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three.Welcome to the site,thanx for your input :)