‘Burnin' for You’ is a song by American hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult. It was released as the lead single from the band's eighth studio album, Fire of Unknown Origin, released in June 1981, where it was the album's second track. The song was co-written by guitarist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser and rock critic songwriter Richard Meltzer, who wrote lyrics for several of the band's songs. Roeser sang lead vocals on the song (as he also did on the band's biggest chart hit, 1976's ‘(Don't Fear) The Reaper’) in lieu of Blue Öyster Cult's usual lead vocalist Eric Bloom. The song hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, and the single spent three weeks in the Top 40 (peaking at No. 40) on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was aided by a popular early MTV music video.
‘Burnin' for You’ was written by Blue Öyster Cult lead guitarist Buck Dharma and rock critic Richard Meltzer. Meltzer wrote numerous songs for the band, with many in conjunction with Roeser. Dharma wrote his parts of the song in his garage studio. Dharma said, “Richard would write on a typewriter and we’d have sheets of lyrics and on the page and it would look just look like poetry with a lot of lower case and free form, free association. I don’t know how long I’d had his lyric but it was about 1980 and we’d moved to Connecticut ... I wrote it in my garage studio. I’m quite proud of it. It’s one of Richard’s more sentimental lyrics, something he’s not known for.” Dharma originally planned to keep the song for release on his 1982 solo debut album Flat Out. However, Blue Öyster Cult's manager Sandy Pearlman convinced him to give the song to the band.
Along with Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult was one of the first heavy metal bands. They issued their first album in 1972 and grew a modest following before scoring a hit with ‘(Don't Fear) The Reaper’ (also written by Buck Dharma) from their 1976 album Agents of Fortune, which hit #12 and became embedded on rock playlists.
The song reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's second and final top 40 hit after ‘(Don't Fear) The Reaper’ reached No. 12 on the Hot 100 in 1976. It was Blue Öyster Cult's third song to ever chart on the Hot 100 and it would be their second to last after ‘Shooting Shark’ peaked at No. 83 in 1984. ‘Burnin' for You’ also became Blue Öyster Cult's first song to chart on Billboard's newly-created Top Tracks chart (now known as Mainstream Rock Songs). It reached No. 1 on the chart dated the week of August 22, 1981, in its eighth week on the chart. It was the seventh song to ever reach No. 1 on the chart, and it stayed at No. 1 for two weeks. ‘Burnin' for You’ remains Blue Öyster Cult's only number-one hit on the rock charts, and one of two top ten hits (‘Dancin' in the Ruins’ reached No. 9 in 1986). The song stayed on the chart for 23 weeks.
Record World said that it's "one of [Blue Oyster Cult's] most commercial outings to date, thanks to Eric Bloom's passionate vocals and a nifty melody."
Label – Columbia
Songwriters – Donald Roeser, Richard Meltzer
Producer – Martin Birch
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1: Buck Dharma]Home in the valley, home in the city
Home isn't pretty, ain't no home for me
Home in the darkness, home on the highway
Home isn't my way, home I'll never be
[Pre-Chorus: Buck Dharma]
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm livin' for givin' the devil his due
[Chorus: Buck Dharma]
An' I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you!
[Verse 2: Buck Dharma]
Time is the essence, time is the season
Time ain't no reason, got no time to slow
Time everlasting, time to play B-sides
Time ain't on my side, time I'll never know
[Pre-Chorus: Buck Dharma]
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I'm not the one to tell you what's wrong and what's right
I've seen suns that were freezing and lives that were through
[Chorus: Buck Dharma]
But I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you!
[Guitar Solo]
[Pre-Chorus: Buck Dharma]
Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can't see no reason to put up a fight
I'm livin' for givin' the devil his due
[Chorus: Buck Dharma]
An' I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you
I'm burnin', I'm burnin', I'm burnin' for you!