About The Song

World On Fire - Sarah McLachlan

"World On Fire" is one of the most conscious songs Sarah McLachlan has ever released. "World On Fire" is exactly what it sounds like, a song about the world being on fire. Well, not literally (maybe literally), but looking at humanity as a whole, we can see our society slowly crumbling from the burning "fire". In this song, McLachlan expresses how terrible and helpless she feels at times. This is clearly expressed in the first line of the chorus when she says, "the world's on fire, it's more than I can handle." The chorus continues with:

"I'll tap into the water try to bring my share,
Try to bring more, More than I can handle,
Bring it to the table, Bring what I am able."

This reveals that even though she may feel helpless at times, this feeling doesn't discourage her from helping as much as she is able. In doing so, she hopes that others will follow in her footsteps. Her perspective on reality can further be sumed up by the final lines before the last repeat of the chorus:

"The more we take the less we become, The fortune of one man means less for some."

Which, unfortunately, is only common sense to some. The music video for "World On Fire" really reinforces Sarah McLachlan's perspective on the world and her urge to help those in need. The video starts off be telling the audience that her music video costs $150,000 to make, but then you learn that she only spent $15 for the music video and the other $149,985 to help people around the world. The video makes comparisons between how $150,000 could have been spent making her video (hiring of cameramen, editing, sound managers, etc.) or helping over 1,000,000 other people across the world (putting children through school, donating food, building houses, etc.); ultimately, what she chose to do for the video. It is truly amazing to see some of the comparisons the music video depicts.

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