Words and music by bob seger



There's a hard moon risin' on the streets tonight

There's a reckless feeling in your heart as you head out tonight

Through the concrete canyons to the midtown light

Where the latest neon promises are burning bright



Past the open windows on the darker streets

Where unseen angry voices flash and children cry

Past the phony posers with their worn out lines

The tired new money dressed to the nines

The low life dealers with their bad designs

And the dilettantes with their open minds



You're out on the town, safe in the crowd

Ready to go for the ride

Searching the eyes, looking for clues

There's no way you can hide

The fire inside



Well you've been to the clubs and the discotheques

Where they deal one another from the bottom of a deck of promises

Where the cautious loners and emotional wrecks

Do an acting stretch as a way to hide the obvious

And the lights go down and they dance real close

And for one brief instant they pretend they're safe and warm



Then the beat gets louder and the mood is gone

The darkness scatters as the lights flash on

They hold one another just a little too long

And they move apart and then move on



On to the street, on to the next

Safe in the knowledge that they tried

Faking the smile, hiding the pain

Never satisfied

The fire inside

Fire inside



Now the hour is late and he thinks you're asleep

You listen to him dress and you listen to him leave

Like you knew he would

You hear his car pull away in the street

Then you move to the door and you lock it when

He's gone for good



Then you walk to the window and stare at the moon

Riding high and lonesome through a starlit sky

And it comes to you how it all slips away

Youth and beauty are gone one day

No matter what you dream or feel or say

It ends in dust and disarray



Like wind on the plains, sand through the glass

Waves rolling in with the tide

Dreams die hard and we watch them erode

But we cannot be denied

The fire inside