Burn by Jo Dee Messina - Songfacts
Album: Burn (2000)
Charted: 42
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was originally a hit for Australian pop singer Tina Arena, who wrote the track with her frequent collaborators Pam Reswick and Steve Werfel for her 1997 album In Deep. With the help of producers Tim McGraw and Byron Gallimore, Jo Dee Messina spun it into a #2 country hit for her third album. In the song, Messina doesn't care what passion her lover pursues as long as he still burns for her.
  • Messina's version also landed at #17 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
  • Messina was impressed with the storybook theme from Sara Evans' "No Place That Far," so she enlisted the clip's director, Thom Oliphant, to come up with a similar concept for the music video. Oliphant only had a couple days to work with the singer, so he didn't waste any time seeking out the perfect location for a medieval-style setup. His search led him to an abandoned castle in the Thousand Islands in upstate New York, where uppercrust families of the early-20th century settled in the summer months. He explained in a Songfacts interview: "People like the Vanderbilts and the Astors bought these little islands in the middle of the river.

    They built humongous homes, and a few of them are like Vanderbilt era castles. This was one of them. The guy had built this castle for his wife. His wife had died - true story - and he had never lived in it. It was this abandoned castle on the middle of this island, and we shot there."
  • Messina's version was featured in the 2001 sports drama Driven, starring Sylvester Stallone and Burt Reynolds.

Comments: 1

  • Am from Thousand IslandsThis castle was not abandoned FYI at the time this video was shot. It had been abandoned several years before as the story goes a man built this for his wife who died suddenly. He then stopped building it and yes it was abandoned for 73 years (1904 -1977). Then in 1977 The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority took over and has worked on it ever since restoring the castle. So for them to say they filmed this video in an abandon castle is not accurate since it was filmed in 2000. It's a beautiful castle https://www.boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/
see more comments

Editor's Picks

British Invasion

British InvasionFact or Fiction

Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet Sprocket

Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet SprocketSongwriter Interviews

The "All I Want" singer went through a long depression, playing some shows when he didn't want to be alive.

John Parr

John ParrSongwriter Interviews

John tells the "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" story and explains why he disappeared for so long.

Emmylou Harris

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.

Judas Priest

Judas PriestSongwriter Interviews

Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.