He joined his first band, The Legends, at the age of 13, with his brother Dave. Hartman played keyboards and wrote much of the band's music. The band released several records but none were hits. He joined The Edgar Winter Group and played on three of their albums; Dan wrote the band's second biggest pop hit Free Ride in 1972. He launched a solo career in 1976.
In 1978 Hartman reached number-one on the Dance chart with the single "Instant Replay", which crossed over to #29 on Billboard's Hot 100; musicians Hartman worked with on the associated album include Vinnie Vincent and G.E. Smith. This was followed by his second chart topper on the Dance charts with "Relight My Fire" (1979). Both tracks are considered by many to be anthems of the disco era. There was also a cover version of Instant Replay which was a one-hit wonder for a boy duo called Yell! (Paul Varney and Daniel James) in January 1990.
He was back in the charts yet again with the top-10 single "I Can Dream About You" from the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984. Hartman was not featured in the video for the track, which received heavy rotation on MTV; instead, his vocals were convincingly lip-synched by Stoney Jackson,an African-American actor. Hartman then scored a third number 1 single on the Dance charts, "We Are The Young." During the next decade he worked as a songwriter and producer, and collaborated with such artists as Tina Turner, Dusty Springfield, Joe Cocker, Bonnie Tyler, Paul Young, James Brown, Nona Hendryx and Steve Winwood.
He died at age 43 in Westport, Connecticut from a brain tumor caused by AIDS. At the time of his death, Hartman's music was enjoying a revival; a cover version of his song "Relight My Fire" became a British number-one hit for Take That and Lulu. Sales of Hartman's solo recordings, group efforts, production, songwriting and compilation inclusions exceed 50 million records worldwide.
More information can be found at www.danhartman.com
Keep The Fire Burnin'
Dan Hartman Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The world will keep on turnin'
Let it turn you on
And let us not stop learnin'
We can help one another be strong
Let us never lose our yearnin'
To keep the fire burnin' all night long
You've been changing so much
You just come and you go
Never letting me know how you feel
And I'm livin' here in doubt
There's so much to talk about
I know that we can work it out
Keep the fire burnin'
Let it keep us warm
The world will keep on turnin'
Let it turn you on
And let us not stop learnin'
We can help one another be strong
Let us never lose our yearnin'
To keep the fire burnin' all night long
We've been through this, enough
It gets rough but there's nowhere to run
This is where we belong
We are strong, we can never give up
If we wanted to we could
But we've always understood
To keep lookin' for the good
Ooh, keep the fire burnin'
Let it keep us warm
The world will keep on turnin'
Let it turn you on
And let us not stop learnin'
We can help one another be strong
Let us never lose our yearnin'
To keep the fire burnin'
Keep the fire burnin'
Let it keep us warm
The world will keep on turnin'
Let it turn you on
And let us not stop learnin'
We can help one another be strong
Let us never lose our yearnin'
To keep the fire burnin' all night long
Keep the fire burnin'
Keep the fire burnin'
Keep the fire burnin'
Let it keep us warm
The world will keep on turnin'
The lyrics to Dan Hartman's song "Keep The Fire Burnin'" are about the importance of maintaining a passionate and strong connection with someone you love, despite the obstacles that may arise. The lyrics suggest that as long as the fire between two people burns bright, they can conquer anything. The song encourages the idea of constantly working on the relationship together and not giving up, even when things get difficult.
The first verse discusses the idea of keeping the fire burning, both as a way to stay warm in the literal sense, but also as a metaphor for keeping the passion and love between two people alive. The song also emphasizes the importance of learning from each other and helping one another become stronger.
The second verse hints at a relationship that may be going through a rough patch. The singer expresses doubts about the other person's feelings and their ability to communicate effectively. Despite these doubts and difficulties, the song encourages the couple to keep working on the relationship, looking for the good in each other and focusing on the positive aspects of their connection.
Overall, the song promotes the idea of persevering through difficult times, working together, and keeping the spark alive in a relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
Let it keep us warm
Let the fire of our passion keep us warm in the cold of the world.
The world will keep on turnin'
The world will continue to move forward, regardless of us.
Let it turn you on
Let the fire inside of us ignite our spirit and excitement for life.
And let us not stop learnin'
We should continually educate ourselves and never stop growing.
We can help one another be strong
Together, we can be a source of support for each other.
Let us never lose our yearnin'
We should always keep our passion and desire burning bright.
To keep the fire burnin' all night long
Let's keep our passion and love burning strong all night.
You've been changing so much
You've been acting differently lately.
I'm not sure you're in touch with what's real
I'm not sure if you're connected to reality.
You just come and you go
You appear and disappear from my life.
Never letting me know how you feel
You never communicate your emotions to me.
And I'm livin' here in doubt
I'm constantly unsure of where we stand.
There's so much to talk about
We have a lot to discuss.
I know that we can work it out
I believe we can overcome our issues.
We've been through this, enough
We've experienced this situation before.
It gets rough but there's nowhere to run
It's a difficult situation but we can't escape it.
This is where we belong
We are meant to be together.
We are strong, we can never give up
We are powerful and should never surrender.
If we wanted to we could
If we desired, we could give up.
But we've always understood
We recognize the importance of persevering.
To keep lookin' for the good
We should always search for positivity.
Ooh, keep the fire burnin'
Keep the passion burning bright.
Keep the fire burnin'
Continue to let our love and desire burn strong.
Keep the fire burnin'
Remain passionate and connected.
Contributed by Julia B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.