Firefall – Cinderella

An unfortunate true-to-life song by Firefall. I was at my friend Dave’s site a few days ago and he featured one of their bigger hits. I like their big hits so I enjoyed Dave’s post but this is the song I think of when I think of Firefall. It’s a dark song that I remember well because my sister had the single.

This song peaked at #34 on the Billboard 100. Some of the band members were from other bands. Drummer Michael Clarke was from the Byrds, Jock Bartley played with Gram Parsons, and Rick Roberts was formerly with the Flying Burrito Brothers. Cinderella was released in 1977.

It was written by Firefall’s guitarist and vocalist Larry Burnett, the song stands out for its unfortunate realistic tone. This wasn’t the recipe for a hit song but was a hit. It was on their self-titled debut album released in 1976 which also included You Are The Woman.

Dave said this in his Just Remember I Love You post: They’d had one prior top 10 hit in “You Are The Woman” the year before and one more sizable hit the following year with “Strange Way.“, which was written mainly by Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd. Thanks, Dave!

Larry Burnett: “I certainly didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend who was pregnant and I was working my butt off trying to support us. None of that was going on. But it was certainly happening around me in other people’s lives.”

According to the interview below…Larry wrote it when he was 16 years old and in high school but he didn’t live it.

Cinderella

Last December I met a girl
She took a likin’ to me
Said she loved me
But she didn’t know the meaning of the word

She imagined love to be grand
Me holdin’ her hand and
Whisperin’ sweet things and
Cooin’ softly like a song bird

Then one mornin’ she came to me
With a tear in her eye and a
Sigh on her breath Lord she said
“Hon I’m heavy with child”

I said “god damn girl can’t you see
That I’m breakin’my back
Just tryin’ to keep my head above water
And it’s turnin’ me wild”

Cinderella can’t you see
Don’t want your company
You better leave this mornin’ leave today
Take your love and your child away

Rockin’ chair on the front porch
I’m thinkin’ about all the things that I did
As a young man
Now that I’m old

I remember her and the boy
Did he have all the toys and the joys
That a young man should have
Before he gets too old

Cinderella couldn’t you see
Didn’t want your company
Shoulda left that mornin’ left that day
Took your love and your child away

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

41 thoughts on “Firefall – Cinderella”

  2. Pingback: Firefall – Cinderella – MobsterTiger

  4. Pretty good song & impressive writing to come from a 16 year old. I don’t remember it, Wiki didn’t have chart position for it in Canada but I suspect it didn’t get near the top 30. Sounds very southern rock to me, might of thought it was Marshall Tucker or even Allman Bros., wouldn’t have thought of Firefall …but then again, only know the few radio hits by them so maybe it is typical of them

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    1. It doesn’t really sound like their other hits. I guess their album tracks could be like this… but something about it just struck me when I heard it in the seventies…having the single helped.

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      1. did you hear it much on radio? I slogged through charts and it did seem to hit #43 in Canada, had a long slow rise up the charts to get there, something like 18 weeks, then it dropped quickly. thanks for the mention and link, btw!

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      2. Yes…believe me… my sister is not an underground person…she is pure mainstream…but yes our AM WMAK played it. No problem Dave! Top 40 hits would get played…not just top 10

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    1. You probably know their other stuff CB…it’s not like this….more of a pop sound. One of those bands that release a single and it doesn’t fit their other songs.

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  9. If this was an outlier it’s a good one. Nice harp at the start to ruffle/dirty it up a little. Ah, the follies of our younger days… well, for some. I was a good boy, pure and simple.

    😬🙄

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    1. Yea…I was so careful to the point of pissing some off lol. Double was my motto…thats all I’ll say.
      It is a good song….again kinda like The Sweet…this one didn’t sound related to You Are The Woman.

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      1. Lol. Yeah,I had two friends who wound up cra- happily married at 18, so I tended to stay shy and, ahem, withdrawn at times. I might have missed the occasional drunken opportunity but then I rarely suffered those worrying month- or longer- hangovers.

        Yep, nowhere close to ‘You Are The Woman.’

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      2. Something funny happened… I looked at your comment on Dave’s blog in my side panel…it said “You lasted two hours” ….I thought it was a reply to this post at first…I thought…no man…I’m not superman even with double!
        Yea I was shy as well…I made no first moves…they always did. I knew some friends like that as well.

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      2. He graduated college last year but this May he will graduate with his Masters degree… he is happy….but he does really like teaching. There is a chance…they might want to keep him.

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      5. Oh, thanks. I appreciate that.
        By the way…and I don’t want to interrupt your work…the Dodgers are your team, right?…I’m almost certain they are…I thought about you when they won the series. Congrats! (Hope I’m right. Lol!)

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  14. In Los Angeles, Firefall got airplay with You Are The Woman and Just Remember I Love You. I have been a fan of Rick Roberts (love his voice) since I first heard him on the third (blue) Flying Burrito Brothers. I would have noticed…

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