Posted by The TV series based on Fallout games has landed on Amazon Prime in April 2024: let’s discover the iconic theme song in the soundtrack.
The choice creators made for the soundtrack of the TV show Fallout is certainly peculiar: at the start of every episode, there are no opening credits, no memorable recurrent sequence, just the Fallout logo marking the beginning of the plot. Nevertheless, the series soundtrack is extraordinarily curated, with all those classic songs coming from the pre-war years, reminding us how the world’s artistic production has stopped in the plot since the nuclear bombs were dropped years before.
Every episode lets us (re)discover classic successes from the 30s, teleporting us into a world that is far in time, unknown to us. This reflects the spirit of the game series’ original soundtrack, mainly made of popular hits from the 40s and the 50s. Retrofuturism is undoubtedly a shared feeling, and many songs we hear in the Prime series fit the music in the original games. However, one song symbolizes the Fallout soundtrack, a track that every game fan recognizes as the one and only Fallout theme song: I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire by The Ink Spots.
In the Amazon Prime series, you hear the song in the closing credits of Episode 2, whereas in the games, it is a recurrent presence in the music coming out of the radio, in Fallout 3, Fallout 4, and Fallout 76. You can listen to the official streaming here on Youtube, but probably, the best way to enjoy it is from the official Fallout 3 intro: you find it below.
As explained in the game’s official fandom, I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire was supposed to be the official intro song of the first game, but the game’s publisher didn’t manage to obtain the rights to use it. Therefore, they decided to use another classic song by The Ink Spots, Maybe. The result is the iconic intro sequence you find below.
I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire is considered both a beautiful love song and an anti-war hymn: in the lyrics, the singer explains that he has no intention to feed the chaos that has conquered the world in the last few years. He just wants to love and be loved, and that will identify his life. No ambitions, no thirst for power, just a simple life with the woman he’s in love with. The song’s message constitutes a visible contrast with what really happened in the game’s plot, with humanity forced to deal with a nuclear apocalypse that changed everybody’s life. Still, the song lyrics accompany us through the survival challenges:
I don’t want to set the world on fire
I just want to start a flame in your heart
In my heart I have but one desire
And that one is you, no other will do
I’ve lost all ambition for worldly acclaim
I just want to be the one you love
And with your admission, that you’d feel the same
I’ll have reached the goal, I’m dreaming of, believe me
The series on Amazon Prime is able to bring the musical culture of the American 30s to your home, and you’ll indeed discover many hits you’ve never heard while watching the episode. However, now you know there is one Fallout theme song fans will never forget, one of the most recognizable songs of the original soundtrack: I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire is the perfect example of how Fallout music has contributed to the video game’s enormous success.
