I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire

"I Don't Want to Set the World On Fire" is a 1941 song by The Ink Spots, used in the Fallout 3 intro. It was initially going to be used in the original Fallout intro, but Interplay was unable to get the license, so it was scrapped and "Maybe", another song by The Ink Spots, was used.

It was also going to be used in the outro movie for Van Buren, the cancelled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios. After the Prisoner decided which locations are to be nuked by B.O.M.B.-001, he was going to leave in the escape pod and the movie, showing the pod as it arcs over the Earth, would start, playing "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire". Large nuclear blasts would be seen dotting the lands beneath the clouds.

Outside Fallout
"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" was used in the opening of the Megadeth song "Set the World Afire" on the 1988 album So Far, So Good... So What!, in the final segment of The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror XVII", in the 1993 movie Wilder Napalm, also in a Chanel No 5 commercial in 1983. It was also featured in the Ealing comedy Passport to Pimli'co. Molly, the fishmonger's assistant played by Jane Hylton, sings the song to herself at the beginning of the film and then later on aloud to piano accompaniment in the pub while some of the other characters dance to it. It was featured in the beginning of Bioshock, a game with stylistic similarities to Fallout as well. It was used during a short scene in the Heroes episode, Clear and Present Danger (Season 3, Volume 4, Episode 1).

Lyrics

 * 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 feel the same
 * I’ll have reached the goal I’m dreaming of


 * Believe me
 * I don’t want to set the world on fire
 * I just want to start
 * A flame in your heart

[Spoken Word]
 * I don't wanna set the world on fire, honey
 * I love ya too much
 * I just wanna start a big big flame
 * Down in your heart
 * You see, way down inside of me
 * Darlin' I have only one desire
 * And that one desire is you
 * And I know nobody else ain't gonna do

[Sung]
 * I’ve lost all ambition for worldly acclaim
 * I just want to be the one you love
 * And with your admission that you feel the same
 * I’ll have reached the goal I’m dreaming of


 * Believe me
 * I don’t want to set the world on fire
 * I just want to start
 * A flame in your heart