'Fire was composed, shortly after I moved into the barge“Utopia”, where I now still live, and where the Amsterdam Jazz Sextet holds its rehearsals. The main source of heating was, originally, a big stove in which I burnt wood and a.o. coal and pete.The stove has been, years ago, replaced by an oil-fuelled central heating, but occasionally I can still feel its warmth, direct to the skin. Denise Jannah's lyrics to the song, though, are about a different sort of warmth; the heat of love.'
'Floris' tune had a Dutch title: Vuur, which means Fire. Indeed the music caught me by its energy, its drive....yes, by its fire! I wanted to stick to Floris's title, and add my own inspiration to his. At a certain moment there rose the idea of the symbolic meaning of Fire, powerful Fire that in its raging force cleanses at the same time, and I ‘saw' the Phoenix rise from the ashes.'
