student asking question

'fire is gonna burn' means that fire will be burnt to the ground and put out?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

No, that's not the case. The lyrics "fire's gonna burn" can have two meanings: the literal meaning of burning, to give off light and heat through the act of burning; and to burn, as in to hurt or harm something or someone through excessive heat. I personally think that the latter is the intended meaning, as the lyrics just before are "if I told you this was only gonna hurt," which is a warning that this love has the potential to greatly hurt the people involved. "Burn" is also used as an informal term to mean getting emotionally hurt, rejected, or insulted. Ex: Mark asked out his crush but got burned. Ex: Dang, what a burn! That man has such a sharp tongue.

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