Sweet as the Sin

Michael Dan Ehmig, Lita Ford, and Jim Vallance wrote the song ‘Playin’ with Fire’ and it appeared on Lita’s 1991 fifth solo studio album Dangerous Curves.  I like this song and I found some information on it.  Jim Vallance had a long-lasting and successful songwriting partnership with Bryan Adams, and he wrote hits with Aerosmith, Joe Cocker, Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Glass Tiger and Lita Ford and he is one of Canada’s pre-eminent songwriters.  Jim Vallance was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022.  In December 1990, Alan Rider one of his publishers, put him in touch with Bennett Kaufman at RCA records in Los Angeles, regarding a possible collaboration with Lita Ford.  Shortly afterwards Jim Vallance spoke with Lita on the phone.  They compared schedules and agreed to meet in Vancouver a few weeks later.  Since they had never met before, and she had no idea what he looked like, he decided to pull a practical joke by pretended to be a limousine driver when he met her at the airport in Vancouver.  He made a small sign that read “Rita Ward”, and he waited for Lita to clear customs.  It was a really good disguise that the other limo drivers thought Jim was one of them.

It was impossible for Jim not to be able to recognize Lita when she came through the airport door, as she is the epitome of a rock star.  She walked into the arrivals area pushing a cart with her suitcase and guitar, saw the “Rita Ward” sign, made a funny face and kept walking, because she wasn’t really sure about it.  She continued looking around for her ride (at this point she still thinking Jim Vallance was going to meet her).  Jim approached her and said, “Excuse me, are you Rita Ward?”  She replied that she was Lita Ford, not Rita Ward.  Jim apologized for the error and told her that Jim Vallance had sent him to pick her up and take her to her hotel.  He put her suitcase and guitar in the trunk, and she got into the back seat.  As they drove away from the airport they chatted about her flight and the weather, but he didn’t let the ruse last too long.  A few minutes later Jim let Lita in on his joke, and they both had a good laugh.

Michael Dan Ehmig composed 74 songs and 15 of them were for Lita Ford.  In 2012, Ehmig said to Ford, “Lita, you really are living like a runaway”, and she used that as the title of her eighth solo studio album.  When Lita was 17, she left town with just a shirt on her back and a guitar on her shoulder and she knew that she wasn’t coming back.  In 1975, Kim Fowley had an idea for assembling an all-female rock band in a time when nothing like that had ever existed before.  He recruited Joan Jett as a guitarist, Sandy West as a drummer and then turned to two radio stations to advertise for further auditions, which brought bassist Micki Steele and guitarist Lita Ford to the group called The Runaways.  Lita Ford was 16 years old when he called her on the phone and said his name was Kim Fowley a famous record producer that had gold records for Kiss, Alice Cooper, The Byrds, and Keith Moon to mention a few.  He told her that he needed a lead guitar player for an all-girls rock band, and wanted to know if she was interested.  The Runaways were trailblazers, but it was not a glamorous life for them as they stayed in Motel 6’s, they ate at McDonald’s, sometimes were crammed into a car, sometimes didn’t get paid, and were truly in a Rock ‘n Roll, wild bootcamp of sorts, that had a real dirtbag for a manager.

I could see a strange fire burning up in you
The first time I looked in your eyes
I could feel sparks fly dangerous and true
Straight through this heart of mine
Now, I ain’t afraid to take the things I want
I don’t believe the world is gonna change for me
So I’ll take the love I need
We were riding high
Like flames against the sky
Innocent and wild, we were playin’ with fire
Too hot to touch, you can’t call it love
But it’s close enough to be playin’ with fire
We’re playin’ with fire
I could see a dark side scratchin’ at your soul
The risk is sweet as the sin
I feel your lips as they swallow me whole
Strike like a match on my skin
And I’m tired of wasting all my precious time
I love the way I feel when you’re in my mind
It ain’t no crime
We were riding high
Like flames against the sky
Innocent and wild, we were playin’ with fire
Too hot to touch, you can’t call it love
But it’s close enough to be playin’ with fire
We’re playin’ with fire
In the long nights
We were burnin’
Caught in a wild fire
Out of control
We were riding high
Like flames against the sky
Innocent and wild, we were playin’ with fire
Too hot to touch, you can’t call it love
But it’s close enough to be playin’ with fire
We’re playin’ with fire
We were riding high
Like flames against the sky
Innocent and wild, we were playin’ with fire
Too hot to touch, you can’t call it love
But it’s close enough to be playin’ with fire
We’re playin’ with fire

Written for Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag #13, March Monthly Challenge Week 13 where we need to find a song by any group or solo singer beginning with the letter E or F.