Tulia are not your traditional girl group. They don’t come with slick dance moves or wear spangly latex. But they are traditional in a very different sense. They wear time-honoured costumes from the Opoczno region of Poland and sing in Bialy Glos — a specific vocal tradition known as “White Voice,” which originates in the southern mountain regions of Poland.
Having risen to fame in 2017 by covering Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence”, they blur boundaries across genre and time and have won fans across generations. Their recent win at the Polish Fryderyk Awards — the equivalent of the Grammys for their nation — are a testament that they’re here to stay and slay. Yes, TVP may be drawing on tradition, but they’re doing so in the most unorthodox way. The “Fire of Love (Pali się)” lyrics demonstrate this in spades.
What do Tulia’s “Fire of Love (Pali się)” lyrics mean?
In their Eurovision 2019 song “Fire of Love (Pali się)”, Tulia sing about love, fire and hope. Building a fire takes time and keeping it going can take even longer. The story captures that spirit of birth and rebirth — in the context of love — through carefully crafted lyrics.
The song nods strongly to Polish folk, which prides itself on poetry and song, and omnipresent themes of love, sorrow and mourning. To some ears, it may seem like screeching to the Kaiser Chiefs. But when you strip all of it away and focus on the lyrics, Tulia offer something deeper — a meditation on a cold and lonely heart.
In some ways the rhythm of their song reflects the changing of the seasons. The “spark” is spring — the beginning of life. The “flame” is summer and the arrival of passion. “One small spark” and that iceberg melts and “becomes a flame raised by the wind from spring seasons.”
A desperation to love and be loved comes through in the heartfelt chorus:
Fire! Fire! Fire of love
It’s burning within us! It’s burning within in us!
Like a dry forest
Love me! Love me! More and more
All for nothing! All for nothing!
There’s no need for a fire brigade
Each verse begins with an issue, and ends with a message of hope and possibility. The last verse notes that when the heart quickens, “It frees itself/Add some sparkle to the eyes/Make up for time”.
The music video reflects the group’s play across time with an old-school and artsy aesthetic, all paired with their traditional/modern sound. It portrays the everyday life of a village in Poland and the preparation for a performance in what seems to be a village community centre, while also telling the side story of the local fire department. It takes us back in time, teaching us the importance of remembering and experiencing. (To many viewers it’s also a clever play on Cold War — the Pawel Pawlikowski film which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year).
The fire department helps extend and unpack the metaphor of fire — the burning hearts that the women sing of, but also the reality of dangerous flames. It all ends with a bed on fire — a very real and almost a hopeful metaphor, depending on your vantage point.
“Fire of Love (Pali się)” English lyrics translation – Tulia (Poland, Eurovision 2019)
“Fire of Love (Pali się)”
Fire! Fire!
Fire of love!
Sitting on an iceberg
Waiting for the sun
Hoping to be rescued
Cold and alone
Jedna mała iskra
Staje się płomieniem
Unoszonym wiatrem
Wiosennych pór
Pali się! Pali się! Miłosny ogień
Płonie w nas, płonie w nas
Jak suchy las
Kochaj mnie! Kochaj mnie! Mocniej i mocniej
Na nic tu, na nic tu
Ogniowa straż
Samotnemu sercu które
Tylko wątpi
Bo nieprzytulane
Zmarzło na lód
Promień obietnicy
Taki lód roztopi
Wyjdzie jak z niewoli
Kochania głód
Pali się! Pali się! Miłosny ogień
Płonie w nas, płonie w nas, jak suchy las
Kochaj mnie! Kochaj mnie! Mocniej i mocniej
Na nic tu, na nic tu ogniowa straż
Porzucone serce
Które nic nie czuje
Światu obojętne
Twarde jak głaz
Ale gdy przyspieszy
Samo się rozkuje
Doda oczom blasku
Nadrobi czas
Pali się! Pali się! Miłosny ogień
Płonie w nas, płonie w nas, jak suchy las
Kochaj mnie! Kochaj mnie! Mocniej i mocniej
Na nic tu, na nic tu ogniowa straż
Fire! Fire! Fire of love!
Burns in you, burns in me
Burns us alive
Love me now! Love me now!
Harder and harder
Take me there, be the air I need to survive
English translation
Fire! Fire
Fire of love!
Sitting on an iceberg
Waiting for the sun
Hoping to be rescued
Cold and alone
One small spark
It becomes a flame
Carried by the wind
From spring seasons
Fire! Fire! Fire of love
It’s burning within us! It’s burning within in us!
Like a dry forest
Love me! Love me! More and more
There’s no need
There’s no need for a fire brigade
A lonely heart,
Which only doubts,
Because it wasn’t loved
Frozen to ice
A ray of promise
Will melt the ice
It will come out of captivity
Hunger of love
Fire! Fire! Fire of love
It’s burning within us! It’s burning within in us!
Like a dry forest
Love me! Love me! More and more
There’s no need
There’s no need for a fire brigade
Abandoned heart
Which does not feel anything
The world is indifferent
Hard as stone
But when it quickens
It frees itself
Add some sparkle to the eyes
Make up for time
Fire! Fire! Fire of love
It’s burning within us! It’s burning within in us!
Like a dry forest
Love me! Love me! More and more
There’s no need
There’s no need for a fire brigade
Fire! Fire! Fire of love!
Burns in you, burns in me
Burns us alive
Love me now! Love me now!
Harder and harder
Take me there, be the air I need to survive
One of the worst entries this year.
I even get scared when I hear their voices… very annoying.
Will go to final though, Poland always does good on televote (for example snapping undeserved victory to France in this year’s Junior Eurovision)
Best from Spain
Fire Fire Fire of love
Tulia Tulia Tulia of love
Poland Poland Poland of love
Poland Iceland Portugal and italy best 2019 in eurovision
For me is Poland Iceland Portugal Italy and Australia
It’s okay Australia
Tulia is the best
Poland this year is creative
Beautiful polish women
Tulia is unique and great for Eurovision
Totally agree. My favourite Polish entry ever. Giving a traditional way of singing a contemporary make over has worked well in Eurovision history. I only fear that this way of singing is not only difficult to master but also not as easy to listen to for some audiences. It might take some time for the rest of Europe to warm to it, but i like it and am really happy with this song.
I agree
Bad translation
Ogniowa straz means fire brigade and not Guardian of fire…
Horrible, guys, horrible
IMPORTANT: This text contains a couple of errors. Were those lyrics translated by Google Translate? – The end of the verse doesn’t mean “All for nothing! Guardian of Fire” (cool fantasy character’s name by the way). It actually means “There’s no need for a fire brigade”, or “A fire brigade won’t help here”. That’s also pretty clearly shown in the music video – you could simply translate “Pali sie” as “Fire!”. -It’s not “He will come out of the captivity | into the depts of love”, but “It will come out of captivity | Hunger of love”. It’s “glód”, “glab”… Read more »
Thank you very much for the correction!
And also, there’s one tiny mistake – it’s “spring fields”, not “spring seasons”. And “przytulane” just means “cuddled”.
See? That’s enough. Simply give people translation. Why do you feel like you HAVE TO put english part to polish song again? English parts are the weakest elements, again.
In my top 10, really like it. Very special and catchy. I will vote for Tulia in Finale.
I also
Hope is that people will appreciate polish song including year
I like it as its original and very natural. Not trying to copy anything. I think they Will make it ot the final and then its only question how far they can go.. Well Done Poland!
I think so to
Top 10
One small correct, ‘ogniowa stra?’ is actually an older expression that means fire brigade.
Also, it gets lost in translation, but ‘pali si?’ in the chorus makes clever play on words – when you say ‘pali si?’, you usually want to alarm that something is on fire, but later girls explain that it’s fire of love that’s burning. This fire must be very destructive, I guess.
Tulia is amazing unique creative
Very un-eurovisionable.
That’s what I expect to see in Eurovision. So much better than light pop generic safe songs.
Exactly!
If this one makes the final, I’ll bet cash money it’ll be Michal Szpak all over again. Besides fans liking it, the Polish diaspora will lose their minds, and Polish diaspora snatched up a load of countries (off the top of my head: UK, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Belarus, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Lithuania, Austria, Israel, Switzerland, Albania, Latvia, even Iceland, might as well throw in San Marino too)
Polish people compose 3% of Iceland’s population, they are the biggest national minority there
That’s always been pretty interesting to me.
Ok, you are saying the Polish Diaspora is doing the job
for Poland. So, why didn’t Poland qualify to the Grand Final? And in 2016 when Szpak finished third in televoting, I guess there is no Polish diaspora in Azerbaijan, nor in Croatia or Hungary 😉
Well I’d just vote for it cuz it’s a great song.
I have a strong feeling it will qualify and that would be great.
Here’s a question I’d ask anyone who’s actually been to a live Eurovision: if you vote there, does it count as a televote for the home country or your own? Bc I’d like to vote for Poland and San Marino when I’m in Israel (and they’re voting in that semi) but I’m an American so I don’t know if I can or if I’ll have to beg my cousins to let me borrow their phones to vote for those two twenty times.
Also, question: who do you think Israel’s televote will go for? While I classify them as a Eurovision “swing state” I have a hard time thinking of which entries they’d be immediately predisposed to.
I’d imagine they’ll throw some votes Cyprus’ way since they’re not a serious threat to them like last year (Israelis have accepted that they’re not doing the double, right?). They also seem to dig stuff like the Czech Republic and Russia.
I think it’s a bit tricky, there are many Israelis of Polish, Russian, French, Romanian origin, also from Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany and other European countries, who migrated to Israel for safety and ability to practice their faith freely, as we all should. But I don’t know who Israelis would vote for since they went through revolting and unnecessary suffering in their places of origin. A sense of cultural affinity might exist, but I don’t know. The main thing for me is that while voting gets political in Eurovision, I can’t recall an instance Israel voted politically, and that is great… Read more »
Israel’s funny that way. They vote as they please more often than not (no obvious link to, say, Austria or Sweden besides liking their songs) but in the 00s the central and Eastern European diaspora made their voices heard pretty clearly. Lots of votes for Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and to a lesser extent Armenia and Azerbaijan. Also lots of votes for Spain. But everything else was, and is, a crapshoot, which is refreshing.
The latter two options may be the way to go. Can you only vote forty times total or forty times each for the semi and the final? Hoping to vote in both. I think most televotes combine SIM cards, texting the number, and using the Eurovision app.
This is an honest, natural song. I hope it will qualify. I like it, and I will vote for it.
Bravo