Ellis Paul: Five Alarm Fire on the 4th of July (Official Video)

“Five Alarm Fire on the 4th of July” is the true story of Ellis Paul’s family reunion in Washburn, Maine back in 1979. The song appears on his album THE STORYTELLER'S SUITCASE on his own imprint, Rosella Records. Using archival family footage from that day and other family gatherings, Ellis has assembled a video that is both heart warming and humorous, reminding us all that every family mishap can be overcome by a circle of family support.

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From the album THE STORYTELLER'S SUITCASE https://smarturl.it/EllisPaulTSS

Five Alarm Fire on the 4th of July
(The Plissey Family Picnic)

Grandpa's drinking whiskey on the sofa
The sofa's in the middle of a bonfire
Bottle rockets and lawn darts flyin'
Nobody died
But everyone was tryin'
It's my family reunion
It's the summer of '79

Pails and kettles filled to the brim
With wild strawberries
The screen door's crackin'
From kids running back to the woods
We told Grandma we found
Uncle Terry's homegrown pot plants
She said she'd leave 'em
In the will if we are good

(Chorus)
Oh, There ain't a party
Till the cops show up
With four fire engines
And bearded men in pick up trucks
(vikings, pirates, buccaneers, serial killers)
The flames from the farmhouse
Are 30 feet high (40, 50, 100, 1,000)
It's a five alarm fire on the 4th of July

Forty grandkids climbin'
The apple trees half naked
Uncle Fred's underneath his car
With an acetylene torch
They say it only takes a spark
To get a party goin'
Well, the car caught fire,
Then the garage,
Then the whole damn porch

Burgers flipping like horseshoes
Out on the back grill
We're tryin' to get
A family photo taken
But forty kids won't sit still
And Aunt Diane is flashin'
The camera with her boobies
Uncle Buck is rolling somethin'
He calls a Mon-ster Doo-bie

Seems like the whole town
Of Washburn, Maine
Came to the party
Kids were shakin' Polaroids
They took with the firemen
And yes, the farmhouse did burn down
But not the memories
And Aunt Diane, she sure did
Make herself a few new friends

Oh, its a five alarm fire
On the 4th of July
Strawberry shortcake
Three stacks high
Smoke 'em if you got 'em
Let the fireworks fly
It's a five alarm fire
On the 4th of July

We are family
We are family
We are family