Paper in Fire

{{Infobox song

| name = Paper in Fire

| cover = Paper in Fire Mellencamp.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = John Cougar Mellencamp

| album = The Lonesome Jubilee

| B-side = Never Too Old

| released = {{Start date|1987|08|15}}

| recorded =

| studio = Belmont Mall Studio, Indiana

| venue =

| genre = {{hlist|Heartland rock|roots rock{{cite book|first=Bruce|last=Pollock|title=Rock Song Index: The 7500 Most Important Songs for the Rock and Roll Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GxYiAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA276|date=18 March 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-46296-3|page=276}}|country rock{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/07/22/john-mellencamp/42ecdc98-a5f9-4cce-84ca-3fb4fe83ada9/|title=JOHN MELLENCAMP|author=Himes, Geoffrey|date=July 22, 1992|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=January 29, 2021}}

}}

| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=51}}

| label = Mercury

| writer = John Mellencamp

| producer = John Mellencamp, Don Gehman

| prev_title = Rumbleseat

| prev_year = 1986

| next_title = Cherry Bomb

| next_year = 1987

}}

"Paper in Fire" is a song by American rock singer John Mellencamp, released on August 15, 1987, as the first single from his ninth studio album The Lonesome Jubilee.

The song was a commercial success, reaching number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and the Canadian Singles Chart, and charted on various European singles charts.

Mellencamp biographer David Masciotra called it a "ferocious song" that is the "aural equivalent of a wild beast breaking out of its cage."

{{cite book|title=Mellencamp: American Troubadour|author=Masciotra, David|pages=99–100, 140|year=2022|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813195582}} Masciotra describes it as having a libertarian theme. Mellencamp has said that the song is about his uncle Joe Mellencamp, who could be cruel to others and his own worst enemy, saying that "'Paper in Fire' is about Joe, and the family's ingrained anger...It is tragic when families don't grow up."

Cash Box said that "AOR will undoubtedly benefit from this one - as will Top 40 radio, music video saturation is guaranteed."{{cite magazine|title=Single Releases|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/80s/1987/CB-1987-08-22.pdf|magazine=Cash Box|date=August 22, 1987|accessdate=2022-09-11|page=8}}