♫ We Didn’t Start The Fire ♫

Posted on by under Global Issues, History, music, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I last (and only) played this one three years ago, but it’s one of those songs like John Lennon’s Imagine that is timeless.  The lyrics are a stream of consciousness list of more than 100 events that Joel felt his generation was not responsible for. Many of the references are to the Cold War (U.S. vs. Russia), a problem his generation inherited.

we-didnt-start-fire

Joel says he got the idea for the song after a conversation with his friend, Sean Lennon, son of Beatle John Lennon, on the event of Sean’s 21st birthday, .  The conversation went like this:

Lennon: It’s a terrible time to be 21!

Joel: Yeah, I remember when I was 21 – I thought it was an awful time and we had Vietnam, and y’know, drug problems, and civil rights problems and everything seemed to be awful.

Lennon: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties.

Joel: Wait a minute, didn’t you hear of the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis?

According to Joel …

I had turned forty. It was 1989 and I said “Okay, what’s happened in my life?” I wrote down the year 1949. Okay, Harry Truman was president. Popular singer of the day, Doris Day. China went Communist. Another popular singer, Johnnie Ray. Big Broadway show, South Pacific. Journalist, Walter Winchell. Athlete, Joe DiMaggio. Then I went on to 1950 … It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.

Musically, the song does leave something to be desired.  Blender magazine rated this the 41st worst song ever in its 2004 article “Run for Your Life! It’s the 50 Worst Songs Ever!” Comparing it to “a term paper scribbled the night before it’s due.”

But the song carries a message, and that overrides the flaws in the composition, at least for me it does.

My thanks to Keith and Ellen for reminding me of this song and its message …

We Didn’t Start the Fire
Billy Joel

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, “The King and I” and “The Catcher in the Rye”

Eisenhower, vaccine, England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, “Rock Around the Clock”

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, “Peyton Place”, trouble in the Suez

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, “Bridge on the River Kwai”

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, “Ben Hur”, space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, “Psycho”, Belgians in the Congo

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichmann, “Stranger in a Strange Land”
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

“Lawrence of Arabia”, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Songwriters: Billy Joel
We Didn’t Start the Fire lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

21 thoughts on “♫ We Didn’t Start The Fire ♫”

  1. There’s something catchy in the song that I can’t really explain – partly the rhythm and pace, partly the list of events, places and people. I wonder how many of the younger generations have a clue about many (if any) of those listed. Great song choice.

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    • I agree … I only halfway like the tune, but coupled with the lyrics, the list of events and people who have shaped the world of today, it is very moving. Like you, I asked the same question … in fact, I wonder how many adults would know all of those events, or remember them. I’m glad you liked it, Barry! Thanks!

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  2. Yes, I always to it and think. Reminds me a little of that newsprop, USATODAY with its news mcnuggies, except I pay more attention to Joel’s flash flow of words, because they were headlines and stories and history that shaped us. Yes, I wish it was updated, so we can have lines like ‘George Bush, Al Gore, hanging chads in Florida.’ Maybe you can write the next lines. Have your readers add a bullet memory. Hugs and cheers, M

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  3. Once again, the critical view is that of a dummy. I’ve always liked this one, as I think I’ve said recently. He should update it with events since then – after all, 45 burned everything in sight 😉

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  4. Jill, great song. If I was an American or World history teacher, I would play this song, handout the lyrics and ask the kids to provide a sentence on each topic mentioned. It is a great history lesson for everyone. No white washing allowed. Keith

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    • Well, when I played it back in 2019, you were the one who had recommended it … you and Ellen … so I rather thought you’d like it 😉 I DO LOVE your suggestion about having the kids write a sentence on each topic mentioned! I’m betting if you polled a group of high school kids today, the majority of them haven’t heard of half these moments in history! Great idea … now how do we get the schools to do this???

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  5. Growing up, I only ever knew the chorus and not the intention or the rest of the lyrics. It makes more sense now as an adult what this song is all about. Thanks for that!

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  8. Each generation has its separate problems, and, the problems aren’t reduced compared to your generation when you were growing up, it’s just not the same kinds of problems experienced by us, younger generations of people today.

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    • You’re right about that … the challenges change over time. But, I think we are soon to be confronting the greatest challenge throughout history: climate change and the devastation of the resources on Planet Earth. All else may pale in comparison 20-30 years from now.

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