We Didn’t Start the Fire

Entertainment 2 Minutes

This song, by Billy Joel, was one of my favorites back then.  The lyrics and explanation of the origins of the song are from the GENIUS website. It reminds me that the world has always been in turmoil.

From GENIUS:

This monster hit of a song was created in 1989, when Joel turned 40. The idea spawned from a conversation he had with a friend of Sean Lennon. The friend just turned 21 and was complaining about how crazy it was to be living in his era, therefore undermining any other time before his. This encouraged Joel to write a song that would prove that any time is filled with extremes.

Starting from 1949 (the year in which he was born), he chronicled the major events that occurred during that time in a rapid fire delivery of names, places, and cultural works.

These are his words on the subject:

I started doing that as a mental exercise. I had turned forty. It was 1989, and I said, “Okay, what’s happened in my life? I wrote down the year 1949… It was kind of a mind game. [It’s] one of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.

Passage taken from the book, In Their Own Words by Bill DeMain (Chapter 14) where he interviewed Joel about his thoughts on the song.

The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and became a radio mainstay.

We Didn’t Start the Fire

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

[Chorus]
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, Khrushchev
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, Zhou En-lai
Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle
California baseball
Starkweather Homicide
Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur
Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro
Edsel is a no-go
U-2, 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
J.F.K. 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
Ayatollahs 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

SOURCE: GENIUS

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Published by pat frederick

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119 thoughts on “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

    1. I figured that’s what happened…..I won’t discuss my weather – don’t want to make you jealous…😉😉😉😉

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Freedom Ring

    Freedom Ring

    May 29, 2024 4:22 pm

    Reply to  Freedom Ring


    Jonathan Turley

    @JonathanTurley

    …The breakdown is
    1. Pecker testimony regarding telephone conversation with Trump

    2. Pecker’s testimony on the decision not to fund McDougal’s life rights

    3. Pecker’s testimony on the Trump Tower meeting

    4. Cohen testimony on the Trump Tower meeting
    1:15 PM · May 29, 2024

    The new note at 3:51 is asking to reread the judge’s instructions. They may reflect disagreements in the jury on the standards etc. The only reason to hear the instructions again is to clarify the standard if jurors are in disagreement. They are looking at 30 pages for transcript to read.

    The request for instructions is particularly interesting. I cannot imagine a need for the instruction unless there was an early disagreement in that room on the evidence and the standards. That could indicate at least one juror who is not convinced by either Steinglass or Blanche saying that this is a no brainer.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

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        1. we’re doing okay, thanks!
          seeing spring everywhere…saw the first fawn, hummers are everywhere suddenly, and the fish survived the winter…so yay!
          I keep your mom in my prayers kea–hopefully something will go her way SOON!

          Liked by 1 person

      1. Enjoying the warm weather on the deck. If only I had good books instead of bad ones.

        The puppy just chased a rabbit so she’s really good

        Liked by 1 person

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