"Unlike most of Joel's songs, the lyrics were written before the melody, owing to the somewhat unusual style of the song. The song was a huge commercial success and was Joel's third Billboard No. 1 hit. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
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 -- La Wik
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny 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
Maciano, 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, Dancron
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, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, 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, Eichman, 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
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
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
And now, Billy Joel explains it all.....
Billy Joel - Q&A: Tell Us About "We Didn't Start The Fire"? (Oxford 1994)
Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 31, 2015 9:58 AM
Boy never made a red cent off my ass.
Posted by: ghostsniper at August 31, 2015 10:40 AM'Cause you know, I look back on that time and those darn "rock and roller cola wars" always get to me. Makes me mad enough to turn over a table or something.
Posted by: dwinnorcal at August 31, 2015 12:39 PMThe young people who know the words to that song know much more history of the 1949-89 years than most college students taking American History today. Such is the state of our education system.
Posted by: Jimmy J. at August 31, 2015 4:26 PMIs he still alive?
Posted by: chasmatic at August 31, 2015 7:55 PMSweet Jesus, we didn't start the fire, but we should finish the job. World-class hack.
Posted by: Colonel Haiku at August 31, 2015 8:22 PMWhen Blacks riot, neighborhoods burn.
When Whites riot, continents burn.
The Nigger Thugs are asking for it and they will get it sooner rather than later.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!"
Posted by: chasmatic at August 31, 2015 11:05 PMYou're underestimating the pussification factor in the US Chas.
A boon or jackboot will get picked off here and there but the carnage will continue unabated.
When the money runs out the engine of despair will cease and not one second sooner.
This is pretty much how it's going to be til you die.
Posted by: ghostsniper at September 1, 2015 7:40 AMI like the song but its a bit apologetic for boomers - its not our fault!
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 4, 2015 9:09 AM
HOME