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[whytemyke]

Whether you like Billy Joel or not, you have to acknowledge one thing: writing We Didn't Start the Fire was fucking impressive.

He made an entire song about all the major historical events in the history of his life. He did it all so it sounded good in a song, and did it all in chronological order, as well. I'm sorry, but that's really just amazing.

"Hemmingway, 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/
JFK/
blown away/
what else do I have to say?"

I mean, come on. Come on, people.

 

[Willco]

When I started a fake production company for a school project, I stole my name, SPACE MONKEY MAFIA, from that song.

 

[levious]

He made an entire song about all the major historical events in the history of his life. He did it all so it sounded good in a song, and did it all in chronological order, as well. I'm sorry, but that's really just amazing.

wasn't Malcom X was killed after JFK? Unless he wasn't specifically referencing his death.

 

[radioheadrule83]

This was on TV and radio constantly when I was a kid. I don't necessarily run round telling people how awesome it is in my everyday life, but I'm happy to admit on here that I secretly love it. It's freakin awesome.

Other songs from childhood: Genesis - I can't Dance, Peter Gabriel - Sledge Hammer, Justin Hayward - War of the Worlds soundtrack, lots of Michael Jackson, The Moody Blues, Eurythmics, Depeche Mode and other stuff.

I love it all.

 

[Space Age Playboy]

IAWTOP

We Didn't Start the Fire is a classic.

 

[radioheadrule83]

edit: never mind

 

[Loki]

Awesome song.

 

[calder]

Whether you like Billy Joel or not, you have to acknowledge one thing: writing We Didn't Start the Fire was fucking impressive.

I hate to be the inevitable naysayer, but since you demand I acknowledge it I have to state that I don't agree AT ALL. :lol

IMO:
- not a good song
- not impressive at all lyrically, hell anyone could pick and choose little moments in history and make them rhyme
- a total wankfest of those things baby-boomer's do better than anything else: nostalgia and self-importance

I don't mind Billy Joel and I rather like a few of his hits but I hate that fucking song. Always did.

 

[Loki]

Calder, I edited out one of the "awesome's" in my previous post-- but only because I like you and wouldn't want to offend your sensibilities.

 

[heavy liquid]

I've always hated this song.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

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?"

im fairly certain none of that is in chronological order.

 

[automagnus]

these are the lyrics with dates, it's in order.

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire Lyrics
1949 Harry Truman
Doris day
Red China
Johnnie Ray

South Pacific
Walter Winchell
Joe Di Maggio.
1950 Joe McCarthy
Richard Nixon
Studebaker
Television

North Korea
South Korea
Marilyn Monroe.

1951 Rosenbergs
H-Bomb
Sugar Ray
Panmunjom

Brando
The King And I and The Catcher In The Rye.
1952 Eisenhower
Vaccine
England's got a new queen

Marciano
Liberace
Santayana good-bye.

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.

1953 Joseph Stalin
Malenkov
Nasser and Prokofiev

Rockefeller
Campanella
Communist Bloc.
1954 Roy Cohn
Juan Peron
Toscanini
Dacron

Dien Bien Phu falls
Rock Around The Clock.

1955 Einstein
James Dean
Brooklyn's got a winning team

David Crockett
Peter Pan
Elvis Presley
Disneyland.
1956 Bardot
Budapest
Alabama
Khrushchev

Princess grace
Peyton Place
Trouble in the Suez.

We didn't start the fire
...

1957 Little Rock
Pasternak
Mickey Mantle
Kerouac

Sputnik
Chou En-Lai
Bridge On The River Kwai.
1958 Lebanon
Charles de Gaulle
California baseball

Starkweather
Hoicide
Children of Thalidomide.

1959 Buddy Holly
Ben Hur
Space Monkey
Mafia

Hula Hoops
Castro
Edsel is a no-go.
1960 U 2
Syngman Rhee
Payola and Kennedy

Chubby Checker
Psycho
Belgians in the Congo.

We didn't start the fire
...

1961 Hemingway
Eichmann
Stranger In A Strange Land

Dylan
Berlin
Bay Of Pigs Invasion.
1962 Lawrence Of Arabia
British Beatlemania

Ole Miss
John Glenn
Liston beats Patterson.

1963 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
...

64-89 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
...
we didn't start the fire
...

 

[spliced]

That was one of my favorite songs in my childhood, I never knew about the whole chronological order of it all though, that's sweet.

 

[whytemyke]

dude, calder, i can understand not liking the song or the music, but I dare anyone here to write something that even flows close to as well as 'we didn't start the fire' using shit from the 90's...

 

[Kung Fu Jedi]

I'm a big fan of that song too. As a history buff, and a Billy Joel fan, I dig the lyrics and historical references. I have it and It's The End of The World As We Know It by REM on the same playlist on my MP3 player.

 

[way more]

I'm more partial to . .

It just might be a luniatic you're looking for,

or

He's trading in his Chevy for a Cadillac -ack -ack -ack

 

[RepMovSB]

I can see where you're coming from.

But the lack of any narrative flow through the lyrics renders it little more than a reasonably researched list (assuming it's even correct).

None of the words actually join up to make sentences , or even phrases.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

JFK/
blown away/
what else do I have to say?"

WORST LYRICS EVER.

And I *like* Billy Joel.

And I liked the video a lot. But the song.... ehhhhh.

 

[kgHavok23]

I can see where you're coming from.

But the lack of any narrative flow through the lyrics renders it little more than a reasonably researched list (assuming it's even correct).

None of the words actually join up to make sentences , or even phrases.

since when do songs or lyrics have to be in complete sentences?

 

[GaimeGuy]

Screw the haters.

We Didn't Start the Fire is an awesome song.

 

[AntoneM]

we didn't start it but I sure as hell took a piss on it, why? because pissing on fires is fun.