Song 15 "We Didn't Start the Fire"

By Billy Joel.


When it was written.
1989.

What it is about.
This song is a long list of historically significant events in the 40 year period from 1949 (when Billy was born) to 1989 (When he released the song). It includes all kinds of things from movies (Psycho) and Bands (U2, BritishBeatle mania) to invasions (Bay of Pigs) and politics (Nixon, Watergate). They range in importance from hula hoops to JFK's assasination. Some things are easy to understand, while others are just begging you to read up on them. I actually wonder how many significant events and people/places are not on this list. My guess would be... not too many.

How the story is told.
The "story" is not so much a story as a list of events and people. Thats it. A very long list. Meaning that there is no metaphors or much perspective, but it isnt really neccesary in this song.

My thoughts.
I think that this is just about the catchiest song on the CD. Even if som of it is hard to understand until you start to look up what each thing is.

What we can learn.


You can learn a huge deal about the last half of the 20th century from this song. One little catch... you have to look it all up. :)