Lyrics for We Didn't Start the Fire as interpreted by kevin

We Didn't Start the Fire Lyrics
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

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 94 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
KDCurly87
01-27-2002

Rated 0 
i love this song, it's awesome..how can no one have commented on it yet? well it's obviously about history..yeah gotta love billy joel!!

Log in to reply
weezerific:cutlery
03-22-2002

Rated 0 
i was always amazes at how he mentions so many people and still got it all to rhyme and/or sound really good together. wow...great song.

Log in to reply
Ferthuko
04-10-2002

Rated 0 
This song is about history, starting with the year Billy Joel was born.

Log in to reply
fletch699
04-15-2002

Rated 0 
Actually, in his box set, on the fourth disc, he discusses this song and says that We Didn't Start The Fire is NOT so much about history as a whole, but about HIS life and the things that had happened since his birth. He says that he tried to pick things that were important to HIM, but that the beginning of the song was simply created when he asked himself who the President was at the time of his birth... Harry Truman... and who a famous acress was... Doris Day.

Log in to reply
LiveUrLife
05-03-2002

Rated 0 
a great song, i can still remember the words from when i learned them back when i was in 2nd and have no idea what half of them were even about.

Log in to reply
ARMYPFC83
05-24-2002

Rated 0 
I love this song. I remember hearing it in my US History class. My teacher said Billy Joel wanted to be a History Teacher, because he love history. It's an awesome song that tell major events throughout the year of his life.

Log in to reply
Cait
05-27-2002

Rated 0 
Funny....I listened to in in English class.

I remember this video. It's the only video I can vividly remember because of the fire in the house and everything about them changing. How it started out around him as a small flame and then it just burnt up everything around him.

Love this song and video.

Log in to reply
freddysgirl
05-29-2002

Rated 0 
isn't it 'rock and roll and cola wars'?

Log in to reply
pinkrose209
05-29-2002

Rated 0 
This is good stuff. My history teacher brought the song in one day and we were listening to it in class. My teacher LOVES this song because of course, he teaches history.

But anyway, this song has some great lyrics to it.

:)

Log in to reply
mocoohay_ta
06-07-2002

Rated +1 
basically, this song rocks my socks


Log in to reply
BWoodmeyer
06-12-2002

Rated 0 
dieser Song schaukelt meine Socken
die war eine sehr dumme Sache zum Sagen


Log in to reply
kiks
06-12-2002

Rated 0 
tangina pare ang galeng talaga ng kantang 'to!

Log in to reply
TheSwej16
06-21-2002

Rated 0 
Billy Joel's best song

Log in to reply
luckye225
06-29-2002

Rated 0 
best song? nah. he's such a good songwriter, and i don't think this one does him enough justice.

Log in to reply
Heather Surfpico
06-30-2002

Rated +2 
This song got me hooked on the one and only Billy Joel. I remember sitting on my brothers bed when he turned on the song...and I just sat there in amazement...I had to be like 5 or 6 or so at the time, and I couldn't stop singing, "We didn't start the fire..."

BILLY JOEL ROCKS MY FACE!

-Heather-

Log in to reply
StrayKattOi
07-02-2002

Rated 0 
its cool . i just love when he goes "Richard Nixon back again Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, PUNK ROCK!!"
hehe


Log in to reply
gottalovethehits
07-03-2002

Rated 0 
i heard that billy was once talking to a child and the child commented on how he was sad because nothing drastic had happened in Billy's generation's life. Billy set out to prove him wrong by writing this song...

Log in to reply
OpiSccr565
07-12-2002

Rated 0 
Most of the things mentioned in the song are controversial issues... at least thats what my dad said to me when i asked! but from wat i know of the events its pretty much true... and then he could b saying that there will always b those kind of things... yea...

Log in to reply
BWoodmeyer
07-16-2002

Rated -1 
BILLY JOEL ROCKS MY FACE??!!??
Just what on Earth is that supposed to mean??!!??

Log in to reply
Daddyslittle defect
08-17-2002

Rated 0 
this is a great song and billy mentions punk rock which makes it even better. i love billy joel so much hes been my favorite singer since i was little and he will always be my favorite...billy joel is one of the most talented people alive and anyone who argues with that is just plain stupid

Log in to reply
C U In The Shallows
08-25-2002

Rated 0 
hi! im doin a project on this song for english 3. I have to figure out why Billy Joel put Marilyn Monroe in his song...all i know is that the things he mentions in the song are people or events that have caused lots of controversy in the past and so im trying to figure out what Marilyn Monroe did to cause controversy or to affect the world. so if anyone has something to say about that it would prolly help me a lot! thanks, bye.

Log in to reply
1 Reply
Tycho
08-29-2002

Rated 0 
it might have had something to do with she changed the role of women actors in film, but i'm not sure

Log in to reply
Mattimeo84
09-23-2002

Rated 0 
the mention of marrilyn monroe, while not placed corectly for the timing with everyone else could have been because she had the affair with JFK

Log in to reply
TheGamer13
10-17-2002

Rated 0 
Odd how no one mentions that this song is Banned from VH1 since the September 11th attacks on the US.

Log in to reply
MelissaOK
03-20-2003

Rated 0 
i think the line is "Roller coaster, color wars"

Log in to reply
1 Reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here