Joined: Nov 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008 - 3:07am
We Didnt Start The Fire - Analysis?
Hello, i was wondering if anyone has some good analysis of the song We Didnt Start The Fire
here is a link to the lyrics
http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/billy-joel-lyrics/we-didn_t-start-the-fire-lyrics.html
Anyone know why he wrote this song? and what each of these historical statements mean besides their definition, year, or whatever... What significance they have and why he used them?
Analysis please... i would like a deep discussion about this topic, not someone rattling off facts to me about each of these events... thanks
Comments for this Forum Topic
My understanding, which could be wrong, is that he was having a conversation with someone who didn't know some of these historical events so BIlly decided to write a song about it. Originally planned as a rap song but he decided it wouldn't work as well so he did a "patter" version. As far as lyrical signficance, he mentions many of the important events of the Cold War era which begins in the year he was born. I think these are events and people that had an impact on Billy AND on the people during the time. For example, he mentions the assassination of JFK and he mentions the CUban Missile Crisis both of which are historically signficant but also personally significant to most Americans. Also, notice that he has many musical references which helped shaped his own musicality - for example the Beatles and Bob Dylan are mentioned as well as other important musical genres and artists.
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joelsgirl
As I understand it, he used the book "Chronicles of American History" and when he opened to 1949, the first things listed was Harry Truman. The rest is history -- and a third and final #1 single.
He mentioned once, just after the songs release, that it was meant to chronicle the events of his lifetime -- kind of a reckoning at age 40. However, just after the song came out, the Berlin Wall came down, Tianmin Square, the end of the Cold War. he quipped that he'd have almost a whole other song if he were to try to incorporate all the latest events.
I think the conversation was with a student BJ met at a college who said that it was a shame BJ was born at a time when nothing much was happening historically.
BJ's, who is very well read, reply was to start listing all the things that had happened since he was born in 1949.
He then turned it in to a song.
He started with the lyrics and now thinks that the music is terrible, he compares it to a fly buzzing around.
He does not usually perform it live because he says they lyrics are key and if he forgot a line it would ruin the song.
So it was his side of the argument.
Best wishes from the UK
Jools
I dont know much about the reasons why BJ wrote this song, but I can assure you that he does sing this song 'live'...because I got to sing it along with him last night at his Perth concert. It was awesome!
Cheers
wikkigirl
He must have been practising.
Was it as great?
I'm very jealous
Jools
Sorry Jools but it was sooooo good to see him and sing along at the top of my lungs.
Cheers
wikkigirl
That's it I'm eaten up with jealousy and will have to listen to my MP3 in bed tonight and pretend I was there.
As the song says "sometimes a fantasy is all you need"
Jools
We didint start the fire is such a great song.
--
The 12 year old Billy Joel fan
Kevrock
I love that song. Analysis or not!
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UMGD Intern
i love this song i love the way he sounds when he sings it !
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the real 12 year old fan
I'm writing my dissertation about Billy, and I'm actually writing a chapter about this song right now. There are two different theories regarding how he came up with the idea for this song. The first is the one given by joelsgirl above and related in Mark Bego's book about Billy Joel. The second is a story that he told to Bill DeMain for his book about songwriting. Joel told DeMain that it started out as a mental exercise. Here are Joel's words about it:
"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 the president. Popular singer of the day, Doris Day. China went Communist. Another pop star, Johnny Ray. Big Broadway show, South Pacific. Journalist, Walter Winchell. Athlete, Joe DiMaggio. Then I went to 1950, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy, big cars, Studebaker, television, et cetera, et cetera … It was kind of a mind game."
Joel also said that this was "one of the worst melodies I've ever written." But this song isn't about a great melody, but rather about interesting and captivating lyrics.
Hope this helps!
wow... maybe I'm crazy...I first heard this song in 1984, and the only English teacher I ever had who used contemporary music in class had us analyze the song and the assignment was, if we had written it, what events would we include? The events in the song only go up to 1984, even the "hypodermics on the shore" from the big mess in the summer of 1983 that preceded the more cited disasters in 1987 and 1988, "China's under martial law" from the riots in 1984, and the "cola wars" that had been going on for most of the 80's anyway. What a shock to revist the song years later and find that Mrs. Thatcher couldn't have assigned us that project since the song purportedly wasn't released until 1989... by that time, I had already passed through a hyperconservative Christian school (1985 to 1987, when I graduated) where you had to sign a statement when you enrolled that you would not listen to "rock music" if you wanted to remain a student there, and my freshman year at Temple University (1987 to 1988), when I took my first two college English classes, the only other place where I could have had an assignment based on a Billy Joel song. In 1988, I enrolled at Bob Jones University, and had my last official English class of my career (and I can guarantee you there were no rock music references in it). I was a premed major, and haven't had a formal English class since 1988. So... what song was Mrs. Thatcher using if it wasn't "We Didn't Start the Fire"?
:? 