All too often , it is the newer and latest generation that is blamed for pushing the world to doom. So in 1989, Billy Joel wrote a song about the social, cultural and political events of the 20th century after the Wars, claiming “We didn’t start the fire”…. If you haven’t heard it, the song composed almost entirely of names, that remind us of these events, is essentially a 5 minute peep in the history of latter half of the 20th century.
Some nice chap in Caltech took the time out to compose this flash movie based on the song. It trickled down through the academic network at IIT.
Dip into some nostalgia and enjoy the movie.
Main Download Site
Alternate Link(in case main download does not work.)
Here are the lyrics , essentially the 120 or so names used in the song. Clicking on each name will take you to relevant information about it.
1949
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
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 goodbye
CHORUS
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
Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
1954
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu and “Rock Around the Clock”
1955
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, “Peter Pan”, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
1956
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, “Peyton Place”, trouble in the Suez
CHORUS
1957
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, “Bridge on the River Kwai”
1958
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide
1959
Buddy Holly, “Ben-Hur”, space monkey, Mafia
hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no go
1960
U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, “Psycho”, Belgians in the Congo
CHORUS
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
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say?
CHORUS
1964-1989
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon,back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollolah’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
CHORUS
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on…
Nice huh?
