THE YEAR IS 1989!
- The lyrics are a stream-of-consciousness list of events that Joel felt his generation was not responsible for. A lot of the references are to the Cold War (US vs. Russia), a problem his generation inherited.
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Joel wrote the lyrics first, which he rarely does. He says that is why the song has no melody. Joel told Billboard magazine: “It’s terrible musically. It’s like a mosquito buzzing around your head.”
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This is a very popular song, and although Joel doesn’t consider it one of his favorites and admits it has no melody, he explained IN AN INTERVIEW that he doesn’t hate the song. He does, however, have a hard time remembering all the words when he performs it in concert and has even looked to audience members mouthing the words to the song to pick up the lyrics. He is often asked if he is going to write a sequel with updated lyrics, but he has no plans to.
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Not long after “We Didn’t Start The Fire” was released, the fifth grade class at the Banta Elementary School in Menasha, Wisconsin used the lyrics of the song to select topics for their history reports. On January 26, 1990, Joel’s record label responded by issuing cassettes containing the song and a 10-minute talk by Joel to 40,000 students.
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