We didn't start the fire

History lesson in 5 minutes
We Didn't Start The Fire
Storm Front Released: 1989
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

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• We
• didnt
• start
• the
• fire
• Joel
• flames
• flaming
• billy

[TheBookWorm1718]

Okay, this is probably going to be a stupid question because this footage is used all the time in things, but what's going on at 4:13?

[dratjp]

@TheBookWorm1718

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Regular people in China protested in the Square. This unknown man became the "face" of the people against the power of the government. We don't know his name or what happened to him. The video shows the tank trying to get around him, but he moves with it.

[1TrueAgape]

Where did the Twilight Zone-esque opener come from?

[dratjp]

Hi 1True,

It was a public service ad I found on youtube.

[watasav]

I believe that you are one of the most creative video makers on youtube, however you are very liberal in most of your other videos ur still the best Hanley

[dratjp]

you are not only kind....but insightful.

all the best

[dmini2]

U2 was a US spy plane shot down over the soviet union in the cold war

[maldamot]

there is no hope while america exists!

Yea

[metallavery]

How could the world get any worse than? *the 00's go by* Shit.... How can it get worse?

[MrCojue]

@maldamot What are you talking about?!?

[clarinetstar14]

huh the lyrics say 'we didnt start the fire  though we did egnite it' sooo they did start the fire...

[Darkond2100]

We didn't start the flamewar!

[TheBookWorm1718]

@stooge35

Since it was in color, I thought it was from his other show Night Gallery.

[TimMonahan]

Not to be picky, but what do all YouTube attempts at this fail to realize that the first "Richard Nixon" reference is a reference to Nixon the red-baiting and staunchly anti-communist Vice President. In other words, why doesn't anyone think to use a photo of "young" Nixon?

[Justme8811]

Excellent song! Billy doesn't think it is though. Did you know this is rare exception where he wrote the words fist? He almost always writes music and then the lyrics. Not many people can do that! Always been a favorite of mine.