THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

810-Billy Joel-We Didn’t Start the Fire.

1989-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 3.38. When the music career comes to an end, he can always become a history teacher.

Billy Joel was born William Martin Joel (see also best songs 215) on May 9th, 1949, in New York City, New York, United States, he is nicknamed the ‘Piano Man,’ after his 1973 signature song of the same name. At his mothers insistence, he started playing the piano at the age of four, but it was as a teenager, after seeing the ‘Beatles’ (see also best songs 599-456-319-238-218-141-80-51-10 and 6) on the ‘Ed Sullivan Show,’ that changed his life forever, Joel has said,’That one performance changed my life. Up to that moment I’d never considered playing Rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn’t look like they’d come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon’s face, and he looked like he was always saying: ‘F— you!’ I said, ‘I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys. This is what I’m going to do, play in a Rock band.’

‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ was written by Billy Joel, and produced by Joel, and Mick Jones, it was the first of seven singles released from Billy Joel’s 11th studio Album ‘Storm Front,’ from October 1989. We Didn’t Start the Fire’ gave Billy Joel his third and final Number 1 single on Billboard, after ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me,’ (1980) and ‘Tell Her About It’ (1983.) Mick Jones who co-produced ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire,’ and it’s parent Album ‘Storm Front,’ was born Michael Leslie Jones, on December 27th, 1944, in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Jones is best known as the co-founder of the American Rock band ‘Foreigner,’ who have been active since 1976. Jones who is the bands one constant, has co-produced all nine ‘Foreigner,’ studio Albums, and is the writer of the majority of their songs, which include the Billboard Number 1 single, and UK Number 2 hit, ‘I Want to Know What Love Is,’ from 1984. Mick Jones has also released one solo studio Album, called ‘Mick Jones,’ in 1989.

Billy Joel conceived the idea for ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ shortly after his 40th birthday. He was in a recording studio, and a friend of John Lennon’s son, Sean Lennon, who was present with Sean, happened to comment,’It’s a terrible time to be 21,’ to which Joel replied,’Yeah, I remember when I was 21, I thought it was an awful time, and we had Vietnam, and y’know, drug problems, and civil rights problems, and everything seemed to be awful.’ The friend replied,’Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it’s different for you. You were a kid in the fifties, and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties.’ To which Joel said,’Wait a minute, didn’t you hear of the Korean War, or the Suez Canal Crisis?’

Billy Joel who had always been mad keen on historical events, put pen to paper, and listed in (almost) chronological order, several significant people, and events from the time of his birth, through to that present day. Joel has said,’I started with Harry Truman, because in 1949, the year I was born, Harry Truman was president. From there it kind of wrote itself.’ In total there are 119 different people, and events mentioned, spanning the years 1949-1989. Billy Joel has stated that he has no plans to make a follow up, covering 1990 onwards. In fact Billy Joel has a very low opinion of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire,’ saying,’It’s like a mosquito buzzing around your head.’ Joel has said that he wrote the lyrics first, ‘Which is something I rarely do, and that is why it has no melody.’ Joel has also said that when performing the song live, he often has a hard time remembering all the words, and has looked to audience members mouthing the lyrics, to help him out.

‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ is a ‘list song.’ A ‘list song,’ is a song based wholly or in part on a list. List songs typically develop by working through a series of information, often humorous or comical, articulating their images additively, and sometimes using items of escalating absurdity. There are several songs in this ‘Best 1000 Songs’ that are considered ‘list songs,’ most notably Bob Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues,’ (see also best songs 792) and ‘R.E.M.’s ‘”It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine’) (see also best songs 710.)

‘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.’