Song 15: We Didn't Start the Fire
Written: 1989
Subject Matter: … What is there to say here, really? The song is a list of a great deal of important social and political events that occurred during the 20th century. The song also lists important people, a few of whom I know (thank you AP Euro) such as Khrushchev and Pasternak. In fact, reading over the lyrics, this song appears amazingly comprehensive, containing not only signigicant events and influential people, but also does not fail to mention important things, such as The Catcher in the Rye, vaccine (which I am interpreting as the polio one), and thalidomide, (and the credit for my knowing this one goes to a certain Chemistry teacher…) which was prescribed to pregnant mothers but caused serious birth defects, so much so that the children born were dubbed "flipper babies". I'd also like to mention one more incident mentioned, just because I think it's interesting (props to Wikipedia for teaching me about this one). The song mentions "hypodermics on the shore", referring to a time in the late 1980s when a great amount of "medical waste and raw garbage" washed up on a beach in New Jersey. The event is referred to as the Syringe Tide.
Storytelling: In this song, Joel simply lists off everything significant that has happened during his lifetime up to 1989. There's not a lot of room for emotion, but it's pretty clear that Joel recognizes that a lot of things happen in a lifetime. After all, he can't take it anymore.
My Thoughts: How can any human being justify not loving this song?
What can we learn?: Every single thing worth mentioning that happened in the entire world from 1949 to 1989.
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