Billy Joel: “We didn´t start the fire”, featuring The Archies

Billy Joel: “We didn´t start the fire”

featuring The Archies

Well, well! This is really not about History. This is an “up tempo" rhyme of historical references covering four decades from 1949-1989. Check the list on Far Out: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/billy-joel-we-didnt-start-the-fire-every-event-referenced-history/

The song was a big hit. No. 1 on Billboard, Grammy-nomination and has later been inspiration for other artists. But is it interesting? Really not! I admit the effective drive, the clever, catchy start, but the fire dries out. This is a long list with no narrative. But of course it is great fun to check out, how much you remember, when the references pour down from the speakers,

Do not expect chronological order, not at all. You have to connect the right years by yourself. Just take the 5th verse:

Hemingway, Eichmann
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?

Billy Joel was not that impressed

Billy Joel later distanced himself from the song as some critics did too. But why? In a way the song is a monumental marking of the year 1989. That November, when the Berlin Wall fell and the undisputed Soviet-control in Eastern Europe slowly began breaking together and optimism spread like Covid.

In a way the song is just one funny quiz, names dropping and dripping through your head, asking yourself if you remember. A single remark from a Dane. I did not know what “Ole Miss” meant, but now I do. The story of James Meredith? That is a different matter. I did read James Baldwin, Just Above My Head, the best book about segregation and discrimination I´ve read. It´s a long time ago and so is Billy Joels album Stormfront.

But today the marriage (or at least the acceptance )between the old super-powers autocratic leaders have started another deadly fire, And the upcoming, unstoppable China has infected the balance. Do we talk politics, peace and welfare, No! It is all about deals, it is all about greed, it is all about power. 1989 is long gone.

The bubble gum band

So is The Archies´ hit from 1970, “A Summer Prayer for Peace”. An innocent, naïve song crossing the times of the brutal Vietnam war. The prayer did not reach the same heights as their bubble gum, nonsense anthem, “Sugar, Sugar”, topping the Billboard top 100 just like the Billy Joel fire anthem

The Archies´ long gone prayer begins the recitation:

Indonesia, 112 million
United Kingdom, 55 million
California, 18 million
Laos, 2 million

Three billion people together forever
Three billion people sing a summer prayer for peace

In 2022 we counted 8 billion people.