Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label songs. Show all posts

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thinking about Billy Joel's history classic

I've loved the song "We Didn't Start the Fire" since I was in high school. I memorized the words of my own accord (no teacher made me) and looked up the significance of the terms I didn't know. As a teenager, it made me curious. It made me want to study more about modern history.

As an adult, I've often wondered why some things were covered, and in what order. Is it just to fill music? For instance, why did Joel choose to include "Peyton Place?" Sure, it was a popular novel and subsequently a tv show, but is it really important? What about the fact that he ended the song with "Cola Wars." Was the rivalry between Coke and Pepsi really the straw that broke the camel's back, forcing Billy Joel to declare, "I can't take it anymore?"

In any case, it's a great song, and there are lots of interesting factoids in it. What do you think about what was and wasn't included?