The song We didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel is really a song of the ages. Whilst I have heard people say it is a random collection of words sung in tune, it is anything but that. This song is best viewed with the music clip, you can see the room and family change as the decades change. To really appreciate this song, a knowledge of contemporary history is a must. Naturally, it is based on Joel’s view of the world from 1949 to 1989.

What Joel is doing is giving an historical account of the major issues of the period. He is forming an expression through his lyrics without offering too much of an opinion. Naturally, the issues of the period were selected by him, so they would reflect his personal tastes along with the presumption of matching his melody. When you actually listen to the words you pick up the nuances of the various eras that he addresses.

We see the 1950s, the 60s breaking through the 1970s and into the 1980s. The song was written in 1990 so gives an opportunity to create a second follow up song ranging from 1990 through to the present day. That is if Joel wants to follow up this song, maybe he feels he has visited this topic and while he might like singing the song, he might not want to go backwards artistically.