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Isaac B.

No, we really didn’t start the fire

Updated: Oct 27, 2022



My family loves music. My mom especially loves music from the 80s and recently played Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” which was written about the time from his birth, 1949, until the release of the song, 1989. It made me curious about the historical events, pop culture, and innovations from that time.


Well, I haven’t experienced 50 years of history, but I certainly have begun to realize how much has happened since I was born in 2004. That being said, maaaaaaybe his lyrics could use an update. This is of course not everything, but it is a good start and a history lesson of my life so far. As you read it, I hope you are as much in awe of what has happened and also mindful and hopeful for the things to come. Thank you, Billy Joel, for making history fun and giving me inspiration to look back at my 16 years of life and appreciate it. (Here's the original song for reference)



Facebook, Reagan dies,

Friends ends, Lance wins with lies

Killdozer, Bush again,

Youtube, North Korea’s nukes


Spirit lands, Cheney, Zarqawi,

Wii, Katrina, Bonds, Pelosi

Steve Irwin, Bob Barker,

housing bubble, Swine flu spooks


Obama, iPhone,

Miners trapped, fake genome

Minecraft and Falcon 1,

Germany’s done WWI

Osama Bin Laden,

Jobs, and Iraq war ends

Sandy Hook, Hurricane Irene,

Shuttle program is done


We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world’s been turning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

But we tried to fight it


MH three seven zero,

Crimea, Charlie Hebdo

Robin Williams, Ebola,

iWatch and Spock


Summer of PoGo,

Prince, Russian hacker woe

Fisher, fake news,

Trump is on the clock


Comey, Trump tweets

Football players take the heat

Russian interference mess

North Korea missile test


California fires

Zuckerberg is a liar

Hawking dies, college bribes

World cup the French acquire


We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world’s been turning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

But we tried to fight it


Notre Dame up in flames

Black hole picture gains quick fame

Hong Kong China protests

Self-driving car passed road test


Vaping on the ascent

Pelosi impeachment

Dow is looking dire

Australia fights bushfires


Kobe dies

Coronavirus a pandemic

Brexit is a real thing

Fauci says quarantine


RBG at rest

Black Lives Matter protest

From this what can we glean?

The rest is unforeseen


We didn’t start the fire

It was always burning

Since the world’s been turning

We didn’t start the fire

No, we didn’t light it

But we tried to fight it

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