Songs to Dance To: We Didn’t Start the Fire
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (80760)
United States
October 21, 2025 11:14am CST
Yeah, that’s a Monday for you. MyLot was down, and my glasses broke. Oh, and the Mariners lost. 
After lunch I’ll go up to the VA and get the glasses fixed (I have a spare pair, given that my eyesight hasn’t changed in five years or longer). Meanwhile, here’s a song to dance to.
We Didn’t Start the Fire - Billy Joel
I wondered if Billy Joel heard R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and thought, “Hmm, I can do that.” 
In actuality, the song began when a “kid” complained how bad life was (in 1988) for a 21-year-old. Joel replied that it was rough when he was 21, and the kid replied, “Yeah, but nothing happened in the 50s.” Joel asked him if he’d ever heard about the Suez Canal and Korean War issues (not to mention the Puerto Rican nationalists trying to assassinate President Truman…which didn’t make the song).
The song is very historically accurate, and a vital lesson: if you think it’s “worse than it’s ever been” you haven’t studied history. Notice how this song references Russians invading another country (Afghanistan in the 80s as opposed to Ukraine now), diseases (AIDS vs. covid), drugs (crack vs. fentanyl)…and “foreign debts, homeless vets,” which we’ll always have. 
Joel is absolutely correct. This “fire” has been “burning since the world’s been turning.” So let that cheer you up…or depress the hell out of you.
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Written by Billy Joel
Recorded by Billy Joel
From Storm Front, 1989
Song used last month: “Don’t Ask Me Why”
Hemingway, Eichmann:
After lunch I’ll go up to the VA and get the glasses fixed (I have a spare pair, given that my eyesight hasn’t changed in five years or longer). Meanwhile, here’s a song to dance to.
We Didn’t Start the Fire - Billy Joel
I wondered if Billy Joel heard R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” and thought, “Hmm, I can do that.” In actuality, the song began when a “kid” complained how bad life was (in 1988) for a 21-year-old. Joel replied that it was rough when he was 21, and the kid replied, “Yeah, but nothing happened in the 50s.” Joel asked him if he’d ever heard about the Suez Canal and Korean War issues (not to mention the Puerto Rican nationalists trying to assassinate President Truman…which didn’t make the song).
The song is very historically accurate, and a vital lesson: if you think it’s “worse than it’s ever been” you haven’t studied history. Notice how this song references Russians invading another country (Afghanistan in the 80s as opposed to Ukraine now), diseases (AIDS vs. covid), drugs (crack vs. fentanyl)…and “foreign debts, homeless vets,” which we’ll always have.
Joel is absolutely correct. This “fire” has been “burning since the world’s been turning.” So let that cheer you up…or depress the hell out of you.
We Didn’t Start the Fire
Written by Billy Joel
Recorded by Billy Joel
From Storm Front, 1989
Song used last month: “Don’t Ask Me Why”
Hemingway, Eichmann:Your browser isn’t supported anymore. Update it to get the best YouTube experience and our latest features. Learn moreRemind me later
13 people like this
13 responses
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
22 Oct
He has a few clunkers, but then don’t they all. This isn’t one of them, even though he personally doesn’t like it.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
23 Oct
@porwest — I agree. My favorites are things like “Captain Jack” and “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant.”
1 person likes this
@porwest (111593)
• United States
23 Oct
@FourWalls One thing I think Billy Joel has always said of his own music, is that the best ones weren't the ones that became hits.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
22 Oct
We're cooking this month. Do you like instrumentals, that's next month's theme? 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
21 Oct
Happy dancing, don’t freak out, Tuffy!
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (163073)
• United States
21 Oct
I'm glad you have spare glasses. I keep my old prescription glasses in the car, just in case. I had to go back to using them last year because my current prescription glasses lost a temple screw and Walmart, where we bought them at, wouldn't help me with them.
We just got new prescriptions and there were new employees in the glasses department. I complained about the lack of help with my previous glasses and the new employees said there was a reason the old employees aren't there anymore and if I have a problem with the new glasses, they'd be happy to help me with them.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
22 Oct
That's what the lady at the VA optical shop said, the screw came loose. (Yes, I have a screw loose, but everybody knows that! )
I'm really sorry Wally World wouldn't help.
)
I'm really sorry Wally World wouldn't help. 1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (163073)
• United States
22 Oct
@FourWalls The screw was still in the temple but I couldn't see it to tighten it. I finally got Pretty to hold a really bright light so I could see the screwhead and tighten them back together. (I thought the screw was completely gone so the glasses stayed on my dresser for about 9 months before I realized the screw was still in there. The lens fell out but I caught it when it dropped.)
Thanks. The Walmart tech made me mad so I reported her to the store manager...
Uhm... 
Most people have at least one screw loose.
Most people have at least one screw loose. 1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (91538)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
21 Oct
Love Billy Joel this is not a favorite but I know it well,
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
22 Oct
Billy said it's one of his personal least favorite songs. I only agreed with him on one of the five songs he mentioned as his favorites, though ("Scenes From an Italian Restaurant").
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (91538)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
22 Oct
@FourWalls my top fave is Piano Man just love that melody,
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
21 Oct
The major difference is the original is in chronological order, and Fall Out Boy’s version isn’t. Or that’s my objection.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
21 Oct
George Santayana (referenced in the song, “Santayana goodbye”) said that those who can’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (80760)
• United States
21 Oct
And for stupid reasons. As Don Henley wrote about the nuclear race in “Them and Us,” “We’ll all be good and crispy, but we’ll still be number one, and if things go from bad to worse we can still kill them if they kill us first.” 
1 person likes this
@rebelann (115203)
• El Paso, Texas
21 Oct
It's so scary these days cuz that last line about killing them even if we've been killed will probably mean our beautiful planet will be worse off than Mars ......... ok, I confess, I still believe that millions of years ago Martians came here cuz they ruined their own planet. Or maybe they came from another galaxy or something who knows. It's a treky thingy
1 person likes this
@Traceyjayne (6724)
• United Kingdom
22 Oct
Great song …we don’t hear it much though.
1 person likes this
@LindaOHio (207704)
• United States
22 Oct
I'm glad you have a spare pair of glasses. I know this song but don't care for it. Onward and upward.
1 person likes this
