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We Didn't Start the Fire
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"We Didn't Start the Fire"
Single by Billy Joel
from the album Storm Front
B-side
"House of Blue Light"
Released
September 27, 1989
Format
7" single
12" single
CD
Cassette Single
Recorded
July 1989
Genre
Pop rock
Length
4:49
Label
Columbia
Songwriter(s)
Billy Joel
Producer(s)
Mick Jones
Billy Joel
Billy Joel singles chronology
"Baby Grand"
(1987) "We Didn't Start the Fire"
(1989) "Leningrad"
(1989)
"Baby Grand"
(1987) "We Didn't Start the Fire"
(1989) "Leningrad"
(1989)
Storm Front track listing
"That's Not Her Style"
(1) "We Didn't Start the Fire"
(2) "The Downeaster 'Alexa'"
(3)
Music video
"We Didn't Start the Fire" on YouTube
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song by American musician Billy Joel. Its lyrics include brief, rapid-fire allusions to more than 100 headline events between 1949, the year of Joel's birth, and 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The song was also a No. 1 hit in the United States.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
2 Music video
3 Historical events referred to in the song
3.1 1940s
3.1.1 1949
3.2 1950s
3.2.1 1950
3.2.2 1951
3.2.3 1952
3.2.4 1953
3.2.5 1954
3.2.6 1955
3.2.7 1956
3.2.8 1957
3.2.9 1958
3.2.10 1959
3.3 1960s
3.3.1 1960
3.3.2 1961
3.3.3 1962
3.3.4 1963
3.3.5 1965
3.3.6 1968
3.3.7 1969
3.4 1970s
3.4.1 1974–75
3.4.2 1976–77
3.4.3 1979
3.5 1980s
3.5.1 1981
3.5.2 1983
3.5.3 1984
3.5.4 1988
3.5.5 1989
4 Derivations
5 Charts
5.1 Weekly charts
5.2 Year-end charts
6 Personnel
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
History[edit]
Joel got the idea for the song when he had just turned 40. He was in a recording studio and met a friend of Sean Lennon who had just turned 21 who said "It's a terrible time to be 21!" Joel replied to him, "Yeah, I remember when I was 21 – I thought it was an awful time and we had Vietnam, and y'know, drug problems, and civil rights problems and everything seemed to be awful." The friend replied, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties". Joel retorted, "Wait a minute, didn't you hear of the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis?" Joel later said those headlines formed the basic framework for the song.[1][2][3]
Joel has said, "I'm a history nut. I devour books. At one time I wanted to be a history teacher". According to his mother, he was a bookworm by the age of seven.[4] Unlike most of Joel's songs, the lyrics were written before the melody, owing to the somewhat unusual style of the song. The song was a huge commercial success and was Joel's third Billboard No. 1 hit. It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.[5]
I had turned forty. It was 1989 and I said "Okay, what's happened in my life?" I wrote down the year 1949. Okay, Harry Truman was president. Popular singer of the day, Doris Day. China went Communist. Another popular singer, Johnnie Ray. Big Broadway show, South Pacific. Journalist, Walter Winchell. Athlete, Joe DiMaggio. Then I went on to 1950 ... It's one of the worst melodies I've ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.[6]
Joel has said, "There's an element of malevolence in the song; it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop."[1] He has mentioned having mixed feelings about the song. "It's a nightmare to perform live, because if I miss one word, it's a train wreck."[7] He has called it a "novelty song" that does not "really define me as well as album songs that probably don't get played",[8] and has also criticized the song on strictly musical grounds. In 1993, when discussing it with documentary filmmaker David Horn, Joel compared its melodic content unfavorably to his song "The Longest Time": "Take a song like 'We Didn't Start the Fire.' It's really not much of a song ... If you take the melody by itself, terrible. Like a dentist drill."[9]
When asked if he could do a follow-up about the next couple of years after the events that transpired in the original song, he commented "No, I wrote one song already and I don't think it was really that good to begin with, melodically."[3]
Music video[edit]
External video
Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire (Official Video), 4:05
A music video for the single was directed by Chris Blum,[10] which chronicles a white middle-class married couple and their goal of the American Dream: a home, careers, and children. This is symbolised by the constant revamping of a domestic kitchen – 1940s utilitarian turning into 1950s Populuxe, 1960s op art, 1970s earth-colored tiles and macramé, and finally 1980s black lacquer & granite bench tops. This is juxtaposed with symbols of the tumultuous social times of the second half of the 20th century (e.g., bra burning, lynching, and draft-card burning). The singer acts as an unseen but omnipresent observer. During each chorus, Joel wearing sunglasses (similar to Roy Orbison's) rhythmically beats on a black table; in the background, famous photographs (of Lee Harvey Oswald's assassination and Nguyễn Văn Lém's execution, among others) are consumed by fire, a metaphor of the song's theme and title.
Historical events referred to in the song[edit]
"We Didn't Start the Fire" (1989)
"We Didn't Start the Fire" lists historical events in stream of consciousness.
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Though the lyrics are rapid-fire with several people and events mentioned in a single word each, there is widespread agreement on the meaning of the lyrics. Steven Ettinger wrote,
Billy Joel captured the major images, events, and personalities of this half-century in a three-minute song.... It was pure information overload, a song that assumed we knew exactly what he was singing about...What was truly alarming was the realization that we, the listeners, for the most part understood the references.[11]
The following events (with Joel's lyric for each appearing in bold) are listed in the order that they appear in the song, which is almost entirely chronological.[12] The lyric for each individual event is brief and the events are punctuated by the chorus and other lyrical elements. The following list includes longer, more descriptive names for clarity. Events from a variety of contexts — such as popular entertainment, foreign affairs, and sports — are intermingled, giving an impression of the culture of the time as a whole. There are 119 items listed in the song.
1940s[edit]
1949[edit]
Harry Truman was inaugurated as U.S. president after being elected in 1948 to his second and final presidential term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He authorized the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II, on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.
Doris Day enters the public spotlight with the films My Dream Is Yours and It's a Great Feeling as well as popular songs like "It's Magic".
Red China: The Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People's Republic of China.
Johnnie Ray signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he would not become popular for another two years.
South Pacific, the prize-winning musical, opens on Broadway on April 7.
Walter Winchell is an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.
Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees go to five World Series in the 1940s, winning four of them.
1950s[edit]
1950[edit]
Joe McCarthy, the U.S. Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-Communism crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.
Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.
Studebaker, a popular car company, begins its financial downfall.
Television is becoming widespread throughout Europe and North America.
North Korea and South Korea declare war after Northern forces stream south on June 25.
Marilyn Monroe soars in popularity with five new films, including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve.
1951[edit]
Rosenbergs, married couple Ethel and Julius, convicted on June 19 of espionage.
H-Bomb: The United States is in the middle of developing the hydrogen bomb as a nuclear weapon; it would be first tested in late 1952.
Sugar Ray Robinson, a champion boxer, defeats Jake LaMotta in the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre".
Panmunjom, the border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.
Marlon Brando is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.
The King and I, the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, opens on Broadway on March 29.
The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger, is published.
1952[edit]
Dwight D. Eisenhower is first elected as President of the United States, winning by a landslide margin of 442 to 89 electoral votes.
Vaccine for polio is privately tested by Jonas Salk.
England's got a new queen: Queen Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne upon the death of her father, George VI, and is crowned the next year.
Rocky Marciano defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion.
Liberace has a popular 1950s television show for his musical entertainment.
Santayana goodbye: George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, dies on September 26.
1953[edit]
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, dies on March 5.
Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Stalin for six months following his death. Malenkov had presided over Stalin's purges, but would be spared a similar fate by his successor Nikita Khrushchev.
Gamal Abdel Nasser acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation as Muhammad Naguib's minister of the interior.
Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.
Winthrop Rockefeller and his wife Barbara are involved in a highly publicized divorce, culminating in 1954 with a record-breaking $5.5 million settlement.[13]
Roy Campanella, an Italian-American/ African-American baseball catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, receives the National League's Most Valuable Player award for the second time.
Communist bloc: The uprising of 1953 in East Germany is crushed by the Volkspolizei and the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany.
1954[edit]
Roy Cohn resigns as Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy.
Juan Perón spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup.
Arturo Toscanini is at the height of his fame as a conductor, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.
Dacron is an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester.
Dien Bien Phu falls. A French/Vietnamese camp falls to Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap, signaling the end of French Indochina and leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam as separate states.
"Rock Around the Clock" is a hit single released by Bill Haley & His Comets in May, spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll music.
1955[edit]
Albert Einstein dies on April 18 at the age of 76.
James Dean achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30 at the age of 24.
Brooklyn's got a winning team: The Brooklyn Dodgers win their first and only World Series before their move to Los Angeles.
Davy Crockett is a Disney television miniseries about the legendary frontiersman of the same name. The show was a huge hit with young boys and inspired a short-lived "coonskin cap" craze.
Peter Pan: A year after Walt Disney Animation Studios released an animated adaption of the play by J. M. Barrie, the 1954 stage musical of the same name starring Mary Martin is broadcast on NBC live and in color.
Elvis Presley signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.
Disneyland opens on July 17, 1955 as Walt Disney's first theme park.
1956[edit]
Brigitte Bardot appears in her first mainstream film And God Created Woman and establishes an international reputation as a French "sex kitten".
Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and site of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
Alabama is the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ultimately led to the removal of the last race laws in the United States. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr figure prominently.
Nikita Khrushchev makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin's "Cult of personality" on February 25.
Princess Grace Kelly releases her last film, High Society, and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.
Peyton Place, the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, is published. Though mild compared to today's standards, it shocked the reserved values of the 1950s.
Trouble in the Suez: The Suez Crisis boils as Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29.
1957[edit]
Little Rock, Arkansas is the site of an anti-integration standoff, as Governor Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School and President Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.
Boris Pasternak, the Russian author, publishes his novel Doctor Zhivago.
Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.
Jack Kerouac publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.
Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, marking the start of the space race.
Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, survives an assassination attempt on the charter airliner Kashmir Princess.
The Bridge on the River Kwai, an adaptation of a the 1954 novel, is released and receives seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[14]
1958[edit]
Lebanon is engulfed in a political and religious crisis that eventually involves U.S. intervention.
Charles de Gaulle is elected first president of the French Fifth Republic following the Algerian Crisis.
California baseball begins as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, respectively. They are the first teams in Major League Baseball west of Kansas City.
Charles Starkweather Homicide: Starkweather's murder spree, in which he kills eleven people between January 25 and 29 before being caught in a massive manhunt in Douglas, Wyoming, captures the attention of Americans.
Children of Thalidomide: Many pregnant women taking the drug Thalidomide had children born with congenital birth defects.
1959[edit]
Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a day that had a devastating impact on the country and youth culture. Joel prefaces the lyric with a Holly signature vocal hiccup: "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
Ben-Hur, a film adapted from Lew Wallace's 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ starring Charlton Heston, wins eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Space Monkey: Aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18, Able and Miss Baker become the first two animals to be launched by NASA into space that returned to Earth alive.
Mafia organizations are the center of attention for the FBI and public attention builds to this organized crime society with a historically Italian-American origin.
Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.
Fidel Castro comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.
Edsel is a no-go: Production of this car marque ends after only three years due to poor sales.
1960s[edit]
1960[edit]
U-2: An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.
Syngman Rhee was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than US $20 million.
Payola, illegal payments for radio broadcasting of songs, was publicized due to Dick Clark's testimony before Congress and Alan Freed's public disgrace.
John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election.
Chubby Checker popularizes the dance The Twist with his cover of the song of the same name.
Psycho: An Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard at this point in the song are a trademark of the film's soundtrack.
Belgians in the Congo: The Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) was declared independent of Belgium on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.
1961[edit]
Ernest Hemingway commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.
Adolf Eichmann, a "most wanted" Nazi war criminal, is traced to Argentina and captured by Mossad agents. He is covertly taken to Israel where he is put on trial for crimes against humanity during World War II, convicted in 1961, and hanged the following year, 1962.
Stranger in a Strange Land, written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.
Bob Dylan is signed to Columbia Records after a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton.
Berlin is separated into West Berlin and East Berlin, and from the rest of East Germany, when the Berlin Wall is erected on August 13 to prevent citizens escaping to the West.
Bay of Pigs Invasion, an attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro, fails.
1962[edit]
Lawrence of Arabia: The Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O'Toole premieres in the United States on December 16.
British Beatlemania: The Beatles, a British rock group, gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI's Parlophone label. They soon become the world's most famous rock band, with the word "Beatlemania" adopted by the press for their fans' unprecedented enthusiasm. It also began the British Invasion in the United States.
Ole Miss: A riot was fought between Southern segregationist civilians and federal and state forces as a result of the forced enrollment of black student James Meredith at the University of Mississippi.
John Glenn: Flew the first American manned orbital mission termed "Friendship 7" on February 20.
Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a first-round knockout. This match marked the first time Patterson had ever been knocked out and one of only eight losses in his 20-year professional career.
1963[edit]
Pope Paul VI: Cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected to the papacy and takes the papal name of Paul VI.
Malcolm X makes his infamous statement "The chickens have come home to roost" about the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censure him; about fifteen months later, he himself is assassinated while preparing to make a speech.
British politician sex: The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, has a relationship with Christine Keeler, a showgirl, and then lies when questioned about it before the House of Commons. When the truth came out, it led to his own resignation and undermined the credibility of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.
JFK blown away: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 while riding in an open convertible through Dallas.
1965[edit]
Birth control: In the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as "the pill", first go on the market and are extremely popular. Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 challenged a Connecticut law prohibiting contraceptives. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a papal encyclical titled Humanae vitae which reaffirmed Catholic teaching that artificial birth control was a sin.
Ho Chi Minh: A Vietnamese Communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969. March 2 Operation Rolling Thunder begins bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply line from North Vietnam to the Vietcong rebels in the south. On March 8, the first U.S. combat troops, 3,500 marines, land in South Vietnam.
1968[edit]
Richard Nixon back again: Former Vice President Nixon is elected President in 1968.
1969[edit]
Moonshot: Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing, successfully lands on the moon.
Woodstock: Famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to be the epitome of the counterculture movement.
1970s[edit]
1974–75[edit]
Watergate: Political scandal that began when the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. was broken into. After the break-in, word began to spread that President Richard Nixon may have known about the break-in, and tried to cover it up. The scandal would ultimately result in the resignation of President Nixon; to date, this remains the only time that anyone has ever resigned the United States Presidency.
Punk rock: Blondie and The Ramones form, with the Sex Pistols following in 1975, ushering in the punk era.
1976–77[edit]
(Note: an item from 1976 is put between items from 1977 to make the song scan better.)
Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt's president in 1978.
Ronald Reagan, former Governor of California, begins his second Presidential campaign in 1976. He eventually wins in the next election in 1980.
Palestine: The ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict escalates as Israelis establish settlements in the West Bank, previously held by Jordan for non-Jewish Palestinians after the 1948 war, beginning shortly after Begin's election.
Terror on the air line: Numerous aircraft hijackings take place, specifically, the Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent Operation Entebbe in Uganda.
1979[edit]
Ayatollah's in Iran: During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and secular Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile and creates an Islamic society
Russians in Afghanistan: Following their move into Afghanistan on December 24, Soviet forces fight a ten-year war up until 1989.
1980s[edit]
1981[edit]
Wheel of Fortune: The hit television game show, on air since 1975, underwent several changes in the early 1980s, including the hiring of Pat Sajak as host in 1981, Vanna White as hostess in 1982, and a move to syndication in 1983, all three of which were still in effect by the time of the song (and remained through the 1990s, 2000s and much of the 2010s as well).
1983[edit]
Sally Ride: On June 18, she became the first American woman in space by flying aboard Challenger on the STS-7 shuttle mission.
Heavy metal suicide: In the 1970s and 1980s, heavy metal bands became popular. Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest in particular were sued for fans' suicides after listening to their songs "Suicide Solution" and "Better By You, Better Than Me", respectively.
Foreign debts: Persistent U.S. trade and budget deficits
Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam War, including many disabled ex-military, are reported to be left homeless and impoverished.
AIDS: A collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is first detected and recognized in the 1980s, and was on its way to becoming a pandemic.
Crack cocaine use surged in the mid-to-late 1980s.
1984[edit]
Bernie Goetz: On December 22, Goetz shot four young men whom he said were threatening him on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder but was acquitted of the charges, though convicted of carrying an unlicensed gun.
1988[edit]
Hypodermics on the shore: Medical waste was found washed up on the beaches of Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut after being illegally dumped at sea. Before this event, waste dumped in the oceans was an "out of sight, out of mind" affair. This has been cited as one of the crucial turning points in popular opinion on environmentalism.
1989[edit]
China's under martial law: On May 20, China declares martial law, resulting in the use of military forces against protesting students to end the Tiananmen Square protests.
Rock-and-roller cola wars: Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using rock & roll and popular music stars to reach the teenage and young adult demographic.
Derivations[edit]
Numerous parodies and takeoffs have been based on the song (often expanding to events that have occurred since 1989), including The Simpsons' parody "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons" at the end of the 2002 "Gump Roast" episode,[15] and the San Francisco a cappella group The Richter Scales' 2007 Webby Award-winning[16] parody "Here Comes Another Bubble." Cornell University's oldest a cappella group Cayuga's Waiters perform a version entitled "We Didn't Go to Harvard" with constantly changing lyrics to reflect the changing Cornell experience but always mentioning various Cornell and Ithaca landmarks. The band Guns 'n' Moses made a parody of the song called "We Love Barney Fife" that was played frequently on the Doctor Demento radio show, which not only paid tribute to The Andy Griffith Show, it also took advantage of the melody of the refrain being a suitable counterpoint for the Andy Griffith Show theme ("The Fishin' Hole"). The song was also parodied on the episode of the U.S. version of The Office where "Ryan the temp" starts a fire in the office building, and Dwight and Michael change the lyrics of the song to "Ryan Started The Fire". On a 2017 episode of The Goldbergs, Barry rehearses the song for his talent show, but manages to mess up the lyrics; eventually, when he performs it at the talent show, he adapts new lyrics to the song referencing his high school experiences, which is very well received.
Another parody was released in 2010 titled "The Wii Didn't Start the Fire" about the history of video games.[17] "We Didn't Start the Fire" was also used in the American comedy series Parks and Recreation in the seventh season episode, "Leslie and Ron" (aired January 20, 2015), in which Leslie attempts to sing the song in order to get Ron to confess about why he left the parks department.
JibJab set their 2007 year in review song to "We Didn't Start the Fire"'s tune. In early 2009, comedy website CollegeHumor created a parody entitled "We Didn't Start the Flame War" which chronicles a long list of common inflammatory (and often explicit) comments left on content over a wide variety of popular websites by internet trolls.[18]
In 1993, Lenny Solomon and Shlock Rock created a parody entitled "We've Got a Strong Desire", which contains over 5000 years of Jewish history told in the tune of the song.[19][20] In the Netherlands the Dutch punk rock band Heideroosjes did a parody on their 20-year anniversary album about things that happened over those twenty years in the Netherlands called "De Wereld Draait Door" (The World Keeps Turning). German comedian Otto Waalkes did a parody called "Wir haben Grund zum Feiern" (English: "We have reason to celebrate"), with a list of alcoholic beverages.
An edition of the BBC Three comedy programme Russell Howard's Good News featured a parody of the song detailing numerous items that the Daily Mail newspaper actually believed caused cancer.[21]
Fans of Homestuck uploaded a version of the song called "You Can't Fight the Homestuck" on YouTube in 2012, chronicling the webcomic's long and convoluted story.[22] YouTuber Daneboe/Dane Boedigheimer, known as creator of the popular comedic Web series Annoying Orange, produced a parody as part of YouTube's Comedy Week in 2013 titled "We Didn't Start the Viral."[23] In a 2013 episode of Family Guy (titled "Bigfat"), after Peter's plane goes down, he asks his friends if there might be a hint on how to start a fire in the song. He proceeds to sing the song but has forgotten almost all of the words and mumbles through it.
Pop band Milo Greene performed a version of the song in June 2013 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.[24] In 2015, Sky Sports released their own version of the song to advertise the upcoming 2015 Ashes series, with backing vocals and percussion provided by Elio Pace and his band. Pace has toured and recorded with Joel's original touring band.[25]
In 2014, Neil Cicierega released a mashup album, Mouth Silence. The 17th song, "Space Monkey Mafia",[26] plays lyrics from "We Didn't Start The Fire" and R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" on top of each other, modifying the lyrics of both songs so they sync up, and putting them over an original polka melody.
Charts[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
Chart (1989)
Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[27] 2
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[28] 7
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[29] 69
Canada RPM Top Singles 2
Dutch Top 40[30] 11
German Media Control Charts 4
Irish Singles Chart 3
Japanese Singles Chart[31] 11
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[32] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[33] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[34] 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[35] 5
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[36] 6
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (1989)
Position
Canada RPM Top Singles[37] 77
German Singles Chart[38] 49
UK Singles Chart 72
Chart (1990)
Position
Australian Singles Chart 37
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[39] 50
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[40] 35
Personnel[edit]
Billy Joel – vocals, clavinet, percussion
Liberty DeVitto – drums, percussion
David Brown – lead guitar
Joey Hunting – rhythm guitar
Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals, percussion
Schuyler Deale – bass guitar
John Mahoney – keyboards
Sammy Merendino – electronic percussion
Kevin Jones – keyboard programming
Doug Kleeger – sounds effects and arrangements
See also[edit]
Ronald Reagan in music
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b Novak, B. J. (October 11, 2005). "Which Office Stars Have the Write Stuff?". TV Guide. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
Jump up ^ Rolling Stone magazine – "Billy Joel Starts a Fire" by Sheila Rogers. Retrieved May 4, 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b Billy Joel Q&A: Tell Us About 'We Didn't Start The Fire?' University of Oxford, May 5, 1994 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx3T8pbDcms
Jump up ^ Bordowitz, Hank (2006). Billy Joel: The Life & Times of an Angry Young Man. Billboard Books. pp. 168, 161, 9. ISBN 978-0-8230-8248-3.
Jump up ^ "Rock On The Net: 32nd Annual Grammy Awards – 1990". rockonthenet.com. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
Jump up ^ DeMain, Bill (2004). In their own words: songwriters talk about the creative process. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-275-98402-1.
Jump up ^ Newman, Melinda (July 26, 1997). "Joel Sees Pop Exit with Greatest Hits 3". Billboard. Cited in Bordowitz (2006), p. 169.
Jump up ^ Nadboy, Arie (March 1996). "I am the Edu-Tainer". Island Ear. Cited by Bordowitz (2006), p. 169.
Jump up ^ Horn, David (Director) (1993). Billy Joel: Shades of Grey (Motion picture). New York: Thirteen/WNET and Maritime Music.
Jump up ^ Garcia, Alex S. Billy Joel – We didn't start the fire. MVDBase – Music Video Database.
Jump up ^ Ettinger, Steven (2003). Torah 24/7: A Timely Guide for the Modern Spirit. Devorah Publishing Company. p. 2. ISBN 1-930143-73-7. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
Jump up ^ Joel, Billy. "Lyrics: We Didn't Start the Fire". www.billyjoel.com. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
Jump up ^ Bernstein, Adam (May 21, 2008). "Obituaries: Barbara Sears Rockefeller, 91; Miss Lithuania, Millionaire Bride". The Washington Post.
Jump up ^ "The 30th Academy Awards – 1958". oscars.org. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
Jump up ^ Seisman, Matt (April 16, 2009). "We Didn't Start the Song Parody". Techland.com. Time.com. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
Jump up ^ "12th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners : Online Film & Video". WebbyAwards.com. 2008. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009.
Jump up ^ Serrels, Mark (December 20, 2010). "The Wii Didn't Start The Fire". Kotaku.
Jump up ^ ""We Didn't Start the Flame War" – CollegeHumor Video". April 14, 2009.
Jump up ^ "Sgt. Shlokers Magical History Tour (1993 Album)".
Jump up ^ Adam Drucker (April 22, 2010). "We've got a strong desire". Retrieved March 6, 2017 – via YouTube.
Jump up ^ "'Russell Howard's Good News' Cancer song".
Jump up ^ "You Can't Fight the Homestuck!".
Jump up ^ Kurp, Josh. "'We Didn't Start The Viral' Is A Musical Recap Of YouTube's Greatest Hits". UPROXX Web Culture. UPROXX.com. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Milo Greene covers Billy Joel". Retrieved May 25, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Sky Sports Ashes promo 2015 – We Didn't Start The Fire". YouTube. Sky Sports. Retrieved June 14, 2015.
Jump up ^ NeilCicieregaMusic (July 19, 2014), Neil Cicierega – Space Monkey Mafia, retrieved April 17, 2017
Jump up ^ "Australian-charts.com – Billy Joel – We Didn't Star The Fire". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Austriancharts.at – Billy Joel – We Didn't Star The Fire" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ http://www.ultratop.be/nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Billy+Joel&titel=We+Didn%27t+Start+The+Fire&cat=s (Retrieved September 17, 2012)
Jump up ^ Jans, Micha (updated April 23, 2009) Dutch Top 40 1989, MichaJans.nl, Jaarlijsten/1989. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
Jump up ^ Oricon Singles Chart Oricon Singles Chart (Retrieved November 2, 2012)
Jump up ^ "Charts.org.nz – Billy Joel – We Didn't Star The Fire". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Billy Joel: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Canada RPM Top Singles of 1989". Retrieved August 9, 2010.
Jump up ^ "INFINITY CHARTS: German Top 20". uni-wuerzburg.de. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1990". RPM. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1990". Retrieved September 15, 2009.
External links[edit]
"We Didn't Start the Fire" Music Video on YouTube / BillyJoelVEVO channel
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Preceded by
"Blame It on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
December 9, 1989 – December 16, 1989 Succeeded by
"Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Collins
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Baby's on Fire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For the Die Antwoord song, see Ten$Ion.
"Baby's on Fire"
Song by Eno
from the album Here Come the Warm Jets
Released
1973
Recorded
Majestic Studios, London
Genre
Art rock, glam rock, noise rock
Length
5:19
Label
Island
Songwriter(s)
Eno
Producer(s)
Eno
"Baby's on Fire" is the third track on English musician Brian Eno's 1973 debut album, Here Come the Warm Jets.
Contents
1 Writing and recording
2 Musical composition
3 Release and reception
4 Personnel
4.1 Technical personnel
5 Notes
6 Sources
7 External links
Writing and recording[edit]
Eno recorded "Baby's on Fire" during the Here Come the Warm Jets sessions in September 1973 at Majestic Studios, London, where he had previously recorded the majority of his earlier material. The track was produced by Eno, who handled production and mixing duties on the bulk of the album's recording, and was created with musicians Simon King, Marty Simon, Robert Fripp, Paul Rudolph, and John Wetton.[1] The song is a bizarre fantasy about a photography session involving a burning infant and unthinking, laughing onlookers.[2]
Live recordings of the song have appeared on various Eno recordings, the first being June 1, 1974, performed with Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Ollie Halsall and Eddie Sparrow.[3] Eno spoke positively about this performance, saying, "The instruments were incredibly out of tune, so out of tune you wouldn’t believe it. But it sounds fantastic. There’s one little bit in it where there’s a riff between the guitar and one of the bassists, and they’re so out of tune it sounds like cellos. Amazing! I mean if you tried to make that sound in the studio it would have taken you ages. You wouldn’t have thought of making it, in fact, it’s such a bizarre sound. And the piano and guitar are quite well out of tune as well. Ha!"[4]
Musical composition[edit]
The album version of "Baby's on Fire" is 5 minutes 19 seconds long.[5] The song begins with a tense high-hat and bass line, along several different kinds of electronic sounds. Eno's vocals enter after this, being described as "nasal" and "slightly snotty."[6] Following this first section of lyrics there is a 3 minute guitar solo by Robert Fripp and Paul Rudolph with shifting drum beats as backing; Eno's vocal returns as the song ends.[6] The last line sung by Eno is, "The temperature's rising, and any idiot would know that." In the 801 Live version performed by 801, the last line says, "But any idiot could see that!"
Release and reception[edit]
"Baby's on Fire" has received positive reviews from critics, mainly noting the guitar solo. Douglas Wolk of Blender described the song as "a two-note wonder built around an all-hell-breaks-loose guitar meltdown by King Crimson’s Robert Fripp",[7] while Chris Ott of Pitchfork Media called the track "earth-shattering".[8] "Baby's on Fire" was featured prominently in the 1998 film Velvet Goldmine.,[9] with vocals provided by the film's star, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. There has been discussion in the last decade as to whether the solo is actually Paul Rudolph, or some combination of Fripp and Rudolph. [10]
Personnel[edit]
Eno – vocals, synthesizers, guitar treatments, keyboards, instrumental arrangements
Robert Fripp – guitar
Simon King – drums
Paul Rudolph – guitar
Marty Simon – percussion
John Wetton – bass guitar
Technical personnel[edit]
Brian Eno – producer, mixer
Chris Thomas – mixer
Derek Chandler – recording engineer
Denny Bridges, Phil Chapman, Paul Hardiman – mixing engineers
Arun Chakraverty – mastering
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Here Come the Warm Jets (Vinyl back cover). Brian Eno. Island Records. 1973. ILPS 9268.
Jump up ^ Tamm, 1995. p. 110
Jump up ^ June 1, 1974 (Vinyl back cover). Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Eno & Nico. Island Records. 1974. ILPS 9291.
Jump up ^ Tamm, 1995. p. 48
Jump up ^ Huey, Steve. "Here Come the Warm Jets album review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
^ Jump up to: a b Huey, Steve. ""Baby's on Fire" review". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
Jump up ^ Wolk, Douglas. "Brian Eno : (various reissues) Review on Blender :: The Ultimate Guide to Music and More". Blender. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
Jump up ^ Ott, Chris (13 June 2004). "Brian Eno: Here Come the Warm Jets / Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) / Another Green World / Before and After Science". Pitchfork. Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2015-09-24.
Jump up ^ "imdb.com - Velvet Goldmine". Archived from the original on 26 July 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
Jump up ^ http://www.headheritage.co.uk/headtohead/unsung/topic/1193/#18. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Sources[edit]
Tamm, Eric (1995). Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80649-5.
External links[edit]
"Baby's on Fire" at Allmusic
"Baby's on Fire" at Last.fm
"Baby's on Fire" at MusicBrainz
Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
show
v
t
e
Brian Eno
Discography
Solo studio albums
Here Come the Warm Jets
Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)
Another Green World
Discreet Music
Before and After Science
Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Music for Films
Ambient 4: On Land
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
More Music for Films
Thursday Afternoon
Nerve Net
The Shutov Assembly
Neroli
The Drop
Extracts from Music for White Cube
I Dormienti
Lightness: Music for the Marble Palace
Kite Stories
Music for Civic Recovery Centre
Compact Forest Proposal
January 07003-Bell Studies
Another Day on Earth
Lux
The Ship
Reflection
Other productions
Lucky Leif and the Longships
Music from the Penguin Cafe
Ultravox!
No New York
Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
Ambient 3: Day of Radiance
Hybrid
Laid
Souvlaki
Bright Red
Faith and Courage
Now, Always, Never
Hurricane
Compilation albums
More Blank Than Frank/Desert Island Selection
Curiosities Volume 1
Videos
77 Million Paintings
Publications
More Dark Than Shark
A Year with Swollen Appendices
I Dormienti
Related articles
Eno
Obscure Records
Long Now Foundation
No New York
Oblique Strategies
Neverwhere
Bloom
Symphony No. 1 "Low"
Symphony No. 4 "Heroes"
Berlin Trilogy
Fripp & Eno
show
Collaborative albums (by artist)
Roxy Music
Roxy Music
For Your Pleasure
Robert Fripp
(No Pussyfooting)
Evening Star
The Equatorial Stars
Beyond Even (The Cotswold Gnomes)
801
801 Live
Listen Now
Cluster
Cluster & Eno
After the Heat
Old Land
Begegnungen
Begegnungen II
David Bowie
Low
"Heroes"
Lodger
Outside
Talking Heads / David Byrne
More Songs About Buildings and Food
Fear of Music
Remain in Light
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Harold Budd
The Pavilion of Dreams
Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror
The Pearl
Jon Hassell
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics
Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two
John Cale
June 1, 1974
Fear
Words for the Dying
Wrong Way Up
Daniel Lanois
Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
Hybrid
Music for Films III
U2
The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree
Achtung Baby
Zooropa
Original Soundtracks 1
No Line on the Horizon
J. Peter Schwalm
Music for Onmyo-Ji
Drawn from Life
Coldplay
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
Mylo Xyloto
James
Wah Wah
Millionaires
Pleased to Meet You
Karl Hyde
Someday World
High Life
Other collaborations
Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy
Spinner
Tracks and Traces
Small Craft on a Milk Sea
Drums Between the Bells
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baby%27s_on_Fire&oldid=848116560"
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text:
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
For the television show, see Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (anime).
"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair"
Original sheet music cover
Song
Published
1854
Genre
Parlor song
Songwriter(s)
Stephen Foster
"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster (1826–1864). It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his estranged wife Jane McDowell in mind. The lyrics allude to a permanent separation.[1]
"Jeanie" was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott of 1941. During this period, most modern music could not be played by the major radio broadcasters due to a dispute over licensing fees. The broadcasters used public-domain songs during this period, and according to a 1941 article in Time magazine, "So often had BMI's Jeannie [sic] With the Light Brown Hair been played that she was widely reported to have turned grey."[2]
Contents
1 Background
2 Lyrics
3 Other versions
4 In popular culture
5 References
Background[edit]
House in Hoboken, New Jersey where Foster is believed to have written Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.[3]
In 1850, Stephen Foster married Jane Denny McDowell, whose nickname was "Jennie." The marriage was short-lived, however, as the pair suffered numerous conflicts and ultimately separated in 1853. Perhaps in an attempt to win back his wife, Foster composed "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" in 1854. The opening texts of each stanza support the speculation that the song was written with Jane in mind: "I dream of Jeanie" (verse one); "I long for Jeanie" (verse two); and "I sigh for Jeanie" (verse three).
Although the song remains one of Foster's most beloved parlor ballads, it was not commercially successful.[4] It was virtually unknown during its time and the initial ten thousand copies sold earned Foster only just over $200 in royalties. Foster, who experienced financial difficulty through most of his career, had to sell the rights to "Jeanie" (as well as other songs, including "Old Folks at Home") to make ends meet. After his death, the rights to "Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair" reverted to Jane, and then to Foster's daughter Marion in 1879.
Lyrics[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Borne, like a zephyr, on the summer air;
I see her tripping where the bright streams play,
Happy as the daisies that dance on her way.
Many were the wild notes her merry voice would pour.
Many were the blithe birds that warbled them o'er:
Oh! I dream of Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.

I long for Jeanie with the daydawn smile,
Radiant in gladness, warm with winning guile;
I hear her melodies, like joys gone by,
Sighing round my heart o'er the fond hopes that die:—
Sighing like the night wind and sobbing like the rain,—
Wailing for the lost one that comes not again:
Oh! I long for Jeanie, and my heart bows low,
Never more to find her where the bright waters flow.

I sigh for Jeanie, but her light form strayed
Far from the fond hearts round her native glade;
Her smiles have vanished and her sweet songs flown,
Flitting like the dreams that have cheered us and gone.
Now the nodding wild flowers may wither on the shore
While her gentle fingers will cull them no more:
Oh! I sigh for Jeanie with the light brown hair,
Floating, like a vapor, on the soft summer air.
Other versions[edit]
Bing Crosby recorded the song on March 22, 1940 for Decca Records with John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.[5]
Violinist Jascha Heifetz transcribed the song for the violin and it became a signature piece for him for years. The transcription has been performed by many subsequent violinists.
The song's ubiquitous airplay in the 1940s led Spike Jones to create a parody, called "I Dream of Brownie with the Light Blue Jeans." In the song, it turns out that "Brownie" is a wire-haired terrier. The instrumental interlude contains a number of references to other Stephen Foster songs.
Les Brown's 1941 big-band song, "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio", contained the quip, "We dream of Joey with the light brown bat."
The 1960 Bugs Bunny short From Hare To Heir, in which Bugs Bunny continually tries to provoke Yosemite Sam into losing his temper, features Bugs' version "I dream of Jeanie, she's a light brown hare..." His version also appears in the cartoon Apes of Wrath.
Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble sang a version of the song in an episode of The Flintstones titled, "The House Guests", which originally aired on December 22, 1961. The lyrics they used were, "My bosom buddy and my lifelong pal.....lah dee dee dah.....". They were trying to prove to Wilma and Betty that they could get along together without fighting while the Rubbles were forced to live with the Flintstones for a week due a water main break in the Rubbles' house.
The character of Laura Petrie, while under the influence of prescription tranquilizers and wine, sings a version of the song in the Season 4 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show entitled "Pink Pills and Purple Parents" (1964).[6] The character, played by Mary Tyler Moore, sings the tune with the lyrics "I dream of Laura with the light brown hair, floating like a zeppelin on the summer air."
On The Alvin Show, David Seville, while courting a young woman, sang the song to her in a boat, much to the annoyance of Alvin and the Chipmunks, who retaliated with a silly and disrespectful spoof: "We dream of Jeanie with the green-purple hair/She looks so funny, people stop and stare..." which insults Dave's girlfriend and irritates Dave himself...and as penance the Chipmunks are forced to sing the song repeatedly with the correct lyrics until they know them by heart.
On the September 8, 1966 episode of F Troop, "The Singing Mountie", Paul Lynde as the title character sings the song to blonde Wrangler Jane as "I Dream of Wrangler with the light yellow hair."
Joan Baez paired the song with "Danny Boy", for the medley "I Dream of Jeanie/Danny Boy", which closes her 1975 album Diamonds & Rust.
Stina Nordenstam includes an original reworking of the song in her 1998 People Are Strange album of covers.
The Jukebox Band sang a version of the song on an episode of Shining Time Station.
In popular culture[edit]
The opening line notably got used as the basis for the title of the TV series I Dream of Jeannie.
In the 1956 Bugs Bunny short "Broomstick Bunny," a play on the title is used in the closing lines: "Hello, air-raid headquarters? Well, you're not gonna believe this, but I just saw a genie with light brown hair chasing a flying sorceress."
A few lines of the song's first stanza are sung loudly, a cappella, in the Band of Brothers episode "Bastogne" by soldiers Joseph Liebgott, James Alley and an unnamed soldier in a foxhole, shortly before being shelled by Nazi artillery.
In the John Cassavetes motion picture Faces, an important scene occurs which revolves around the singing of this song.
The full title is used as the nickname for character Jeanie in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, most notably several times in the episode "The Cold Open".
One of the Pink Panther animated cartoons is entitled Genie with the Light Pink Fur; it is about a magic lamp that turns the Pink Panther into a genie.
References[edit]
Jump up ^ O'Connell, Joanne. "Understanding Stephen Collins Foster, His World and Music", ProQuest. March 23, 2007.
Jump up ^ "No Letup". Time Magazine. January 27, 1941.
Jump up ^ Sisario, Ben (September 20, 1998). "ON THE MAP; Stephen Foster's Old Hoboken Home". New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
Jump up ^ Browne, Blaine T.; Cottrell, Robert C. (2010). Lives and Times: Individuals and Issues in American History: To 1877. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 115. ISBN 978-0742561922.
Jump up ^ "A Bing Crosby Discography". BING magazine. International Club Crosby. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
Jump up ^ "Pink Pills and Purple Parents" at IMDB
hide
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Stephen Foster
List of songs written by Stephen Foster
Songs
Minstrel songs
Angelina Baker (1850)
Camptown Races (1850)
The Glendy Burk (1860)
My Old Kentucky Home (1853)
Oh! Susanna (1848)
Old Folks at Home (Swanee River) (1851)
Parlor songs
Ah! May the Red Rose Live Alway
Open Thy Lattice Love
Beautiful Dreamer (1864)
Hard Times Come Again No More (1854)
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (1854)
Old Black Joe (1853)
Willie Has Gone To War (1862)
History and
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Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster
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I Dream of Jeanie
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Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair (anime)
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Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park
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Stephen Foster (sculpture)
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text:
Languages of Burkina Faso
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
A map of major languages in Burkina Faso.
Commercial signs in French in Ouagadougou.
French is the principal language of instruction in Burkinabé schools.
Burkina Faso is a multilingual country. An estimated 70 languages are spoken there, of which about 66 are indigenous.[1] The Mossi language (Mossi: Mòoré) is spoken by about 40% of the population, mainly in the central region around the capital, Ouagadougou. French is the official language.
In the west, Mande languages are widely spoken, the most predominant being Dyula (also spelled Jula or Dioula), others including Bobo, Samo, and Marka. The Fula language (Fula: fulfulde, French: peul) is widespread, particularly in the north. The Gourmanché language is spoken in the east, while the Bissa language is spoken in the south.[2]
Education for the deaf in Burkina uses American Sign Language, which was introduced by the deaf American missionary Andrew Foster. The Burkina Sign Language is used in Ouagadougou.[3]
Contents
[hide]
1 French language
2 National languages
3 See also
4 References
5 External links
French language[edit]
The official language is French, which was introduced when France colonized Burkina Faso in 1919. French is the principal language of administrative, political and judicial institutions, public services, and the press. It is the only language for laws, administration and courts. French is the language of instruction in the nation's schools.[4] However, fewer than 15 percent of the population uses French on a day-to-day basis.[5] Despite this low percentage, there is a high amount of support in keeping French as the language of instruction because it provides children a pathway to social mobility and assures continued economic support for education.[6] In fact, according to a 1998 report, “Burkinabe saw no interest in sending their children to school to learn a language that they already spoke at home”.[7]
French is one of 13 languages used on the radio.[8]
National languages[edit]
The Mossi language, also known as Móorè, is the most widely spoken language in the country, with 48 percent of Burkinabes being speakers as of 2008.[5] Dyula and Fulfulde are also recognized as national languages. This has caused consternation with speakers of the other languages, who have protested it as an injustice.[9]
The country's name was taken from words in two of the most widely spoken languages, with ‘Burkina’ meaning ‘men of integrity’ in Mossi and ‘Faso’ meaning ‘father’s house’ in Dyula.
Fulfulde is the lingua franca in many parts of Burkina Faso.[10] It is widely spoken in the north and east of the country as a first language, with 8.36 percent of the population able to speak it.[2][11] Dyula is also a lingua franca and is widely used as a trading language.[2] In 2006, 4.4% of the population were able to speak Dyula.[11]
Most of the languages that are spoken belong to either the Mande or Gur branches. In rural areas of Burkina Faso, one's native language is typically used for common activities.[2] In large towns, most people are multilingual.[8] Although not recognized as a national language, Gourmanché is spoken by 5.51% of the population. Other important minority languages include Bissa, spoken by 2.85%; Bwamu, spoken by 1.91%, Dagara, spoken by 1.76%; and Samo, spoken by 1.66%.[11] Dagara is spoken in the southwestern part of Burkina Faso and borrows heavily from French and, to a lesser degree, English.[12]
See also[edit]
African French
Burkinabé alphabet
Education in Burkina Faso
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. (Page on "Languages of Burkina Faso.")
^ Jump up to: a b c d Rupley, Lawrence; Bangali, Lamissa; Diamitani, Boureima (2013). Historical Dictionary of Burkina Faso. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 123. ISBN 0810867702.
Jump up ^ Brentari, Diane (2010). Sign Languages. Cambridge University Press. p. 406. ISBN 1139487396.
Jump up ^ Kone, Aame (2010). "Politics of Language: The Struggle for Power in Schools in Mali and Burkina Faso". International Education. 39 (2): 7. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b Kone 2010, page 9
Jump up ^ Kone 2010, p. 12
Jump up ^ Kone 2010, p. 15
^ Jump up to: a b Baker, Colin; Jones, Sylvia (1998). Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education. Multilingual Matters. p. 356. ISBN 1853593621.
Jump up ^ Kone 2010, p. 10
Jump up ^ "Fulfude, Moore & Dioula" (PDF). National African Language Resource Center. Indiana University. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b c Language census form Burkina Faso Government
Jump up ^ Beyogle, Richard (2015). "Language contact in two border communities in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Lexical borrowings from French, English and African languages". "Ph.D. Dissertation". Retrieved 24 October 2016.
External links[edit]
Ethnologue listing of Burkina Faso languages
[show]
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Official language
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Regional languages
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Marka
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values: বুর্কিনা ফাসোর ভাষা – Bangla

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