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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 (Album version)
4:29 (Single version)
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)
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
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 1972–75
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 deliberately intended to chronicle the Cold War with his song[10] he responded, "It was just my luck that the Soviet Union decided to close down shop [soon after putting out the song]", and that this span "had a symmetry to it, it was 40 years" that he had lived through. He was 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.[11]
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.[12]
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.[13] 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. She was once married to Joe DiMaggio who was mentioned above.
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.[14]
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. (Also, during the late 1950s, the US Army was developing a small tactical nuclear weapon which was given the official nickname Davy Crockett.)
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, going on to earn a reputation as the "King of Rock and Roll".
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.[15]
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, a senator from Massachusetts, beats Vice President Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election. (JFK has the distinction of being mentioned twice by name, for his election and also his assassination in 1963.)
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's separation into West Berlin and East Berlin is cemented when the Berlin Wall is erected on August 13 to prevent citizens of East Germany 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. In 1964, their tour of the United States would mark the beginning of "the British Invasion".
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. (JFK has the distinction of being mentioned twice by name, for his election in 1960 along with his assassination.)
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]
1972–75[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 during the 1972 campaign. 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 on August 9, 1974; to date, this remains the only time that anyone has ever resigned the United States Presidency.
Punk rock: Backlash against the progressive rock of the early 1970s leads to the emergence of newly formed bands such as The Ramones (founded in 1974), AC/DC (which switched from glam to blues/punk with the hiring of Bon Scott as lead singer the same year) and the Sex Pistols (founded a year later).
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,[16] and the San Francisco a cappella group The Richter Scales' 2007 Webby Award-winning[17] parody "Here Comes Another Bubble." The Cayuga's Waiters, a former a cappella group at Cornell University, previously performed 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.[18] "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.[19]
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.[20][21] 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.[22]
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.[23] 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."[24] 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.[25] 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.[26]
In 2014, Neil Cicierega released a mashup album, Mouth Silence. The 17th song, "Space Monkey Mafia",[27] 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)[28] 2
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[29] 7
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[30] 69
Canada RPM Top Singles 2
Dutch Top 40[31] 11
German Media Control Charts 4
Irish Singles Chart 3
Japanese Singles Chart[32] 11
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[33] 5
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[34] 7
US Billboard Hot 100[35] 1
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[36] 5
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[37] 6
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (1989)
Position
Canada RPM Top Singles[38] 77
German Singles Chart[39] 49
UK Singles Chart 72
Chart (1990)
Position
Australian Singles Chart 37
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[40] 50
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[41] 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]
"Do You Remember These", a similar song covering the 1950s
"Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)"
"Pencil Thin Mustache"
"19 Somethin'", a similar song covering the 1970s and 80s
Ronald Reagan in music
Prometheus, the Titan who did start the fire
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 ^ The start year of 1949 was when the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb, and the end year of 1989 was when the Berlin Wall fell.
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.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

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text:
Charlotte Coleman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Charlotte Coleman
Charlotte Coleman as Marmalade Atkins in Educating Marmalade (1983)
Born
Charlotte Ninon Coleman
(1968-04-03)3 April 1968
Islington, London, England
Died
14 November 2001(2001-11-14) (aged 33)
Holloway, London, England
Occupation
Actress
Years active
1977–2001
Parent(s)
Francis Coleman (deceased)
Ann Beach (deceased)
Charlotte Ninon Coleman (3 April 1968 – 14 November 2001) was an English actress best known for playing Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Jess in the television drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, and her childhood roles of Sue in Worzel Gummidge and the character Marmalade Atkins. Coleman died of an acute asthma attack in Holloway, North London, aged 33.[1]
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Theatre
3 Personal life
3.1 Death
4 Charlotte Coleman Scholarship Award
5 Roles
5.1 Film
5.2 Television
6 References
7 External links
Early life[edit]
Coleman was the first of two daughters born to actress Ann Beach and Canadian-born television producer Francis Coleman.[2] Her younger sister is the actress Lisa Coleman. She was educated at Camden School for Girls, from which she was expelled.[3] Outside regular school hours she attended classes at the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington, north London, because she said she was "too cool" to go to the Brownies.[4]
At 15, feeling that her upbringing had been too liberal, her parents "didn't believe in restraint", Coleman enrolled at Dartington Hall School in Devon. It was a very progressive school where pupils "didn't have to go to any lessons, so I didn't. I spent 15 grand, all my money, and it was just stupid really." After this, she attended cookery school.[5]
Career[edit]
Coleman's first major television role was as Sue in Southern Television's Worzel Gummidge. This ran for four series (and a Christmas special) from 1978 to 1981 on the ITV network. Other early work included A Choice of Evils (Play for Today, BBC, 1977) and Two People (LWT, 1979), as Emma Moffatt). She had a crush on Stephen Garlick, her co-star in Two People. For the role, she had to choose a stuffed toy for Emma to carry; she named it "Haggis" and still had it when interviewed in 1990.
This was soon followed by her role as the teenage rebel Marmalade Atkins, firstly in Marmalade Atkins in Space (a one-off drama shown in 1981), and then in two series, Educating Marmalade (1982–83) and Danger: Marmalade at Work (1984). All three were made by Thames and written by Andrew Davies.
In 1990, Coleman appeared as Jess, a girl from Lancashire brought up by a strict Pentecostal mother, in the acclaimed BBC television drama Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, based on Jeanette Winterson's novel of the same name. Coleman won a Royal Television Society, Best Actress award and was nominated for a BAFTA for her portrayal of the young lesbian character. She also read the novel for release by BBC Audiobooks.
Other television appearances in the 1980s and '90s included roles in The Bill and Inspector Morse, the short-lived comedy series Freddie and Max, with Anne Bancroft, a drama about homelessness, Sweet Nothing and another lesbian role, as Barb Gale in the political satire Giving Tongue (1996). She also appeared in Simon Nye's sitcom How Do You Want Me? (1998–2000), alongside Dylan Moran and voiced the lead female character, Primrose, in the animated adaptation of Brambly Hedge.[6] Coleman's final television appearance was in the adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson's Double Act, where she played the twins' teacher, Miss Debenham.
Probably Charlotte's most internationally known role was as the endearingly kooky Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) with Hugh Grant, Simon Callow and Kristin Scott Thomas. She continued to act steadily throughout the rest of the 1990s in films, with her last major film being Jasmin Dizdar's Beautiful People (1999), set in London in 1993, at the time of the Bosnian War, playing the role of Portia Thornton.[7]
Theatre[edit]
Coleman portrayed the character of Lorna in Our Own Kind (Roy MacGregor), at the Bush Theatre in London (April 1991). She co-starred with Kevin Whately, Nisha Nayar and Jane Horrocks.
"The prime focus falls on Sylvie's bright-eyed schoolgirl sister Lorna. Vividly brought to life by Charlotte Coleman, she's both a droll chorus figure and an optimistic, surrogate victim. The play is tightly directed by new Bush supremo Dominic Dromgoole"[8]
Personal life[edit]
In 1987 Coleman's boyfriend Jonathan Laycock died as the result of a cycling accident; he was 23 years old.[9][10] After his death Coleman went through periods of depression, and developed the eating disorders anorexia and bulimia; she also attended AA meetings because "she couldn't bear being with all those fat people at Overeaters Anonymous".[9][10]
Death[edit]
On 13 November 2001, Charlotte visited her family where they watched a film together. Her father later stated that she had been in great spirits, because of her new flat in Holloway, north London, which she had decorated, and there was a possibility of a career upturn after a few years of a career stall. Later that evening, she complained of feeling unwell, but went home to her flat against her parents' advice. The next morning, Wednesday, 14 November 2001, her parents telephoned her to see if she was feeling better; but there was no reply. Concerned, her mother went to Charlotte's flat, to find her lying unconscious on the floor; her asthma inhaler was in a different room. She was taken by ambulance to Whittington Hospital in north London, where she was pronounced dead on arrival, from a massive attack of bronchial asthma.[9][10]
A memorial was held at the Mill Hill Buddhist Centre in north London later that month, attended by family and close friends.[9][10]
Charlotte Coleman Scholarship Award[edit]
The New London Performing Arts Centre introduced the Charlotte Coleman Scholarship in 2003. A showcase event is held every November from which one performer is chosen to receive the award. All NLPAC members are eligible for the prize of a year's classes in dance, drama and music.[11]
Roles[edit]
Film[edit]
"A Loving Act" (2001) ... Det. Jane Thompson
Beautiful People (1999) ... Portia Thornton
Bodywork (1998) ... Tiffany Shades
If Only... (1998) aka Twice Upon a Yesterday ... Alison Hayes
Sweet Revenge (1998) ... Norma
Different for Girls (1996) ... Alison
The Young Poisoner's Handbook (1995) ... Winnie
Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) ... Scarlett
Map of the Human Heart (1993) ... Julie
Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale (1989) ... Kate
Television[edit]
Double Act ... Miss Debenham; 2 June 2002, BBC (writer: Jacqueline Wilson; director: Cilla Ware)
McCready and Daughter ... Shelley Bennett in "No Bed of Roses" (1.5); Ecosse Films for BBC
How Do You Want Me? ... Lisa Lyons; 24 February 1998 – 22 December 1999, Kensington Films & Television for BBC (writer: Simon Nye; director: John Henderson)
Wycliffe ... Laura Kessell in "Bad Blood" (4.6); 3 August 1997, ITV (director: Alan Wareing)
Oliver's Travels ... Cathy; 1995, BBC Wales (writer: Alan Plater; director: Giles Foster)
The Vacillations of Poppy Carew ... Mary; 5 March 1995, (director: James Cellan Jones)
Olly's Prison ... Sheila; May 1993, BBC (writer: Edward Bond; director: Roy Battersby)[12]
The Comic Strip Presents... ... Patsy in "Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase"; 13 May 1993 (director: Peter Richardson)
The Bill ... Sharon Palmer in "Happy Families" (8.93); 19 November 1992, ITV (director: Andrew Higgs)
Inspector Morse ... Jessica White in "Happy Families" (6.2); 11 March 1992, Zenith Entertainment for ITV (director: Adrian Shergold)
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit ... Jess; 10–24 January 1990 (writer: Jeanette Winterson; director: Beeban Kidron)[13]
Freddie and Max ... Freddie Latham; 12 November – 18 December 1990 (director: John Stroud)
The Insurance Man ... Seamstress; 22 February 1986, BBC (Writer: Alan Bennett; director: Richard Eyre)[14]
Danger: Marmalade at Work ... Marmalade Atkins; 20 February – 30 April 1984, Thames Television for ITV (writer: Andrew Davies; director: John Stroud)
Educating Marmalade ... Marmalade Atkins; 25 October 1982 – 3 January 1983, Thames Television for ITV (writer: Andrew Davies; directors: John Stroud, Colin Bucksey)
Marmalade Atkins in Space ... Marmalade Atkins; 2 November 1981, Thames Television for ITV (writer: Andrew Davies)
Worzel Gummidge ... Sue Peters; 25 February 1979 – 31 October 1981, Southern Television for ITV (writers: Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall; directors: James Hill and David Pick)[15]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Four Weddings star dies". Daily Mail Online. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
Jump up ^ "Obituary: Charlotte Coleman" Daily Telegraph, 17 November 2001
Jump up ^ Reynolds, Nigel (2001-11-17). "Four Weddings actress Charlotte is dead at 33". Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-03-17.
Jump up ^ Valentine, Penny; "Obituary: Charlotte Coleman" The Guardian, 19 November 2001
Jump up ^ Jivani, Alkarim, ""Almost Grown"". Archived from the original on 10 September 2006. Retrieved 2005-01-07. Time Out, 11–18 December 1996
Jump up ^ "TV Toons: Brambly Hedge (1996–2000)" Toonhound.com, 2008
Jump up ^ Walker, John, (ed) "Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies" (fourth edition), HarperCollins, 2006 (ISBN 0-00-716957-4)
Jump up ^ Thaxter, John, Richmond & Twickenham Times, 12 April 1991.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Gannon, Louise (13 August 2002). "Bulimia, drugs and a secret tragedy. Why Four Weddings' Charlotte Coleman really died at just 33". Daily Mail: 24–25.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Gannon, Louise (September 2002). "Why did Charlotte Coleman die?". Elle: 175–176, 179–180.
Jump up ^ "Charlotte Coleman Scholarship Award" Archived 31 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine. New London Performing Arts Centre
Jump up ^ Battersby, Roy; "Obituary letter: Charlotte Coleman" The Guardian, 28 November
Jump up ^ "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (1990)" BFI ScreenOnline
Jump up ^ "Insurance Man, The (1986)" BFI ScreenOnline
Jump up ^ "Worzel Gummidge (1979–81)" BFI ScreenOnline
External links[edit]
Charlotte Coleman on IMDb
Charlotte Coleman at AllMovie
The Unofficial Charlotte Coleman Homepage
New London Performing Arts Centre – Charlotte Coleman Scholarship Award
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VIAF: 68530971
ISNI: 0000 0000 4199 1497
SUDOC: 117523887
MusicBrainz: bbb2880c-d883-421b-b9c2-9f1c96501c27
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charlotte_Coleman&oldid=795637318"
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1968 births
2001 deaths
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This page was last edited on 15 August 2017, at 14:34.
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