We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel with additional lyrics by Mr. DavidsonNOTE:  Titles of books, movies, shows, etc. appear in quotes              Additional lyrics are underlined.  Explanations are in brackets. 1949        Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray"South Pacific," Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio1950        Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker [car], Television,North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe1951        Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray [Robinson], Panmunjom [city],Brando, "The King and I," and "The Catcher in the Rye"1952        Eisenhower, Vaccine [polio], England's got a new queen,Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbyeWe didn't start the fire, It was always burning,Since the world's been turning, We didn't start the fire,No we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it1953        Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser, and Prokofiev,Rockefeller [Nelson], Campanella, Communist Bloc1954        Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron [fabric],Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"1955        Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team [baseball],"Davy Crockett," "Peter Pan," Elvis Presley, Disneyland1956        Bardot, Budapest, Alabama [Montgomery], Krushchev,Princess Grace, "Peyton Place," Trouble in the SuezWe didn't start the fire, It was always burning,Since the world's been turning, We didn't start the fire,No we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it1957        Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac,Sputnik, Chou En-lai [Zhou Enlai], "Bridge on the River Kwai"1958        Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball [Dodgers],Starkweather homicide, Children of thalidomide, Well done Explorer I1959        Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur," Space Monkey, Mafia,Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go [car]1960        U-2, Syngman Rhee, Payola, and Kennedy,Chubby Checker, "Psycho," Belgians in the Congo,We didn't start the fire, It was always burning,Since the world's been turning, We didn't start the fire,No we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it1961        Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land,"Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion1962        "Lawrence of Arabia," British Beatlemania,Ole Miss[issippi, look up James Meredith], John Glenn,Liston beats Patterson, "Silent Spring," Missiles bring [a crisis to Cuba]1963        Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex [Profumo scandal],J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say,Test-Ban Treaty's the new thing, "I Have A Dream," said Dr. KingWe didn't start the fire, It was always burning,Since the world's been turning, We didn't start the fire,No we didn't light it, But we tried to fight it1964        Goldwater, Beach Boys, Civil Rights fans rejoice [Civil Rights Act of 1964]Gulf of Tonkin, "Mary Poppins," Ed Sullivan is hot [2/9/64]1965        Birth control [Griswold v. Conn.], Supremes, Miniskirt extremes,"The Sound of Music," Blackout, Riots in Watts1966        Edward Brooke, Clemente, Elizabeth Taylor's plenty,Big change in China [Cultural Revolution], "Batman's" a crime fighter,Medicare a brand new plan, and "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"1967        Glassboro meeting, Heart transplant keeps beating,Israel is a winner, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?",[Thurgood] Marshall up, [Muhammed] Ali down,"Mrs. Robinson" paints the town [look up "The Graduate"]1968        Humphrey, Mylai [Vietnam], "Laugh-In," Best actress tie [Oscars],[Shirley] Chisholm, "Hair," Prague Spring, Goodbye Martin Luther King1969        Ho Chi Minh, Tiny Tim, Richard Nixon's back again,Moonshot, Woodstock, Chappaquiddick roadblock1970        "Love Story," Kent State [University], Cambodia mistake,Jimi Hendrix, Janis [Joplin], Save our planet [Earth Day],Willis Reed plays ball, General "Patton" stands tall1971-       Mark Spitz, Watergate, Allende, "Godfather's" fate,1975        SALT, Detente, Patty Hearst, Energy crisis at its worst,Abortion is legal [Roe v. Wade], Secretariat [horse] is regal1976-       Concorde in flight, "Fever" on "Saturday Night" ["Saturday Night Fever"],1980        Punk rock, "Roots" is tops, Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline,Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan1981-       "Wheel of Fortune," Sally Ride, Heavy metal suicide,1985        Foreign debts, Homeless vets,Grenada, [Geraldine] Ferraro, and the Achille Lauro [ship],"Live Aid," Prince Charles weds1986-       AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz,1990        Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law,Break dancing in the streets, Europe's Marxists in retreat,Beirut fighting, Germany uniting,Rock and Roller Cola wars [Coke vs. Pepsi ads], I can't take it anymoreWe didn't start the fire, It was always burning,Since the world's been turning on us,We didn't start the fire, But when we are gone,Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on. . . .