Yeah but that would remove the Baby Boomer context that makes this song all the more loathsome.
― billstevejim, Saturday, 6 August 2011 20:29 (twelve years ago) link
Dyyl'n brrl'n bowl'n bowl'n
― billstevejim, Saturday, 6 August 2011 20:52 (twelve years ago) link
Diamondbacks, Anthrax, Interpol, Sniper Attacks
― ≝ (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 6 August 2011 21:11 (twelve years ago) link
Iraq, Bush is back, Economy Sunk
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 6 August 2011 21:16 (twelve years ago) link
Operation Dumbo Drop
― billstevejim, Monday, 8 August 2011 05:04 (twelve years ago) link
Jackie Charlton, Eoin HandJohnny Giles, IrelandMick McCarthy, Stephen StauntonCascarinoTony Galvin, Niall QuinnPackie doesn't let em inNorth of IrelandSouth of IrelandOnly one can go
Paul McGrath, Back FourAldridge got another scoreWorld CupEnglish ClubsKevin Moran and the DubsEuropean ChampionshipHow can we forget the tripAndy Townsend, Kevin SheedyStapleton's a supersub
We're gonna start a fireAnd when Rome is burningthere'll be no returning
We're gonna start a fireWe have Jack to mind usand the fans behind us
Butragueño, HungaryWe scared the Dutch in GermanyCharlie Hurley, Liam TuohyOpel InvestRay Houghton, LiverpoolRonnie Whelan's so coolO'Leary in the Sunday WorldCon is in the press
Stuttgart was no dreamnow we have a winning teamBilly Bingham, BudapestMan of Magic, Georgie BestEamon Dunphy writes it downDalymount to LandsdowneEnglish Football in a messTrouble on the Terraces
Dasayev, Sócrates,Maradona, Ardiles,Puskás, Bessonov,René van de Kerkhof,Hamilton, Jim Magee,Saint And Greavsie on TV,Maradona, Hand of GodBrady should be in the Squad
Chris Morris, score drawDon Givens, Denis Law,Eusebio, Junior, Ronnie Whelan SeniorPelé #10We'll never see his like againGoikoetxea's meanerChampions, Argentina
Netherlands, EgyptEngland got a free tripPleaded, SeededBecause of their supportersRuud Gullit might be outHolland wouldn't have a shoutHoddle and WaddleHave they got the bottle?We have England in the drawAnd the Dutch like beforeOne thing that we're grateful forWe didn't get the Mafia
Seeded in SicilyOff the coast of Italy6 hour boat tripWe can take the hardshipBut the fans couldn't careThey can travel anywhereNo one else can match the soundOur supporters bring aroundJune 11, English GameWe can do the trick againEgypt next and then the DutchIts the second round for usWhen we finally get to RomeNo one will be left at homeAldridge is about to scoreListen to the Irish Roar
We'll bring the Sam MaguireWe have Jack to mind usand the fans behind us
― naked human pyrami (seandalai), Monday, 8 August 2011 15:16 (twelve years ago) link
^ The first single I ever bought btw.
― naked human pyrami (seandalai), Monday, 8 August 2011 15:17 (twelve years ago) link
What exactly is this fire anyway? Was it really caused in part by The King and I, Hoola Hoops, and Brooklyn having a winning team?
I always sort of wondered about this.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Monday, 8 August 2011 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I mean, if the premise of the song is "boomers weren't the first to fuck up the world, it goes back at least as far as Harry Truman" I guess I get that... but as my friend put it, "Why would you try to fight Chubby Checker?"
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 9 August 2011 03:48 (twelve years ago) link
You know, the sound of the syllables is really great on this, and it could be a genuinely cool song if Joel had stuck closer to the premise: not saying we Boomers are any great shakes, but just to be clear, we got all rebellious because the world as delivered to us was already fucked up, divided and violent. Not a Forrest Gump "journey through the postwar decades!" history, but a preemptive strike against easy "Greatest Generation" valorization of the graying technocrats, warmongers and consumerist policymakers that set the terms of the postwar struggles and were still hanging around in positions of real power. It gets totally garbled up by including all these boomer-era pros and cons and/or pleasant bequests from older generations (is Buddy Holly really so destructive? Toscanini?), but then, it'd be hard to purge some of those rhymes once they'd made it in.
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 7 September 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
Easily one of the greatest songs of all time
― Master of Treacle, Sunday, 7 September 2014 23:58 (nine years ago) link
How many people in 2014 remember (or ever knew) who Bernie Goetz is?
― and in his absence, she (Lee626), Monday, 8 September 2014 07:57 (nine years ago) link
I do, but only thanks to that one Doonesbury storyline where Mike blunders into a media circus after a subway altercation.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 8 September 2014 12:42 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/qf0vb6S.jpg
― pplains, Sunday, 5 April 2015 20:52 (nine years ago) link
Yesssss.....
https://twitter.com/BillyJoel_Bot
Even better because I found it by combing through my work twitter's RT's.
― pplains, Thursday, 20 August 2015 14:16 (eight years ago) link
lol at yr previous revive
― Gorefest Frump (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 20 August 2015 14:58 (eight years ago) link
ILX Phrases That Stick In Your Mind
― pplains, Thursday, 20 August 2015 15:17 (eight years ago) link
shit is this *chronological*? i had no idea.
― piscesx, Thursday, 20 August 2015 15:24 (eight years ago) link
It jumps back and forth a few years here and there, and sometimes confuses by invoking somebody's death date, but yeah.
― Gorefest Frump (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 20 August 2015 15:34 (eight years ago) link
ha clarity. that's why i never noticed.
just spent 20 minutes looking up Bernie Goetz. still no idea if he 'did it' or not.
― piscesx, Thursday, 20 August 2015 17:20 (eight years ago) link
Now there's a fun afternoon project: Rearrange the lyrics, but keep the beat and rhyme.
― pplains, Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:04 (eight years ago) link
Harry Mantle, Stalin X, Mafia, Chubby GoetzHula bomb, Moonstock, British Beatle monkey sex
― Gorefest Frump (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:10 (eight years ago) link
BELGIANS IN THALIDOMIDE
"'Britney Spears' waffles" search yielded no worthwhile results, very surprised by this.
― pplains, Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:14 (eight years ago) link
Did find this though.
http://i.imgur.com/E3KGBoX.jpg
how could you not realize this was chronological?
― Benson and the Jets (ENBB), Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:21 (eight years ago) link
@we_didnt_start
― johnny crunch, Thursday, 13 October 2016 21:07 (seven years ago) link
I spent way too many years wondering who the 'Children of the Little Mind' were (see also 'Bacon Regan').
― This Bobo Isn't Going to Honk Itself (Old Lunch), Sunday, 10 June 2018 02:26 (five years ago) link
lol, "Children of the Little Mind" is SO close to being the title of a 1965-era Serious Adult Nonfiction Publication that became synonymous with an era/concern/issue, and thus got namechecked in "We Didn't Start The Fire."
― noel gallaghah's high flying burbbhrbhbbhbburbbb (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 10 June 2018 04:04 (five years ago) link
Old Mist Junglin'TROUBLE IN THE SEWERS
― nashwan, Sunday, 10 June 2018 12:48 (five years ago) link
my childhood spoof (warning: very funny!)
Superman and Lois LaneSpider-Man and Mary JaneHarry, Larry, Barry, GaryJerry, Cary, Billy Zane
― geoffreyess, Sunday, 10 June 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link
and the only other part I still remember:
Nair, achy breaky hair, mullet, the electric chair
― geoffreyess, Sunday, 10 June 2018 22:35 (five years ago) link
It’s been long enough that someone could do a “Millennial” version/update, starting where the original left off.
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Sunday, 10 June 2018 22:43 (five years ago) link
(Note: I am not actually advocating this idea)
― i’m still stanning (morrisp), Sunday, 10 June 2018 22:47 (five years ago) link
a couple days before i faked speaking in tongues, a man in a sport coat stood in front of me and hundreds of other young teens and played a parody/cover of this song titled "we're gonna read the bible"
god i fucking hate this song
― obviously DLC (Karl Malone), Monday, 11 June 2018 00:01 (five years ago) link
Boy, now that would be a hard one.
Sons of Simeon, Jemuel, and Jamin,Ephraim and ManassehAhisamach, AholiabShelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai
― pplains, Monday, 11 June 2018 01:48 (five years ago) link
My friend just saw him on a lark at MSG and live-streamed (so to speak) the walk from his seat to the bathroom when Billy started this song.
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 11 June 2018 01:50 (five years ago) link
It was always burnin', sister.World's been turnin'.
― Not with a bang but a MAGA (Old Lunch), Monday, 11 June 2018 10:20 (five years ago) link
took me a minute to realise msg didn't refer to monosodium glutamate there
or did it
― CARL MARKS PRINCIPAL INVESTING AND ADVISORY SERVICES (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 11 June 2018 10:27 (five years ago) link
karl i'm so sorry
There are also things in the song that I heard correctly but contextualized incorrectly, such as 'Chubby Checker (Psycho)' (suggesting that Chubby had severe mental instability) and 'Hula Hoops Castro' (presumably the daughter of Fidel).
― Not with a bang but a MAGA (Old Lunch), Monday, 11 June 2018 11:50 (five years ago) link
'non sequitur list of things set to unengaging music' is a severely underutilized songwriting form imo.
― Not with a bang but a MAGA (Old Lunch), Monday, 11 June 2018 12:09 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rsmq4oJaiM
― pplains, Monday, 11 June 2018 13:57 (five years ago) link
― Not with a bang but a MAGA (Old Lunch)
not by roger waters!
― Arch Bacon (rushomancy), Monday, 11 June 2018 14:05 (five years ago) link
HyperloopFash broIncel is a no go
― nashwan, Monday, 11 June 2018 14:11 (five years ago) link
no votes for leonard bernstein, leonid brezhnev, lenny bruce and lester bangs, hmm.
― fact checking cuz, Monday, 11 June 2018 20:46 (five years ago) link
hear me out. what if .. we did start the fire?
― you bet, nancy (map), Monday, 11 June 2018 20:50 (five years ago) link
or it pretty much went out and we re-started it
― you bet, nancy (map), Monday, 11 June 2018 20:51 (five years ago) link
i wish this song were called "Moments in Time"
― you bet, nancy (map), Monday, 11 June 2018 20:52 (five years ago) link
What if this had been one of those songs like "The Horse" by Cliff Nobles where the instrumental was more famous than the side with the lyrics.
People would hear it at a football game and go, "Ever hear the version with the lyrics? It's really weird."
― pplains, Monday, 11 June 2018 20:57 (five years ago) link