Applications in Technology Websites
by Lydia Fothergill
November 17, 2006
"We Didn't Start the Fire"
"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a rap-like recitation of events and icons that telescopes the singer's 40 years as it tries to make some linear sense of the postwar years. It also highlights Billy Joel's fascination with history: "I'm a history nut," he says. "I devour history books. At one time I wanted to be a history teacher."
The song's inspiration was an encounter in which Joel found himself taking something of a teacher's role.
"I was talking to this young guy in his early '20s," he says. "And he was talking about what a hard time this was to grow up in, with crack and AIDS. And I thought, we said that when we were that age. Jeez, there was Vietnam, the Kennedy assassinations, drugs, Nixon...the song is saying, 'Look, we didn't start the fire, we tried to fight it, but it was burning and it's gonna burn on after we're gone and it's gonna burn on after you're gone, too. That's the way the world is, imperfect; you have to learn to deal with it. But don't give up! Change what you can change; don't fall into cynicism and despair."
To complete this project, the class will be divided into five groups. Each group will be assigned one verse from the song, which covers one decade. In the following chart, I put some links for you to use to help you get started with your research. Your job is as follows:
- Research the events mentioned in your verse and prepare a 15 minute presentation using PowerPoint. Remember to use PowerPoint to enhance your presentation, not give your presentation.
- Find one image to represent each person or event. You will need to e-mail put your images to me so that we can put them into a music presentation that will be created as a class project.
- Write the next verse of the song about people and events from the 1990s and 2000s. Remember to try to use the same rhyming pattern that is used in the song.
- You will be graded according to the rubric provided and you will also do a partner evaluation for part of your grade.
