“We Didn’t Start the Fire”
I was reading an online article from Blender magazine recently and of interest to me is that the publication had taken on the daunting task of rating the 50 worst songs of all time. There was little to quibble with in their selection (Celine Dion made the list appropriately, Avril didn’t…) but on thing that caught my eye was that Billy Joel’s "We Didn’t Start the Fire" was ranked the 41st worst song of all time. This caught my eye, because I must confess that I very much enjoy this particular piece. (If you can put up with the comedic commentary and pictures that someone else has attached to Joel’s song, you can watch it by clicking here: "We Didn’t Start the Fire").
I concede that they lyrics are a touch unusual. They are simply a list (thankfully rhyming) of places, people, events and objects that were of significance between the year of Joel’s birth (1949) and 1989.
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio…
His list is scrunched between the lyrics
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
since the world was turning.
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it.
According to some, the song was borne out of a conversation Joel had with Sean Lennon (son of John). Sean Lennon was complaining that he was growing up in troubled times, and Joel’s lyrics don’t for a minute try to dismiss this, but they do go on the defensive a little, with Joel’s claim that his generation isn’t to blame for starting the ‘fire’ (for starting the troubles). Joel asserts that the human race has rarely known a moment when there wasn’t troubled times (the ‘fire’ after all, a representation of troubles ’was always burning since the world’s been turning’). What I appreciate about Joel, is that even though he recognizes that things are not as they should be, and that they haven’t been for sometime, he does not turn to despair. Rather, even though he himself isn’t responsible for the ‘fire’ starting, he accurately sees his role in the world. By saying ‘no we didn’t light it [the fire] but we tried to fight it’ he is claiming that even though troubles have existed since since the world started to turn, it is his responsiblity to fight them. And it’s ours too.
K.
Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated last October, once claimed that "A life that is not given so that the humble and insignificant people can live, is a wasted life."
I hate that song, but I love Politskaya’s quote. It was a profound statement, and one certainly worth living by.
Comment by Rudy Carrera — November 21, 2007 @ 12:52 am
“A life that is not given so that the humble and insignificant people can live, is a wasted life.” –Anna Politkovskaya
Does she mean that the only meaningful life is the life that is devoted exclusively to the humble and insignificant? And what about a person whose charity is directed to the rich and powerful? What about the teacher whose life is dedicated to the education of the elite and the gifted? And so they can “live”–live and nothing more? Was Aristotle’s life a waste? What about the Arts? What about sports? What about pure research? What about park rangers? No, I don’t like this quotation. It is cynical. It denies the value of many things that G-d obvious cares about. There are many ways of living a life of love. Indeed, there is no honorable way of life that cannot be lived with love for G-d and for man. The humble and insignificant people of the world have a special but not exclusive special claim on our love. And perhaps, indeed, it is a special grace to be able to spend one’s life in the service of the poor. But after they are fed and clothed, then what? The fullness of love is not limited to the service of man’s elemental needs, the needs of the humble and insignificant, because man’s life is not limited to the scope of the things that enable us to live. Life is not the goal of life. Eternal life—abundant life–is the goal life, and every exercise of the mind in the service of truth moves toward that goal, and everything that is done in the service of the good reaches out to the eternal. No! No! No! Anna Politkovskaya’s ideal is not the ideal of Christ, but of the Anti-Christ, for he knows that the best way to undermine the spiritual life of man is to debase it as though it were a self indulgence in this world so filled with humble and insignificant people who need the basics. Anna Politkovskaya’s motto is the other side of a consumer culture—the humble and insignificant who have been taught that nothing else really matters and so, having finally gotten the basics, squander the gifts of the spirit on televisions and Ipods.
Richard
Comment by Richard — November 21, 2007 @ 5:32 am
Kel,
i like what i have read, but i must admit my main scrupple with this writing is the credibility of the source. i do have internal knowledge that this same writer happens to be a SuperTramp fan.
S
Comment by stephanie — November 25, 2007 @ 2:12 am
S,
Oh how awful. But I agree that the credibility of the source is important. For example, I am not going to post on the pros and cons or particular rices, especially when someone like you is so nearby, because in contrast to you, I have no credibility.
Having said that, most readers here (at least so far as I can tell) don’t know me personally, and as such, only know about me what I tell them (and now what you tell them), and as I have never mentioned enjoying Supertramp, in fact, as I have rarely given away any information here about my musical tastes, they might have seen me as a credible source. No longer I suppose.
K.
By the way, Richard, your response (Comment 2) blows my mind, but I’ll respond another day.
Comment by K. — November 25, 2007 @ 3:07 pm