We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel

I was shuffling through songs I'd recently acquired on my ipod when I came across We Didn't Start The Fire By Billy Joel. It's a song I really liked when it came out but never got round to buying. I always thought it would make a great lesson as there are so many historical references in it.

Lesson Plan (for advanced learners)

1 Write down the title of the song. Ask students to discuss what it
might be about.

2 Play the song once and ask students to write down;

a anything they understand,
b any emotion or images that come to mind
c any ideas about possible meaning.

3 Students discuss their answers with each other.

Don't expect much in the way of comprehension, even at advanced levels as it's difficult to understand what people are saying in such situations. Instead see it as a warm up excersise.

4 Hand out lyrics,play the song and ask students to think about questions a,b and c again.

5 Students work in groups and swop ideas amd information.

6 Elicit ideas from the class.

7 Explain to students that the songs covers four decades of modern history (from the1950's to the 1990's) and that their job is to find out who, what, where and whenare being referred to.

8 As a class they see if they can understand some of the references. Then divide them into three or four groups and assign a portion of the song for them to research on the internet.

9 In the next lesson student form new groups so that they can explain to the others their portion of the song.

10 Play the song again and ask the to write their interpretation of the song in 40 to 60 words.

11 Discuss, as a class the various interpretations.

12 If you're feeling very high tech give the song as an mp3 and ask the students to find pictures on the internet that illustrate the events and people in the song and create their own video using Windows Movie Maker.

13 Students then vote on what they consider is the best video.

For example videos, click here.

Billy Joel - We Didn't Start The Fire
Artists > Billy Joel > We Didn't Start The Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye

Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queen
Maciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

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 it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

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 it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River Kwai

Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkwether, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U2, 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 it

Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

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 it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

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 it