Title – “

We Didn’t Start the Fire

” Poetry

By – Jennifer Blake

Primary Subject – Language Arts

Secondary Subjects – Social Studies, Other

Grade Level – 7-12

Introductory Note:

I’ve presented this poetry lesson for 9 years, now. Every year the kids love it, and they completely impress me.

Procedure:

• Distribute a printout of Billy Joel’s “
  
  We Didn’t Start the Fire
  
  ” (see below). The lyrics of this song refer to 21st century headline events between 1949 to 1989.
• Tell students that as they listen to the song, they need to circle the events or people they recognize.
• When the song is over, go through it and see what the students know (this usually includes some mini-history lessons (see links below).
• Then ask, “What would people sing about for these last 10 years? What’s been going on in society that’s noteworthy?” Make a list of their ideas on the board to help everyone get started (Terrorist Osama/President Obama…).
• Assignment:

  Billy Joel’s “ We Didn’t Start the Fire ” Poetry Assignment

  Write at least two verses of your own version of Billy Joel’s “ We Didn’t Start the Fire ” about the last ten years. It must follow the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the original song. It is due tomorrow.

• Let them listen to the song several more times during the class period so they can make sure they have the rhythm down.
• Give students a day to write it and let them perform them the next day.

Concluding Note:

It’s amazing what your students will come up with! By the end of the second day, everyone in the school is singing the song, and my other classes that have done the assignment usually request to listen to the song “just once.”

Lyrics:

Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie 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 Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye CHORUS 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 Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron 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 CHORUS Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, “Bridge on the River Kwai” Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball, Starkweather 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 CHORUS Hemingway, Eichmann, “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 CHORUS 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 But when we are gone It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on… CHORUS CHORUS CHORUS…

LPP Suggested Links:

• 
  Background information about the song and its lyrics, and links to other parodies
  
• 
  Lyric history arranged by years
  
• 
  Lyrics with embedded links to their history
  
• 
  Google video of song
  

Additional Ideas from LPP:

• This lesson might make a good New Year’s lesson about the events of the previous year or decade.
• Students might have fun writing their own version of what happened in their school this year or during their junior high or high school years, if they are graduating, and then performing them in the last week of school or at a talent show fundraiser.
• Social Studies classes could attempt this lesson for any time period they are studying or students could make their own photo story to the lyrics.

E-Mail

Jennifer Blake

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