Billy Joel appeared on the We Didn’t Start The Fire: The History Podcast, which is based around the individual subjects listed in his 1989 chart-topper, “We Didn't Start The Fire.”
Billy explained his approach to writing the now classic post-war chronicle hit single: “I didn't think that this song was anything more than a mental exercise for me when I first (laughs) started to write it. I just wrote it as, 'Okay, let me see what happened since the year I was born.' And I was writing in 1989, so it's essentially a 40-year compilation of headlines and things that happened during my life. Some people think that I wrote it as an apologia for being a baby boomer. Like, (adapts sing-song voice) 'We didn't start the fire, it's not our fault. . .' That was not my intention at all. My intention was just to point out, 'Look, the world was a mess. It was a mess during my life, it's a mess during your life. The world's always gonna be a mess. That's the way the world is (laughter). So, deal with it and see if you can to make things better.'”
Billy Joel has just added a new date for 2022, hitting Hollywood, Florida's Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on January 28th, with tickets now on sale.
