Who is all mentioned in Billy Joel we didn’t start the fire song
The song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel mentions numerous historical events, figures, and cultural references, spanning several decades. Some of the people mentioned in the song include:
- Harry Truman (33rd President of the United States)
- Doris Day (American actress and singer)
- Red China (referring to the Communist Party of China)
- Johnnie Ray (American singer and songwriter)
- Walter Winchell (American journalist and radio commentator)
- Joe DiMaggio (American baseball player)
- Joe McCarthy (American politician)
- Richard Nixon (37th President of the United States)
- Studebaker (American automobile manufacturer)
- Television (referring to the rise of TV popularity)
- North Korea
- South Korea
- Marilyn Monroe (American actress and model)
- Rosenbergs (referring to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg)
- H-Bomb (referring to the development of the hydrogen bomb)
- Sugar Ray (referring to Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer)
- Panmunjom (referring to the Korean Demilitarized Zone)
- Brando (referring to Marlon Brando, American actor)
- The King and I (referring to the Broadway musical)
- Eisenhower (34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower)
- Vaccine (referring to the development of the polio vaccine)
- England's got a new queen (referring to Queen Elizabeth II)
- Marciano (referring to Rocky Marciano, American boxer)
- Liberace (American pianist and entertainer)
- Santayana (referring to the philosopher George Santayana)
- Joseph Stalin (leader of the Soviet Union until 1953)
- Malenkov (referring to Georgy Malenkov, Soviet politician)
- Nasser (referring to Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian President)
- Prokofiev (referring to Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer)
- Rockefeller (referring to the Rockefeller family)
- Campanella (referring to Roy Campanella, American baseball player)
- Communist Bloc (referring to the Eastern Bloc countries)
- Roy Cohn (American attorney and political activist)
- Juan Perón (former President of Argentina)
- Toscanini (referring to Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor)
- Dacron (a synthetic fiber)
- Dien Bien Phu (battle in Vietnam)
- Rockefeller (referring to Nelson Rockefeller, American politician)
- Bardot (referring to Brigitte Bardot, French actress)
- Budapest (referring to the Hungarian Revolution)
- Alabama (referring to the civil rights struggle in the state)
- Krushchev (referring to Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet politician)
- Princess Grace (referring to Grace Kelly, American actress and Princess of Monaco)
- Peyton Place (referring to the novel and subsequent TV series)
- Trouble in the Suez (referring to the Suez Crisis)
- Little Rock (referring to the Arkansas school integration crisis)
- Pasternak (referring to Boris Pasternak, Russian author)
- Mickey Mantle (American baseball player)
- Kerouac (referring to Jack Kerouac, American writer)
- Sputnik (referring to the first artificial satellite)
- Chou En-Lai (Chinese Premier)
- Bridge on the River Kwai (referring to a novel and film)
- Lebanon (referring to the Lebanese Crisis)
- Charles de Gaulle (French President)
- California baseball (referring to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants)
- Starkweather homicide (referring to the murder spree of Charles Starkweather)
- Homicide (referring to the rising crime rates)
- Children of Thalidomide (referring to the drug thalidomide)
- Buddy Holly (American musician)
- Ben-Hur (referring to the film)
- Space Monkey
- Mafia (referring to organized crime)
- Hula Hoops
- Castro (referring to Fidel Castro, Cuban leader)
- Edsel (referring to the Ford Edsel)
- Psycho (referring to the film)
- Belgians in the Congo (referring to Belgian colonial rule in Congo)
- Hemingway (referring to Ernest Hemingway, American writer)
- Eichmann (referring to Adolf Eichmann, Nazi SS officer)
- Stranger in a Strange Land (referring to the novel by Robert A. Heinlein)
- Dylan (referring to Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter)
- Berlin (referring to the Berlin Wall)
- Bay of Pigs Invasion (failed CIA operation in Cuba)
- Lawrence of Arabia (referring to the film)
- British politician sex (referring to the Profumo affair)
- JFK assassination (referring to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy)
- Birth control (referring to the development of the contraceptive pill)
- Ho Chi Minh (leader of North Vietnam)
- Richard Nixon (again mentioned, highlighting his political comeback)
- Watergate (referring to the Watergate scandal)
- Punk Rock
- Donna Summer (American singer)
- Jonestown (referring to the Jonestown Massacre)
- Gaddafi (referring to Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan leader)
- Ayatollah's in Iran (referring to the Iranian Revolution)
- Wheel of Fortune (referring to the game show)
- Sally Ride (first American woman in space)
- Heavy Metal
- Pepsi-Cola
- AIDS (referring to the AIDS pandemic)
- Crack (referring to the rise of crack cocaine)
- Princess Di (referring to Princess Diana)
- Beirut (referring to the Lebanese Civil War)
- Towering Inferno (referring to the film)
- Peter Pan (referring to the Broadway musical)
- Vietnam (referring to the Vietnam War)
- AIDS (again mentioned, emphasizing its continued impact)
- Hypodermics on the shore (referring to drug addiction)
- China's under martial law (referring to the Tiananmen Square protests)
- Rock and Roller Cola Wars (referring to the soda industry competition)