why were homeless vets mentioned in the song we didnt start the fire? please help
2007-10-13 15:19:14 · 7 answers · asked by Kimberly R 1 in Education & Reference ➔ Trivia
As the person who posted the lyrics said it is actually the history of the life the songwriter has led. They are historic moments and people from the 60's on..... the homeless vets refer to the Vietnam vets who were shunned and abandoned when they returned home from a war that many felt we (Americans) never should have gotten involved in.
2007-10-13 16:31:36 · answer #1 · answered by deltaforcechick 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The song is a compilation of important people and events from 1949 - 1989. Here are the lyrics:
We Didn’t Start The Fire - Billy Joel
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
2007-10-13 15:27:49 · answer #2 · answered by Chris B 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Just from what I could read in the lyrics (Billy Joel, am I right??) it seems he's saying that everybody blames everybody else for what is happening in the world today,and each decade adds more fuel to the firestorm coming (aka when the world ends), and he's going by each decade since the 1950's or so. The "homeless vets" have to do with the veterans of the Viet Nam War--which was loudly protested in the 60's. Over 2 million men and women served their "year in hell" as their tour of duty was called, and over 58,000 gave all for their country (their names are engraved in a black granite wall in Washington DC). But, for those who came home alive but disabled or whatever, were not given the heroes' welcome that WW2 vets got--they weren't given housing like the other vets were, they had to fight for their medical rights, and some have died from the diseases (like cancer from Agent Orange, a defoliant sprayed on the jungles to expose the hiding places of the enemy) they got in Viet Nam. So, now there are thousands of veterans who are homeless, without jobs, etc. --all because the USA didn't appreciate their efforts like the vets from both Iraq wars are given now. Viet Nam vets were not considered as heroes, they were called names like "baby killers", etc.
2007-10-13 19:24:24 · answer #3 · answered by jan51601 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would assume that it means the vets didn't start the war. The fire referred to means as in firing guns and as burning remains, etc etc.-- all that destruction that goes with war. They didn't start it. That's my take on it.
2007-10-13 20:03:40 · answer #4 · answered by LK 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Social question that writer felt needed to be addressed. This wasn't accidental, it was just a sad fact being addressed and brought to the listeners attention. I'm glad it caught your attention.
2007-10-13 15:38:19 · answer #5 · answered by Michael F 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably to reveal their plight.
2007-10-13 15:28:11 · answer #6 · answered by MrCool1978 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
probably cause it rhymed or somethingg.. but i really have no clue.
2007-10-13 15:22:27 · answer #7 · answered by hello :) 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋