Timelines for people references in “We Didn’t Start the Fire”
In his song “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, Billy Joel makes 119 historical references from his life at the time. Of those, 57 of them are people, and as the internet likes to remind us, the number of those on the list who are still alive approaches zero with time.
With the passing of Brigitte Bardot at the end of 2025, the count is down to three. These are the timelines of everyone on the list.
Two-thirds of the people on the list had already passed away when the song was released in 1989, but there you go. Bernie Goetz, Bob Dylan, and Chubby Checker remain. All the references are linked to their Wikipedia pages, in case you feel like falling down a rabbit hole.
Sidenote: I found it funny that Joel thinks the song is really boring musically, or in his words, “terrible, like a dentist drill.” He must love it when people reference the song.
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