We Didn't Start the Fire - What I Think - Part 5
This is the fifth post in my blog series about the song We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. I am writing about the significance of each item mentioned in the song. That is, what significance I THINK they have. I am not doing any research or looking anything up, so I could be totally wrong. And if I have no clue, I am just taking my best guess - so don't use anything here for a U.S. history report source.
More information about this blog series can be found in the series' first post.
Joseph Stalin - Stalin became the president of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. He took steps to further cool relations with the United States, thus escalating the Cold War. It was under his reign that the Soviets successfully launched Sputnik and greatly increased their nuclear arsenal.
Malenkov - He was the president of Yugoslavia when it was a part of the Eastern Communist Bloc. A pawn of the Soviet Union, he did as Moscow directed.
Nasser - He was the president of Egypt. During his administration he had plans to join with other Arab nations to eliminate Israel through a surprise military attack on the Jewish holiday of YomKippur. However, the Israeli Air Force quickly quashed the aggressors and the war only lasted a few days. Later, Nasser mellowed his stance on Israel and met with Israeli President Menachem Begin for peace accords. The talks were held in 1978 in Geneva Switzerland and were led by United States President, Jimmy Carter. Nasser was also one of the names mistaken by "Ronald Reagan" in a classic 1982 Saturday Night Live skit.
Prokofiev - He was the president of Switzerland in the 1960s. He remained neutral.
Rockefeller - John D. Rockefeller was a United States oil baron. He built his oil empire in the middle decades of the 20th century, much like Bill Gates built his software enterprise in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company was eventually found to be a monopoly and was split into smaller, stand alone companies like Amoco and Chevron.
Campanella - Roy Campanella was a great American athlete. Billy Joel seems to have a thing for boxers. And boxing rings a bell here, so I'm going to say he was a great boxer and that he had a tremendous record as a pro, but he had a tendency to falter in championship bouts.
Communist Bloc - This refers to the bloc of countries surrounding and including the Soviet Union. East Germany, Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Poland come to mind as countries that were a part of this "Eastern Bloc."
More information about this blog series can be found in the series' first post.
Joseph Stalin - Stalin became the president of the Soviet Union in the late 1950s. He took steps to further cool relations with the United States, thus escalating the Cold War. It was under his reign that the Soviets successfully launched Sputnik and greatly increased their nuclear arsenal.
Malenkov - He was the president of Yugoslavia when it was a part of the Eastern Communist Bloc. A pawn of the Soviet Union, he did as Moscow directed.
Nasser - He was the president of Egypt. During his administration he had plans to join with other Arab nations to eliminate Israel through a surprise military attack on the Jewish holiday of YomKippur. However, the Israeli Air Force quickly quashed the aggressors and the war only lasted a few days. Later, Nasser mellowed his stance on Israel and met with Israeli President Menachem Begin for peace accords. The talks were held in 1978 in Geneva Switzerland and were led by United States President, Jimmy Carter. Nasser was also one of the names mistaken by "Ronald Reagan" in a classic 1982 Saturday Night Live skit.
Prokofiev - He was the president of Switzerland in the 1960s. He remained neutral.
Rockefeller - John D. Rockefeller was a United States oil baron. He built his oil empire in the middle decades of the 20th century, much like Bill Gates built his software enterprise in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company was eventually found to be a monopoly and was split into smaller, stand alone companies like Amoco and Chevron.
Campanella - Roy Campanella was a great American athlete. Billy Joel seems to have a thing for boxers. And boxing rings a bell here, so I'm going to say he was a great boxer and that he had a tremendous record as a pro, but he had a tendency to falter in championship bouts.
Communist Bloc - This refers to the bloc of countries surrounding and including the Soviet Union. East Germany, Yugoslavia, Turkey, and Poland come to mind as countries that were a part of this "Eastern Bloc."
Labels: we didn't start the fire
posted by Steve Gall at
10:34 PM
2 Comments:
These strike me as the most significantly creative set of guesses so far. Do you agree?
Just a few:
Prokofiev = composer
Rockefeller = wrong timeline for J.D., I think.
Malenkov = Soviet leader (I think), maybe following Stalin(?)
Campanella = baseball player
Yep. I struggled with this one. I usually look them up on Wikipedia after I publish the post. I am learning a lot.
It was the wrong timeline for J. D. Rockefeller, I think I read that he actually died before the time I had him building his oil empire. The song must refer to one of his heirs?
It's the trying to "be as specific" as I can be part of this that makes it really tough. For example, had I just stopped with, "Nasser was the president of Egypt." and "Campanella was a great American athlete" I would have been OK. It's extending them that gets tough.
Good calls on Prokofiev and Malenkov, Jamie.
And just a heads up, I think the next one may be the toughest of all. I think it will be easier once the lyrics are about events during my lifetime.
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