In honor of Billy Joel’s upcoming brithday in two weeks, we’re happily (read: lazily) rerunning an oldie-but-goodie today.
Even if you don’t know the song well, you’ll have fun with this old quiz We Didn’t Start the Fire! So go fire it up, and be sure to come on back and let us know how well you did.
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100% I take pride in knowing all the words to that song, cos it is one of my favourites!
posted by Lys on 1-5-2008 at 11:21 am
9/10 Woo! In 10th grade, I had to rewrite the lyrics to this song for Ancient Rome, Egypt, and Greece. The only good line was “Cleo got Marc into bed.”
posted by Bethi on 1-5-2008 at 11:24 am
90%! Only messed up the astronauts! Then again I did spend a good part of 9th and 10th grade obsessing over Billy Joel with the rest of the drama club nerds! Ahhh…the 1980s
posted by gwendy on 1-5-2008 at 11:44 am
9/10. Never really sat down and listened to the words of that song. Evidently they were burned into my brain after hearing it played every 10 minutes, 24/7 on top 40 radio and MTV.
posted by bzzyb on 1-5-2008 at 11:50 am
80% … I thought I was spot on, but since I haven’t heard it in a while it appears I’m rusty. Do love that song though!
posted by kt on 1-5-2008 at 12:08 pm
Yessss..100%
Such a catchy tune!
I’m with you on the Joel-triggering-childhood-memories. Except mine is “Glass Houses” on a cassette tape. It’s INSTANT. :)
posted by mrs.djs on 1-5-2008 at 12:32 pm
Back in the day, my 8th grade history teacher offered extra credit to anyone who memorized the lyrics to this song. I did, and I guess the words are still ingrained into my memory 5 years later. 100%.
posted by Sandy on 1-5-2008 at 12:55 pm
W00t! 100%! Nice quiz there, David.
posted by ArtF on 1-5-2008 at 1:34 pm
I wonder what it is about the 8th grade and this AMAZING song. My 8th grade history teacher assigned this song as a research project to folks who wanted to work in 2s. We were told to research EACH LYRIC and write a paragraph per explaining why it would be in the song, We then were instructed to write our song using similarly themed lyrics and then perform it in from of the class. It was an AWESOME project- and ever since then, “we didn’t start the fire” has been one of my favorite songs. 100%!!!
posted by Ashley on 1-5-2008 at 2:20 pm
90%, I missed Lebanon.
How odd that everyone’s teachers decided to use Billy Joel as a study tool in the 8th-10th grade. I had to do a short term memory exercise in a music class and I tied for jotting down most of the lyrics correctly after hearing each section twice. I think the prize was a bottle of soda. The funny thing is that I’m a senior in high school, so we did the Billy Joel unit in 2003.
posted by Carly S on 1-5-2008 at 2:32 pm
100%!!! Those years of driving back and forth to NY from Cleveland listening to Billy Joel paid off!!!
posted by Gayle on 1-5-2008 at 2:55 pm
100% w00t.
I was going to write an article for my middle-school newspaper explaining all the references in the song, but it wasn’t until I had researched almost all of them (OK, by research, I mean having my dad tell me what they all were) that I realized the whole article would be ridiculously long. So I scrapped it, but I learned a lot in the process.
posted by Jess on 1-5-2008 at 3:35 pm
100%
Did you know that this was Billy Joel’s last song to reach #1 on the Billboard charts? And every one and every thing named is in chronological order (except items in 1976 and 1977, which have been reversed)?
posted by K on 1-5-2008 at 3:59 pm
80%, I mixed up vaccine and James Dean!
posted by Mike on 1-5-2008 at 4:09 pm
6 out of 10… that’s pretty bad:( In 10th grade we were all assigned parts of the song and had to research why they were mentioned and come up with on interetsing fact about them… Also, (according to our history teacher) Billy Joel once aspired to be a history teacher himself and thent he whole music thing took off…
posted by Kelli K. on 1-5-2008 at 5:18 pm
10/10
One of my all time favorite songs!
posted by Steve on 1-5-2008 at 5:34 pm
Me too, Mike! Great quiz, great sone. Anyone for Scenes from an Italian Restuarant? I think I know most of the words to most of his songs. Had them on vinyl, then cassette now mp3.
posted by JaneM on 1-5-2008 at 5:59 pm
ha! i had do the “write new lyrics” assignment in 9th grade.
posted by holly on 1-5-2008 at 7:28 pm
10/10. Love this song!
posted by AC on 1-5-2008 at 8:40 pm
damn, i wish i went to high school 20 years earlier so i could have done projects on the great b.joel!
i was born when this song was popular, but i still got a 90%.
go team!
posted by Laura on 1-5-2008 at 9:38 pm
My awesome 6th grade teacher also assigned this as a project. We had to work in pairs and identify every single reference in the song. I credit this with my love of trivia and my eventual appearance on Jeopardy :D
posted by Rachael on 1-5-2008 at 10:38 pm
Missed Lebanon and Little Rock… Nice quiz, nonetheless! Keep up the fresh ideas!
posted by Ed on 1-5-2008 at 11:26 pm
100%. That was easy!
posted by Miss Cellania on 1-5-2008 at 11:36 pm
10 for 10! I’ve also got it memorized.
My in-laws went to high school with Billy Joel… said he was a total “band geek”. It’s fun to hear it from their side since a lot of what he wrote about was embellished (i.e. in “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” he references hanging out at the Village Green, but according to my father-in-law he never did, he was never cool enough! Heh. And I’ve dined frequently at the restaurant that inspired the song (it’s a total dive but makes great food. It’s called Christiano’s in Syosset, NY). I’ve been a huge Billy Joel fan since birth and love the fact that I’m from Long Island, too. He’s been in the news alot for getting drunk and crashing into random objects. Go Billy!
posted by Jill on 1-6-2008 at 6:48 am
100%, That is one of my most favorite Billy Joel songs.
Rachael, you were on Jeopardy? How cool is that!
posted by Don on 1-6-2008 at 12:17 pm
90%, danggit! I missed Lebanon. Great quiz!
posted by Suzeo on 1-6-2008 at 12:42 pm
10 out of 10! Very cool quiz. I was in high school when this came out and remember a very cool American History teacher using this in class.
posted by gpisces on 1-6-2008 at 1:18 pm
I don’t think I’ve heard this song before in my life – but I got 9/10. Go me! (Missed the first one.)
posted by Eileen on 1-6-2008 at 5:55 pm
100%! Yay me!
Listening to it almost non-stop as a kid must have helped, although my dad and I used to call it “We Didn’t Start No Combustible Reaction,” because that’s just more fun to say.
posted by Caitlin on 1-6-2008 at 8:29 pm
70%, but in my defense I’m more of a Captain Jack-era guy.
posted by fixedgear on 1-7-2008 at 8:00 am
All: :
7 out of 10.
I reversed vaccine and James Dean and missed Lebanon.
Some on at the Uchicago did a great flash on this. The system will not allow me to post the link.
You may be able to Google it.
x-ray
posted by X-ray on 1-7-2008 at 8:38 am
Whoo! 100%! ‘Course, I did do a term paper on this for a history class in my undergrad days.
posted by Roger on 1-7-2008 at 8:52 am
9 of 10. Looks like we all did pretty well… what a pethetic bunch we are! Joel would be proud.
posted by BizarreTees on 1-7-2008 at 10:30 am
There’s something about Lebanon that we all keep missing it! ;)
posted by Beth on 1-7-2008 at 11:19 am
100% That is pretty rare for me…
Now it is time for the “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” quiz…
posted by Kevin on 1-7-2008 at 12:21 pm
hehe…90%….love that song (secretly)
posted by stef on 1-7-2008 at 7:59 pm
I too have it memorized, 10/10. Years ago, while completely hammered at a Jack and Jill, I sang karaoke to this, and surprisingly, nailed every word. That’ll forever be one of my proudest moments.
Billy Joel defined my life from ages 18 to 21… I’ll still occasionally pull out his “Best Of” album. My sister bought my parents a wine rack for Christmas, and all day yesterday whenever someone mentioned it, I had to fight the urge to start singing, “Bottle of red, bottle of white…”
posted by Cassie on 12-26-2008 at 4:40 pm
10/10. I’ve had that song memorized for as long as I can remember!
posted by Rebecca on 12-28-2008 at 12:47 am
10/10 – How Proud I am of me! Do one on the Preamble of the Constitution…I have had that memorized since the 5th grade!
posted by Michelle on 12-29-2008 at 1:22 pm
10/10. Love the man, love the tune. Agreed – let’s do Scenes From an Italian Restaurant. Or The Entertainer. Or pretty much any of them…
posted by Megan on 12-29-2008 at 2:22 pm
I only got 80% (mixed up James Dean and vaccine), but I’m working at a disadvantage. I was already an adult when the song came out, so I don’t have any 8th grade history assignment to fall back on.
posted by tiacheryl on 12-29-2008 at 3:15 pm
Ha! That’s funny! I’m a teacher and I’m using this song right now to do some history lessons!
posted by LilyValley on 4-23-2010 at 12:24 pm
I must be young–I only know the line Dwight sang on the office. “Ryan started the fi-re!”
posted by CPete on 4-23-2010 at 12:28 pm
Woo hoo! 100%! Once I remembered the song – and that the lyrics were grouped by eras – I was golden.
posted by Steve from San Diego on 4-23-2010 at 12:51 pm
This is on my Ipod, but I haven’t listened enough to memorize it..
posted by old hippy chick on 4-23-2010 at 1:27 pm
9 out of 10. Another Lebanon misser.
And I’m glad someone else mentioned about the chronology of the events. That’s how I was able to recall some of the events based on when they happened in relation to the other events listed.
Let’s have a quiz regarding the references in American Pie and who Don McLean was talking about really.
Keep these fun quizzes coming! :)
posted by Carolyn on 4-23-2010 at 1:39 pm
10/10 Woo hoo! I love this song!
posted by Heather on 4-23-2010 at 2:08 pm
I know I can’t be the only one to get a 50%; maybe I’m just the only one who’ll admit it. Anywho, not bad for not hearing the song in about 15 years!
posted by Tamsyn on 4-23-2010 at 2:56 pm
Grew up in Allentown, I know my Billy Joel
posted by Wayne on 4-23-2010 at 2:57 pm
100% I used the chronology for some of it and very little of the music, I could hear the music in my head without playing it. We had to pick something from the song to do a speech on. I did mine on JFK.
posted by k on 4-23-2010 at 3:04 pm
100%. I would have gotten loads of crap for anything less from my kids, since I play it endlessly for them. Gotta make sure they are educated in their classics!
posted by Laurel on 4-23-2010 at 4:34 pm
70% Swapped James Dean/Vaccine and missed Lebanon.
I remember my Music Appreciation teacher playing the song for us in 9th grade (won’t say how long ago that was). I hadn’t really known what all it was about until then.
posted by Nerak on 4-23-2010 at 5:14 pm
10/10!! When I took AP US History our teacher used it in one of her lessons… That plus when we were little we changed the words to “David started the fire” after my pyro brother.
posted by MMBush on 4-23-2010 at 5:16 pm
100% easily done! Anyone else ever tried this one at karaoke? It’s like a cardio workout!
posted by LisaLisa on 4-23-2010 at 7:58 pm
100% – Love Billy Joel, love history, LOVE that song!!
posted by Tammy King on 4-23-2010 at 9:46 pm
10/10!!! I love history and I love the song!!!!!
posted by Karl on 4-23-2010 at 9:54 pm
10/10! I just bought this on iTunes 2 weeks ago!
posted by this_is_not_my_name on 4-23-2010 at 10:45 pm
lindsay lohan, britany, you got to be sh****g me.
posted by dirk alan on 4-25-2010 at 10:27 pm
Mixed up James Dean and vaccine.
My brother and I once won a game of Taboo with one of his songs. All he said was “A bottle of white, a bottle of red” to get me to say the phrase italian restaurant. We were accused of cheating by those who were not Billy Joel fans.
posted by veetie on 4-26-2010 at 6:05 pm