Thoughts for December 19, 2007

Today I discovered I like the tranlsation of Isaiah 7:13-17 as found in "The Message" version of the Bible. The text can be found here: http://; www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=isaiah%207:14;&version=65

Also, the other day I heard Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" on the radio. I have now heard it at least once since then. It's interesting, because I hadn't heard it played in many years, but the local "We play everything" station has played now a couple times in the last couple weeks, at least that I've heard. I even own this cassette. I got it when it was new in 1989, when I was 15 years old. It's one of the first pop albums I got when it was new. It was when I was first listenting to such music on the radio [yes, I was probably later getting into that than some kids], and the one reason I wanted his "Storm Front" album was for that popular song. But after listening to it over and over for several weeks, I guess I got burnt on it, and I bet that since 1990, I've listened to the cassette maybe 3 times, if that.

But it got me thinking the other day when I heard it, because it was the first time I'd heard it since, and, if you are familiar with the song, it's about events that happened in the singer's lifetime, from 1949 to the present day, which was 1989, so about 40 years. He goes into more detail for the first 15 years or so, and then combines all events after the JFK assassination to the present day into the last verse. Perhaps he did this because he had to cut the song down to 3:05 :) [okay, if you are at all familiar with Billy Joel music, you get the joke there from his "Entertainer" song, which I only discovered a couple years AFTER 1989, though it was, of course, an older song]. It may also be that he meant to start accelerating time within the lyrics to convey the major theme of the song, that 'fire' continues at a fast pace, regardless of the age in which we live [at least, this is what I undersood and continue to understand to be the theme]. The 'fire' [as suggested by mostly 'current events' by Joel] has been burning since the dawn of humanity and will continue to do so after we are dead. The same could be shown by personal/psychological type issues, or natural disasters, etc. I think he wants to show that there are things persons do that hurt one another, but that it isn't new. Maybe this is partly meant to calm the hearts of the 'accelerating decay of humanity' crowd, or just to remind people genearlly that this is not unheard of, and while we can blame ourselves, we didn't panic. I am not sure exactly the message he was after there.

But what intrigued me was a question that popped into my head. Even Desert Storm, I don't believe had happened the last time I had listened to my cassette, and now, look at what has happened in Iraq in recent years, along with everything in between. All the events of the Clinton and W. Bush presidencies, not only in foreign policy [collapse of the Soviet Union, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq], and related terrorist events [9/11, UK terrorism, orange alerts], but certainly many domestic events also [Olkahoma City, Waco, all the school shootings], natural disasters [the S.F. and L.A. earthquakes, Katrina, the 2004 tsunami] and trends of culture [internet, the techno bubble of the late 1990s, reality TV]. It makes me wonder what Billy Joel would include in this song were he to have written it in 2007. If I am fortunate enough to have Mr. Joel read this blog :), I'd love to hear his direct answer. Short of that, I would love to hear any speculation from others, or, for that matter, what would y'all include in such a song. Oh, here are his original lyrics, as found on the following website:
http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/billy_joel/we_didnt_start_the_fire.html

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnny RaySouth Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggioJoe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, TelevisionNorth Korea, South Korea, Marilyn MonroeRosenbergs, H Bomb, Sugar Ray, PanmunjomBrando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The RyeEisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a new queenMaciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fireIt was always burningSince the world's been turningWe didn't start the fireNo we didn't light itBut we tried to fight it

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and ProkofievRockefeller, Campanella, Communist BlocRoy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, DancronDien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the ClockEinstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning teamDavy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, DisneylandBardot, Budapest, Alabama, KhrushchevPrincess Grace, Peyton Place, Trouble in the Suez

We didn't start the fireIt was always burningSince the world's been turningWe didn't start the fireNo we didn't light itBut we tried to fight it

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, KerouacSputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The River KwaiLebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseballStarkwether, Homicide, Children of ThalidomideBuddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, MafiaHula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-goU2, Syngman Rhee, payola and KennedyChubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

We didn't start the fireIt was always burningSince the world's been turningWe didn't start the fireNo we didn't light itBut we tried to fight it

Hemingway, Eichman, Stranger in a Strange LandDylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasionLawrence of Arabia, British BeatlemaniaOle Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats PattersonPope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sexJ.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

We didn't start the fireIt was always burningSince the world's been turningWe didn't start the fireNo we didn't light itBut we tried to fight it

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back againMoonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rockBegin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airlineAyatollah's in Iran, Russians in AfghanistanWheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicideForeign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie GoetzHypodermics on the shores, China's under martial lawRock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

We didn't start the fireIt was always burningSince the world's been turningWe didn't start the fireNo we didn't light itBut we tried to fight it

Your comments and ideas are eagerly anticipated.