We Didn't Start the Fire

Well, since I wrote about Marconi in my last post, I was inspired to look at another 80s tune with historical names -- lots of historical names.  "We Didn't Start the Fire" was written by Billy Joel in 1989, which is much later than I originally thought.  I guess it works out well since it is a historical retrospective montage, so it makes sense to have it end in the last year of a decade.  Hard to believe that 24 years have gone by since it was written!  Wow.  Anyway, this is not the kind of tune you can easily sing in your car or at karaoke, but nevertheless, it would be a challenge in both cases (especially karaoke).  Have you ever sung karaoke, finding yourself scrambling to get all the words in as they go by the screen?  I admit that I have.  It's pretty fun.

I think we all know that this song is kind of a giant poem with some accompaniment rather than a song in the melodic sense.  Does it have a melody?  Well, only if you count the chorus.  Meanwhile, the video for this tune is awesome.  I was blown away by the quality of the video in terms of direction, acting, etc.  It seems to have a plot as well, since we follow a family through all these decades.  I watched it and thought, "Hey, isn't that Marlee Matlin in there?"  Come to find out, it is!  She was the one burning her bra in the '60s/70s part and thumbing her nose to her family.  I think she may also have been the girl on the table getting her prom dress hemmed just before the bra burning scene, but I can't really confirm this.  Rewinding just a but further, I have to say that I was just a bit bugged that the mom in the 50s/60s part is popping pills because of her child playing violin.  That's not fair!  I guess I never noticed that when I was younger, because back in '89, I had never even seen stringed instruments up close and personal.  It's alright, though.  We'll let that one slide in the name of art.  As for Mr. Joel, well, we know he is a musical genius, and this song is just kind of a neat little anomaly in his catalog.  I'll probably write about more of his songs later, but for now, we can all challenge ourselves to sing along with this!

We Built This City

So, the other night I was listening to Pandora radio on my computer, and "We Built This City" came on.  It's not surprising since I listen to "80s Radio" on there 100 percent of the time.  I have to say that I believe my perspective has changed over the years, and I guess I hadn't noticed until I heard this song again.  It was a HUGE hit in the '80s, specifically in 1985 when it was released.  I remember thinking it was so cool because it had a radio announcer in it.  Turns out that was an MTV exec playing a radio announcer, but nevertheless, it was awesome.  The song seemed to be a rock anthem in many respects -- not really like a hard rock song that is so popular it becomes an anthem, but rather a song supporting rock music.  It's upbeat, and kind of a "hey, we're not going anywhere" type of song.

The lyrics are pretty interesting, and not really complicated or elaborate, but just very thorough for a rock tune.  I guess it's more of a pop tune.  Well, maybe it's best classified as "Top 40" for the day.  Anyway, I thought for years they were singing "My Coney plays the mamba..."  My Coney?  Like Coney Island?  I wasn't sure, and I certainly couldn't understand why those would be the lyrics, but that's what I thought!  Much later, I discovered simply from listening, that it was "Marconi plays the mamba...."  AHA!  Okay, that makes much more sense.  Marconi, father/inventor of the radio.  Yup.  Got it.  There are a couple of other lines I misheard, but that was the funniest.  I did hear "corporation games," though, which makes me say "right on!" especially since I can understand that now.  "Someone's always playing corporation games...who cares they're always changing corporation names."  I can certainly hear and relate to those lyrics very well today.

This tune does make me smile, and it is pretty "fun," but I've discovered "Somebody to Love" by listening to Nights with Alice Cooper.  I think I probably heard it a few times in my youth (I seem to remember my parents having that record), but now I can really appreciate it from a musical and lyrical standpoint.  I think it's a better representation of the root of Starship -- Jefferson Airplane.  I'm not sure of the whole evolution, but I do like this one so much more now.  So, I've included them both.  Hope you enjoy the retrospective.