Homework Help Please - This Is A Fun One

[Banzai]

In our Amercian History class, we were talking about the last century (the latter parts), and he asked us take the text of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire", and see how early into the song people can remember. I only (barely) remember the "Rock and Roller Cola Wars". True, AIDS, crack, suicide, and heavy metal are in my time...but I don't remember the start of them. That's why I don't concider the cola wars to be my time, that was the late 1980s.


Here we go:

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King and I and The Catcher in the Rye

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser aand Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc


Roy hn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, trouble in the Suez

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge on the River Kwai

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodsto, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

 

[Magix]

My memories start with "punk rock, Begin, Reagan..." Seems to be the 80's, which are very clear to me. My formative years. Lucky me...

 

[canwegosoon]

Considering that the song is not in a time line sequence I list only the things I remember.

Doris Day, Red China,
Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, , television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King and I and The Catcher in the Rye

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace,

Joseph Stalin, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Communist Bloc


Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Rock Around the Clock

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place, trouble in the Suez

Little Rock, Mickey Mantle,
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge on the River Kwai

Lebanon, Charlse de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, space monkey, Mafia
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go

U-2, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho, Belgians in the Congo

Hemingway, Eichmann,
Dylan, Berlin,

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn,

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

Wheel of Fortune, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law
Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore

So I think I remember about 85%...B illy Joel lived 2 towns over from me, before I moved. Good luck with the homework...I hope this helps.

 

[Microcell]

Originally posted by Magix
My memories start with "punk rock, Begin, Reagan..." Seems to be the 80's, which are very clear to me. My formative years. Lucky me...

Ditto!

 

[JulieWent]

Gosh, I thought I was old, and I don't get on board until almost the end! (I'm 42!) John Glenn is where I come in memory-wise. Don't have any memory of the British / politician / sex scandal, though I have heard of it over the years. (No comments here about other scandals!) Don't suppose such a thing would make an impression upon a small child the way astronauts conquering space and heroes being assassinated would. (Yes, I remember Kennedy's death, though only in brief bits.) I also moved to the deep south in my second year, so I remember Ole Miss and desegregation plainly. I clearly remember asking my mother as we traveled when I was about four why there was a "men's room," a "women's room," and and "bathroom." Her explanation of the way things were done "in Mississippi" was shocking to me.

Wow, sorry for rambling. It's weird how little of the song I remember. I know of it, of course, through great history teachers (like yours!), but thanks for reminding me that I'm not as old as all that. (Or maybe Billy Joel is just older! )

Julie

 

[canwegosoon]

Oh and by the way if you ever plan on going into business...you will be studying the cola wars....now that was marketing at it's prime!!!

 

[Saffron]

My memories start at:

" ... Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say ... "