Trivia: In Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” each verse represents what?
An ex-girlfriend
A fellow music artist
A different city
A different decade
The correct answer is A different decade
So why is this answer correct? : The Piano Man’s 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire” acted as a catchy history lesson for listeners. Joel was inspired by “how crazy” life can be, and how each generation goes through different struggles and historic events. As his lyrics go, “We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning…” Joel started the song’s events in 1949 (the year he was born) and ended them in 1989 (the year it came out). The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.