Remember that old Billy Joel song, We Didn’t Start the Fire? Okay, I loved that song—not because it was a particularly great musical piece, but because it was so interesting for history buffs. I remember when it came out, my mom asked me whether I knew what all the references in the song were. We sat down together and went through the lyrics sheet (from my cassette tape!) line by line, with my telling her all the things I knew, and her explaining to me the things I didn’t know. To this day, I can still sing the entire thing from memory.
The thing is, it ends in the ‘80s, and I was thinking that the Bush administration needed its own verse. With apologies to Mr. Joel for stepping on his toes, I realized it needed two verses—one for the first four years (ascension), and one for the second (crash and burn).
My attempt is below, and the Question of the Day is: What’s your We Didn’t Start the Fire verse for the Bush administration? And for those of you who don’t know the song, or don’t like it, a verse (or two) from another song, or a krazy karaoke submission, are also welcome.
9/11, war abroad,
Condoleezza, Donald Rumsfeld, neocon cabal.
Mushroom cloud, “Dead or alive,”
More tax cuts, “Now watch this drive,”
Rightwing pundits, propaganda, marches on The Mall.
Swift Boat Vets, Rove takes aim,
Novak outs a covert name,
Terror warnings, Abu Ghraib, Ashcroft takes a hike.
Powell out, Gonzales in,
Kerry takes it on the chin,
Moral values, faux mandate, Georgie rides his bike.
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
Hurricane in New Orleans,
Papers filled with ghastly scenes,
Cronyism, “No blame game,” Miers to the court.
2K dead now in Iraq,
Miers out—she’s just a hack,
Bush in trouble, Scotty spins, dwindling support.
Crooked, lying GOP,
Bill Frist and the SEC,
Abramoff, Robert Nye, indicted Tom DeLay.
Fitzy grills, Rove denies,
Libby didn’t out no spies,
Come one day, Bush will pay, what else do I have to say?!
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it…
Shakesville is run as a safe space. First-time commenters: Please read Shakesville's Commenting Policy and Feminism 101 Section before commenting. We also do lots of in-thread moderation, so we ask that everyone read the entirety of any thread before commenting, to ensure compliance with any in-thread moderation. Thank you.
blog comments powered by Disqus