Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Named 59 Icons—Only 3 Are Still With Us After Brigitte Bardot’s Passing

Brigitte Bardot (left), Billy Joel.
Credit:

ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty; Emma McIntyre/Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• French actress Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91.
• She was one of the 59 individuals mentioned in Billy Joel’s 1989 hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
• With Bardot’s passing, only three of those 59 individuals remain alive.

Brigitte Bardot’s recent death has reduced the membership of a notable group. Of the 59 names referenced in Billy Joel’s iconic song “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” only three remain living, according to an analysis shared by a data enthusiast on the Reddit community r/dataisbeautiful.

This chart, which visually represents the lifespans of those mentioned, was updated following Bardot’s death. It highlights the notable figures from the first 40 years of Joel’s life.

An updated chart was shared by Reddit user u/cavedave, illustrating the dates of birth and death of each person listed in the song.

The creator of the chart explained, “The line starts when someone is born, ends when they die. And a dot marks when they were highlighted in the song.”

Currently, the three surviving figures from the original list are musician Bob Dylan, performer Chubby Checker, and Bernhard Goetz, who is known for his controversial actions in a New York subway shooting incident in 1984.

In a 1989 interview with Larry Katz from Northeastern University, Joel reflected that the song emerged during a time of personal transition as he approached his 40th birthday, describing it as an opportunity for his inner “history teacher” to shine through.

Joel recalled, “As a child, without a television, I dove into books and became fascinated with history. I wanted to understand what events shaped our present.” He noted a conversation with a younger individual who dismissed the significance of the 1950s and early 1960s, prompting Joel to list several critical historical events from that era.

Following that discussion, Joel began cataloging significant names and events from his own life. “It started resembling a rap song,” he remarked. “So I continued to write.”

Despite his mixed feelings about the song, Joel continues to perform it. In a 1993 documentary titled Billy Joel: Shades of Grey, he described the song as lacking musical merit, comparing its melody to “a dentist drill.”

In June 2023, Fall Out Boy released a modern cover of the song, incorporating references to events spanning from the 1990s to the present day.