[1949]
Harry Truman, Doris Day,
Red China, Johnny Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

[1950]
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon,
Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

[1951]
Rosenbergs, H-bomb,
Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, The King and I,
And The Catcher In The Rye

[1952]
Eisenhower, Vaccine,
England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

[Chorus]
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
[1953]
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov,
Nasser and Prokofiev,
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

[1954]
Roy Cohn,
Juan Peron,
Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock

[1955]
Einstein, James Dean,
Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan,
Elvis Presley, Disneyland

[1956]
Bardot, Budapest
Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace,
Peyton Place
Trouble in the Suez

[Chorus]
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.
[1957]
Little Rock, Pasternak,
Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai,
Bridge On The River Kwai

[1958]
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle,
California baseball
Starkweather homicides,
Children of Thalidomide

[1959]
Buddy Holly, Ben Hur,
Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro,
Edsel is a no-go

[1960]
U2, Syngman Rhee,
Payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Psycho,
Belgians in the Congo
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
[1961]
Hemingway, Eichmann,
Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan,
Berlin,
Bay of Pigs invasion

[1962]
Lawrence of Arabia,
British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn,
Liston beats Patterson

[1963]
Pope Paul, Malcolm X,
British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away,
What else do I have to say?

(Chorus)
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.

(1964-1989)
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

[Chorus]
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.