# "We Didn't Start the Fire" type songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880 "2009-06-15T21:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/41 "2009-06-16T10:00:17Z")
[People Who Died](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bOjc70f4p8) by the **Jim Carroll Band** ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/42 "2009-06-16T10:18:06Z")
How about “Mediate” by INXS… Hallucinate Desegregate Mediate Alleviate Try not to hate Love your mate Etc. In the video, they imitated the flipcard thing that Dylan did for Subterranean. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/43 "2009-06-16T11:36:28Z")
**B-52s** - both _52 Girls_ and _Dance This Mess Around_ definitely fit. Ooh, \*Rocklobster \*too. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/44 "2009-06-16T13:30:16Z")
For quick and tricky lyrics have a look at The Monkees’ _Goin’ Down_ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/URb8h4dLKps/hqdefault.jpg "The Monkees - Goin' Down") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URb8h4dLKps) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/45 "2009-06-16T13:32:43Z")
> [@An\_Arky](#): > > [People Who Died](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bOjc70f4p8) by the **Jim Carroll Band** _Pepper_ by the Butthole Surfers seems a blatant homage to People Who Died. It’s sort of like a “WDSTF”-type song were remixed by Beck. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/46 "2009-06-16T13:58:45Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > For quick and tricky lyrics have a look at The Monkees’ _Goin’ Down_ That reminds me of another Monkees one, also with Dolenz on the vocals - Midnight Train. One more quick and tricky - Leroy Van Dyke’s Auctioneer. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/47 "2009-06-16T14:13:53Z")
Joan Baez’s [Children and All That Jazz](http://www.metrolyrics.com/children-and-all-that-jazz-lyrics-joan-baez.html) Joey and Janet Jennifer, Joshua Justin and Jason Jacob and Jordan Heather and Shannon Marisa and Kirsten Kimmie and David Who shall we play with? Here comes my own son Light of my life is Younger than new leaves Brighter than you please Says that he loves me Big as the world and Gabriel Harris You go to bed now You go to bed now It’s quarter to nine I’m tired I’m tired I’m tired ---
**Author:** ![EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilHamsterOnCrack)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/48 "2009-06-16T14:26:59Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > How about… WTF? “Let the Drummer Kick” by Citizen Cope is a cover? ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/49 "2009-06-16T14:35:05Z")
I just want to thank you for getting that song stuck in my head. Man oh man. ---
**Author:** ![Kal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de053/32.png) [@Kal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kal)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/50 "2009-06-16T14:59:32Z")
Another list of things song: Weird Al’s [ebay](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYokLWfqbaU) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/51 "2009-06-16T15:01:22Z")
[The Hook](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Hook-lyrics-Blues-Traveler/B340F78FC7CBC9A6482568A1000ADB62) by Blues Traveller Is quick and tricky (\*part \*of it is anyway - "…suck it in, suck it in . . ") as is [Got the Time](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/joe+jackson/got+the+time_20072727.html) by Joe Jackson. King Crimson’s [Elephant Talk](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/k/king+crimson/elephant+talk_20078581.html) qualifies as a list that is neither quick or tricky (or particularly interesting or relevent). ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/52 "2009-06-16T15:33:22Z")
“Do, Re, Mi” from “The Sound of Music” Does the alphabet song count? How about “ABC” by the Jackson Five? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/53 "2009-06-16T16:00:30Z")
[The Na Na Song](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/sherylcrow/thenanasong.html) by Sheryl Crow ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/54 "2009-06-16T18:10:10Z")
A little different and in a different genre, but [Alphabet Aerobics](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blackalicious/alphabetaerobics.html) and [A2G](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/blackalicious/a2g.html) by Blackalicious. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/55 "2009-06-16T18:25:46Z")
[50 Ways to Leave Your Lover](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Ways_to_Leave_Your_Lover) by Paul Simon [Carol Brown](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unnatural_Love) by the Flight of the Conchords ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/56 "2009-06-16T18:33:13Z")
Speaking of Paul Simon, [A Simple Desultory Phillipic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txE7RZNQY_w). Which has immediately reminded me of [Subterranean Homesick Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgi2DkDbPU). ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/57 "2009-06-16T18:48:59Z")
> [@Sarahfeena](#): > > How about “Mediate” by INXS… > > Hallucinate > Desegregate > Mediate > Alleviate > Try not to hate > Love your mate > Etc. > > In the video, they imitated the flipcard thing that Dylan did for Subterranean. OMG, THANK YOU for posting this. I was coming back to this thread to mention this song, only I didn’t know the title or who did it, so I was going to be pretty useless. “It had this video, with the flip cards!” ---
**Author:** ![vd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b19c9b/32.png) [@vd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vd)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/58 "2009-06-16T19:23:35Z")
Great Big Sea did a faster cover of [End of the World](http://www.amazon.com/End-Of-The-World/dp/B001VW6EKG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1245179947&sr=8-2). ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/59 "2009-06-16T19:39:33Z")
“[Hardware Store](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGlEptqoRmM)” by Weird Al Yankovic. Try to sing that list in one breath. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TimToyGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@TimToyGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimToyGeek)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2009, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880/60 "2009-06-16T20:52:05Z")
No love for Tom Waits? He’s got so many patter songs that he could fill an album with them. Off the top of my head, I would say Step Right Up is the best of 'em, though Pasties and a G-String from the same album is also great. Whistle Past the Graveyard is another good one, with that sort of “bragging” patter that you hear a lot in blues songs (and rap, too, I guess). There are so many more in his songbook, too. He’s got a real gift for that sort of thing. There are probably lots of good They Might Be Giants songs like this, too, like “Dinner Bell” (a pavlov-themed patter song in a round) and Purple Toupee (sort of a twisted take on history) among many others. Now that you mention it, I love songs like that! Tim “toy geek” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-didnt-start-the-fire-type-songs/499880.md?page=4)