In the song, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel…
I need help on understanding somethings…
“payola and Kennedy”–do these two items corrolate with each other???
“dylan”–do they mean Bob Dylan???
If someone could please help me 
Also, what are your thoughts on the song???
No. The payola scandal was before JFK took office.
The song is a laundry list of people and events; there is little connection other than a roughly chronological one.
Here’s a little more detail on the laundry list.
we listened to it in 7th grade for american history and it was awesome.
Holy crap so did we. The teacher would play that song and Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now” sometimes before class.
A 2005 thread on suggested updatesfor the song. It’s been 5 years since that thread so that’s even more.
I hate this song. Out of an album that was otherwise full of outstanding, complex, and often mournful songs, this one stupid lyric that is nothing but a bunch of random cultural references plugged together with a simple backing riff and an idiotic refrain peaks at #1.
Stranger
I actually bought Storm Front for that one song. Within two days I was sick of it, but I still listen to Downeaster Alexa and Leningrad.
Downeaster Alexa is an incredibly evocative, heartbreaking ballad. You can practically feel the ocean spray washing up across the bow as you’re heading out to sea:
*We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner’s Bay
Like all the locals here I’ve had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I worked my fingers to the bone
So I could own my Downeaster “Alexa”
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can’t fall asleep*
Stranger
This makes me feel old…
That being said, we listened to Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant during American history junior year, and I imagine that makes someone else out there feel old.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one.
Just for curiosity, what does “downeaster” mean?
This is one of my wife’s favorite songs. and Stranger is right - it is incredibly evocative and beautiful. In fact, I’d say it’s the best modern song of the sea, save for The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald.
One could say it was a bellweather for media and culture in the digital age; a bunch of random cultural references plugged together with a simple backing riff and an idiotic refrain.
From the context, I assume it’s a boat.
It’s a maritime term. When ships sail the Atlantic coast of the U.S. eastward, they have the wind at their backs. Hence, they are sailing downwind, or “Down East.” Down East also commonly refers to the coast of Maine.
I agree, but I’d add The Trawlerman’s Song by Mark Knopfler in any list of top five.
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Check out The Decemberist’s The Mariner’s Revenge.
Though in the song Downeaster is the name of his boat as well. Alexa is the name of Billy Joel’s daughter with Christie Brinkley (who incidentally I just read an interview with the other day and it said she was 56 years old- damn, how’d that happen?).
I first listened to Downeaster Alexa on a walkman on the plane ride the day after I bought the CD. It was a very bumpy ride and it made it just magical. That song was meant for motion sickness.
He wrote it in part in protest of environmental activists who had added several species of fish to the protected registries and made it illegal to fish them. While perhaps sound for environmental reasons this devastated the already very troubled fishing industry.
I like the riff and it has a good beat, but from the first time I heard it I felt the same way about the content: a “bunch of random cultural refrences plugged together”
I found myself enjoying the catchy tune while being annoyed at the randomness.
Funny thing is, the other day my wife was listening to As Águas de Março (The Waters of March) and one of the kids was asking what the song was saying. I explained that it is just a bunch of random thoughts and cultural references, very loosely held together by the concept “stuff that happens when the Rainy Season comes”, with a very catchy and repetitive backing tune.
But that song is considered by some to be the greatest song of all Brazilian music, while Billy Joel’s effort is just lame. What an interesting contrast.