We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies

Billy Joel wrote a song; History is going strong. It was Nineteen-eighty-nine; and the song was doing fine. Many copies does it sell; stuff about the past they tell: Politics and culture, too; movies, war and what have you.

Other people came along; they do really like the song, Realize it was a hit; want to have a part in it. History is first to go; from Nineteen hundred back to 0. Other topics soon include; everything from nice to lewd.

We didn’t start the riffing It was always with us Since the song has hit us We didn’t start the riffing Oh no we didn’t coin it But we just now join it

Every singer has a version; can you really blame the person? The song’s a really catchy tune; and you, too, will sing it soon. Cannot get it out your head; it will likely drive you mad, Sing it ‘til you cough up phlegm; then go back and start again.

You, too can make own lyrics soon; as long as you don’t touch the tune. Do a List Song if you like; name all the pieces of your bike. If story’s your imperative; you could write a narrative Just be clever and enjoy; think of tropes you could employ.

We didn’t start the riffing It was always with us Since the song has hit us We didn’t start the riffing Oh no we didn’t coin it But we just now join it

If you’re a really clever Hombre; you can even change the genre: Country Music, Reggae-vibe; Heavy Metal, suicide, New Wave, Hip Hop; Electronic, Punk Rock, Soul and Ska you can do, but Jimmy Hart will do so, too

Or just like a bunch of dopes; make a song that’s listing tropes: Filk Song, List Song; Stock Parodies will come along. Piano Key Wave, Piss-Take Rap; you can really list all crap "God Is Love" Songs, Ear Worm; Power Ballad, Seiza Squirm

We didn’t start the riffing It was always with us Since the song has hit us We didn’t start the riffing Oh no we didn’t coin it But we just now join it

As I said, it’s often done; many versions under the sun. We will list examples here; austerity you need not fear. The list is not complete of course; and this is our driving force To make you add to it tout de suite or you will be deep in shame

Advertising

 * This mid-1990s ad for Star Trek: The Next Generation ("We Didn't Start the Series")
 * The Coca-Cola FIFA World Cup Special ad "Los Cocacoleros".
 * "See Those Bids Go Higher", an ad for auction website Golden Palace.

Fan Works
"Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, metahumans, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe..."
 * It's not a parody, strictly speaking, but an alternate version of "We Didn't Start The Fire" from an Alternate Universe appears in chapter seven of Drunkard's Walk II. It's mostly the same as the version we know, but there are a couple of changes reflecting that world's different history:


 * The Discworld version, "We Didn't Buy The Hardback".

Music
"We live in Ohio,/And we goin' broke but we can't have smokin' here; We live in Ohio,/And our mayor's ramblin'; we can't get gamblin' here."
 * German comedian Otto Waalkes did "Wir haben Grund zum Feiern" ("We have reason to celebrate") which lists off a bunch of alcoholic beverages.
 * The Tom Green song "Pet Names for Genitalia" (see I Call Him "Mister Happy").
 * "We Didn't Start the Blitzball" (lyrics), about the Fictional Sport Blitzball from Final Fantasy X.
 * Fringemunks did "Susan Pratt Started the Fire" (lyrics) about the episode "The Road Not Taken" of Fringe.
 * The Star Wars podcast ForceCast featured "We Didn't Start the ForceCast" on their October 29, 2010 cast at 1:51:40 (lyrics).
 * "We Have a Strong Desire", by Shlock Rock. It covers the history of the Jews from the Bible until present day.
 * Following the rescue of Todd Russell and Brant Webb from a collapsed mine in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, the radio team Hamish and Andy recorded a song to help them catch up: "We're filling in the miners. / They've been down there weeks, so they have missed heaps. / We're filling in the miners / So they're right across all essential goss." They concluded it by declaring that one thing hadn't changed: "Our songs are still half-assed."
 * Comedian Russell Howard used this song to list things the Daily Mail claims cause cancer. The greatest similarity is in the chorus, however.
 * Courtesy of WTAM 1100 (specifically The Mike Trivisonno Show), there's "We Live in Ohio", a good-natured tribute to all things Cleveland, as well as a gentle criticism of local politicians' tendency to focus on small or non-existent problems and ignore looming disaster:


 * We Set the Dog on Fire by the guys at Spaff.com, enumerating dishes made from dog meat.
 * Cayuga's Waiters, a now-defunct all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble at Cornell University, wrote and recorded "We Didn't Go to Harvard" in the mid-1990s. It puts the Cornell experience in lyrical form to Billy Joel's melody.
 * Another not-a-parody: In June 2023, Fall Out Boy released a cover version adding lyrics to cover events from 1989 onward.

Music Videos

 * One based on the Internet, "We Didn't Start the Flame War". Different than most in that instead of a list of people or events, it's a list of internet comments.
 * The Simpsons did a Suspiciously Similar Song Version, "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons", at the end of the 2002 "Gump Roast" episode (so far, they seem to be right).
 * San Francisco a cappella group The Richter Scales did "Here Comes Another Bubble", winning the 2007 Webby Award and infamously getting its video taken down for briefly using a single copyrighted image. It was later rereleased as "version 1.1".
 * "We Love Barney Fife," Gums 'n' Moses
 * JibJab did one of these for their 2007 year in review.
 * "Ryan Started the Fire" of The Office.
 * Rich Alvarez has "Games Are Our One Desire"
 * Comedian Bruce Fine did a parody summarizing events from 2009-2010.
 * Amateur Transplants - "Finals Countdown", listing a bunch of medical conditions that medical students need to know for their final exam.
 * "We Didn't Find Osama", criticizing the Bush administration.
 * YTMND has "We Didn't Start This Website!"
 * cakke.com's "The Internet Stars Are Viral", a compilation of viral video stars.
 * "Facebook Anthem" aka "I'm Getting Bored of Facebook" about stupid Facebook games.
 * Gorden & Phirm - "We Didn't Start the '80s"
 * Putnam Pig did the "Swine Flu Song" (aka "Pigs Didn't Start the Swine Flu"), defending pigs against accusations of spreading the H1-N1 virus.
 * "Tom's Bushes are on Fire", recounting the true story of a guy who got his bushes burnt down by a stray firework.
 * LMcDuff08 did "Wall Street Meltdown" based on various Wall Street disasters in 2007.
 * "We Didn't Start the Crisis", about the subprime mortgage crisis.
 * "We Didn't Start the Star Wars".
 * An updated version of the song recounting events from 1990 to 2008.
 * "We Didn't Start the Fire 2", another updated version recounting events from roughly 2000 to 2010.
 * Another updated version.
 * "The Obama Song" criticizing the first two months of Barack Obama's presidency.
 * I Live in Singapura is kinda funny, even if you don't know much about Singapore's history.
 * Another Suspiciously Similar Song version: "We Didn't Start the Landfills", a (cheesy and Anvilicious) performance at Reseda High ﻿School intended to encourage recycling.
 * "We Didn't Start the Let's Play", from Slimkirby's Let's Play of "Yoshi's Island".
 * "We Didn't Start the Abridged", based on Naruto the Abridged Series.
 * There's also the "You'll Never Stop the Abridged" Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series fan video.
 * "We Didn't Start the Weekend", one bored college student's summary of his weekend activities.
 * "I Love New York", a short one about stuff in New York State.
 * "Who's Gonna Watch the Watchmen?", about Watchmen.
 * A Harry Potter version, "We Didn't Start the Fandom".
 * "The Wii Didn't Start the Fire". Holding true to the history motif, it covers the history of video games, from the 1950s to the present.
 * And it actually rhymes.
 * "We Didn't Start The Fire", The Literal Version.
 * We didn't start the awesome dedicated to everyone at That Guy With The Glasses.
 * A unique one would be We Didn't Start the Fire - Dangerous Women because it lists the most influential women in history.
 * Everything Gives you Cancer from Russell Howard's Good News, essentially a Take That against the Daily Mail.

Newspaper Comics

 * An early Baby Blues Sunday Strip had "We Didn't Start Out Tired".

Puppet Shows

 * The Funday Pawpet Show: Poink and KP do a version for the show's past events.

Web Original

 * Gary Geniesse - "We Didn't Start the VAXing" (scroll down on this page for lyrics), dedicated to a VAX server that was the center of much social interaction at the University of Florida in the 1980s.
 * Editor James Broomhead at InternationalEd.org wrote "Motorsport In 2010 Review (Or We Didn’t Start the Car)" (lyrics).
 * Keydeck of Toytown Germany did one for the site's forums, "We Didn't Start the Forum" (lyrics).
 * Orderly Oasis LLC on Facebook did "We Didn't Start the Pile" about disorderly piles of papers.
 * There's even a We Didn't Start TV Tropes written by alone-in-the-rain on deviantART. The text of they lyrics is available here, and a karaoke version on YouTube was made using an earlier version of the lyrics.
 * You read this page, right?
 * We Didn't Start the Fuhrer

"Billy Joel, please do not sue us It's a catchy song, that's why this list is long Billy Joel, please do not sue us Cause I'm not a singer, this is just The Stinger"