We Didn't Start The Fire
Billy Joel
Chord diagrams
30 px/s
We Didn't Start The Fire
Strumming — Whole song (145 bpm)
↓ ↓ ↑ ↑ ↓ ↑
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
Intro
D
D
Em
C
D
D
Em
C
Refrain
D
D
Em
C
D
D
Bm
C
Verse 1
G
Harry
Truman, Doris Day, Red
D
China,
Johnnie Ray
Em
South
Pacific, Walter Winchell,
C
Joe
DiMaggio
G
Joe
McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Stude-
D
baker,
Television
Em
North
Korea, South Korea,
C
Marilyn
Monroe
Refrain
D
D
Em
C
Verse 2
G
Rosenbergs,
HBomb, Sugar
D
Ray,
Panmunjom
Em
Brando,
The King And I, and
C
The
Catcher In The Rye,
G
Eisenhower,
Vaccine,
D
England's
got a new queen
Em
Marciano,
Liberace,
C
Santayana
goodbye
Chorus
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
Verse 3
G
Joseph
Stalin, Malenkov,
D
Nasser
and Prokofiev
Em
Rockefeller,
Campanella,
C
Communist
Bloc
G
Roy
Cohn, Juan Peron,
D
Toscanini,
Dacron
Em
Dien
Bien Phu Falls, "Rock A-
C
round
the Clock"
G
Einstein,
James Dean,
D
Brooklyn's
got a winning team
Em
Davy
Crockett, Peter Pan,
C
Elvis
Presley, Disneyland
G
Bardot,
Budapest,
D
Alabama,
Khrushchev
Em
Princess
Grace, Peyton Place,
C
Trouble
in the Suez
Chorus
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
No,
we didn't light it, but we
Am
tried
to fight it
Bridge
C
Little
Rock, Pasternak,
Am
Mickey
Mantle, Kerouac
Em
Sputnik,
Zhou Enlai,
D
Bridge
On The River Kwai,
C
Lebanon,
Charles de Gaulle,
Am
California
baseball
Em
Starkweather
Homicide,
D
Children
of Thalidomide
Verse 4
G
Buddy
Holly, BenHur,
D
Space
Monkey, Mafia
Em
Hula
Hoops, Castro,
C
Edsel
is a nogo
G
U2,
Syngman Rhee,
D
payola
and Kennedy
Em
Chubby
Checker, Psycho,
C
Belgians
in the Congo
Chorus
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
Verse 5
G
Hemingway,
Eichmann,
D
Stranger
in a Strange Land,
Em
Dylan,
Berlin,
C
Bay
of Pigs invasion
G
Lawrence
of Arabia,
D
British
Beatlemania
Em
Ole
Miss, John Glenn,
C
Liston
beats Patterson
G
Pope
Paul, Malcolm X,
D
British
Politician sex
Em
J.
F. K. blown away,
C
what
else do I have to say?
Chorus
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
Verse 6
G
Birth
control, Ho Chi Minh,
D
Richard
Nixon back again
Em
Moonshot,
Woodstock,
C
Watergate,
punk rock
G
Begin,
Reagan, Palestine,
D
Terror
on the airline
Em
Ayatollah's
in Iran,
C
Russians
in Afghanistan
G
Wheel
of Fortune, Sally Ride,
D
heavy
metal suicide
Em
Foreign
debts, homeless Vets,
C
AIDS,
crack, Bernie Goetz
G
Hypodermics
on the shores,
D
China's
under martial law
Em
Rock
and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore
Chorus (extended)
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
But
when we are gone
C
It
will still
D
burn
on, and on, and on, and
D
on,
Em
And
on, and on, and on, and
C
on...
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
Outro (Fade Out)
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Bm
It
was always burning since the
C
world's
been turning
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
Em
No,
we didn't light it, but we
C
tried
to fight it
D
We
didn't start the
D
fire
It was