This is the third post in my blog series about the song We Didn't Start the Fire by Billy Joel. I am writing about the significance of each item mentioned in the song. That is, what significance I THINK they have. I am not doing any research or looking anything up, so I could be totally wrong.
More information about this blog series can be found in the series' first post.
Rosenbergs - The Rosenbergs were a husband and wife spy team. They spied on the American government for the Soviet Union and provided the Soviets with vast amounts of classified information. Eventually they were caught and spent the rest of their lives in prison.
H-bomb - As soon as the Soviet Union got the bomb in the early 1950s they competed with the United States in a nuclear arms race. Both Americans and Russians spent the better part of four decades in fear of nuclear obliteration by the other side.
Sugar Ray - Sugar Ray Leonard was a world champion boxer. This doesn't quite fit the general timeline of the song, but he was the light way champion of the world during the 1970s and 1980s.
Panmunjom - Panmunjom is the capital of Laos. It fell to a communist uprising in 1957.
Brando - Marlon Brando was a world famous American actor. He was known for being suave and debonair.
The King and I - The King and I is a book that was turned into a Broadway play.
The Catcher in the Rye - This is a book by J.D. Salinger. It had definite social undertones for one of the major issues of the its day, race relations.
2 comments:
I am enjoying your series!...normally I just beleive almost anything you say...but...
Here is what I know...
Rosenbergs...were executed.
Sugar Ray...I think the song might mean Sugar Ray Robinson
Brando..."STELLA!"
Catcher in the Rye - wasnt that what spurred on John Lennon's assasin?
Rocki, Excellent call on Sugar Ray. I never knew much about Robinson. It was interesting to read a little about him after you commented. After I posted I tried looking up Sugar Ray, but was point right to Leonard. I would have missed Robinson completely had it not been for your comment.
I think my most glaring error from this section was that Panmunjom is not in Laos. It is on the border between North and South Korea and is the place where the armistice that stopped the Korean War was signed.
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