The passing of French film icon Brigitte Bardot at age 91 has sparked renewed attention on an unexpected piece of pop culture history. Bardot was one of the 59 real-life figures name-checked in Billy Joel’s 1989 hit We Didn’t Start the Fire. With her death, only three of those 59 people remain alive today.
A Song Built on History and Headlines
Released in 1989, We Didn’t Start the Fire is a rapid-fire rundown of major people, events, and cultural moments from 1949 to 1989—the first 40 years of Joel’s life. The song became famous for its breathless lyrics, which reference wars, political scandals, cultural icons, and scientific breakthroughs without a traditional narrative arc. Bardot, who symbolized postwar European cinema and celebrity culture, was the last living woman mentioned by name in the song. Her death now leaves a striking statistic: just three of the 59 named individuals are still alive.
The Data That Caught Fans’ Attention
The milestone gained traction online after a Reddit user shared an updated visualization on the r/dataisbeautiful subreddit. The chart mapped out the lifespans of each person referenced in the song, showing when they were born, when they died, and when they achieved the moment that earned them a lyric. The graphic highlighted how time has steadily narrowed the list of living figures, turning a once-contemporary song into a historical artifact.
The Three Who Remain
According to the updated analysis, the only living people mentioned in We Didn’t Start the Fire are musicians Bob Dylan and Chubby Checker, along with Bernhard Goetz, a controversial figure linked to a 1984 New York City subway shooting. Their survival underscores how broad Joel’s lyrical scope was, spanning entertainment, politics, and crime.
Why Billy Joel Wrote the Song
In a 1989 interview with Northeastern University’s Larry Katz, Joel explained that the song was born out of a generational argument. When a younger man told him that “nothing happened” in the 1950s and early 1960s, Joel bristled. The self-described “history nut” began jotting down every major event and figure he could remember from his lifetime. “It started looking like a rap song,” he later recalled, and the structure of We Didn’t Start the Fire took shape.
A Hit the Artist Didn’t Love
Despite its success, Joel has been openly critical of the song. In the 1993 documentary Billy Joel: Shades of Grey, he famously said that the melody alone sounded like “a dentist drill.” Still, the song remains one of his most recognizable works and continues to be performed live. In 2023, the track found new life when Fall Out Boy released an updated version, extending the lyrical timeline into the modern era.
A Song That Ages With Time
More than three decades after its release, We Didn’t Start the Fire now reads less like pop commentary and more like a condensed history lesson. Brigitte Bardot’s death marks another turning point, reminding listeners that the song’s rapid-fire names are no longer just references—but legacies.
