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Legendary singer and songwriter Billy Joel has a laundry list of hits on his resume, from “Piano Man,” to “Only The Good Die Young,” “Movin’ Out” and many more.
But perhaps the most famous of those songs is his 1989 hit, “We Didn’t Start the Fire” from the album Storm Front. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained there for a pair of weeks.
The list song notes 119 different political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events and people between the year Joel was born, 1949, and the year the song came out.
But as the saying goes, time comes for us all.
The death of Brigitte Bardot necessitated the update of this marvelous chart. Only three people mentioned in Billy Joel’s banger “We Didn’t Start The Fire” are still alive. Source: https://t.co/RQytWpRj03 pic.twitter.com/mBtFG5Ra8O
— Simon Kuestenmacher (@simongerman600) December 28, 2025
Only 3 Of 58 People Mentioned By Billy Joel In ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ Are Still Alive
In total, Joel name-drops 58 different celebrities, scientists, or political figures in the famous song.
On Sunday, French actress, model, and sex symbol Brigitte Bardot passed away at the age of 91 in her home in the south of France.
That means that 53 of the 58 people mentioned by Joel in the song have now passed away. The only living people mentioned in the song are musicians Bob Dylan and Chubby Checker, who are both 84 years old, as well as Berhard Goetz, who was arrested in 1984 for shooting at four young, black men who he alleged attempted to rob him.
Goetz was sentenced to a year in prison but was released after 8.5 months.
Other than that, every person mentioned by Joel in the song has passed away.
Ultimately, the deaths represent a reflection of the passage of time more than a curse placed on anyone by Joel or the song itself. But it’s still crazy to see just three of the extremely notable figures left standing.