Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Obama Speech Channels Billy Joel


As I was listening to Obama's victory speech last night, I got the sneaking suspicion that I had heard it somewhere before. Well, as it turns out, Obama's speech is basically EXACTLY the same as the lyrics of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Frankly if he wanted to go with song lyrics he probably should have gone with Paradise City or Your Remind Me of My Jeep by R. Kelly, both of which are superior songs. Below I present to you the evidence:

Barack Obama's Speech:

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

VERSUS

We Didn't Start the Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Regardless, if McCain won I would have had a heart attack ack ack ack ack.

2 comments:

Man Behind the Curtain said...

Using historical events now classifies as plagiarism? Get real.

Robespierre said...

Um, if you think that I *truly* believe that Obama "plagiarized" Billy Joel, YOU'RE living in Narnia.