Latin Translation Exercise: "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel

My most skill-intensive translation to date.

I had a brief discussion with a dear friend a few weeks ago about the prevalence of awful attempts to modernize “We Didn’t Start The Fire” on YouTube. Some have merit as entertainment or as teaching aids, but the vast majority have metrical issues or utterly fail to rhyme couplets. Of course, even the worst examples have an endearing, campy quality that gives the listener a reason to watch anyway. As the idea of awful song parodies with little care for rhythm fermented in my brain, I realized that this would be a perfect project to tackle for this ongoing exercise. I have chosen to detail a number of important events between the end of the Trojan War and the beginning of the Roman Empire in full sentences because translating a bunch of names seemed tedious and defeated the purpose of the translation aspect. I have given the lyrics in Latin, but underneath will be an approximate translation of what I wrote in English; this will be the first time the laymen among you will be able to read one of these silly things, what a treat. I’d recommend having two tabs open if you’re listening along in both languages. Additionally, I left markers at the beginning of each verse with the approximate era they cover.