In Japan, a 70th birthday is celebrated as a major milestone in one's life. In homage to Billy Joel, I write lyrics entitled "We Didn't Lose Fire." In my title, I don't put a definite article "the" before "Fire" to make it ambiguous. Needless to say, mine is modeled after Billy's.
Lyrics:
1968 Welcome back, Ogasawara, 300 million yen Robbery
1969 Yasuda Auditorium taken by student activists
1970 World Expo Osaka showed us the bright future
1971 McDonald's burgers an' French fries swept through Ginza
1972 Shinkansen extended to Okayama, at last Okinawa back to us
1972 Tanaka Kakuei went to Beijing, then the pandas came to town
1973 After Nixon Shock, finally Yen floated on the greedy market
1973 A steep hike in oil price, and toilet paper was all gone
*We didn't lose fire
We've been always adjusting
To the world surrounding us
We'll never lose fire
No we won't give it up
We keep on loving it
1974 For what was Sato Eisaku awarded the Nobel Prize?
1975 Yoshida Takuro and his fellows launched FOR LIFE label
1976 Ex-Prime Minister Tanaka was arrested in Lockheed Scandal
1976 Cutthroat competition between Beta and VHS
1977 The People's Honor Award went to Oh Sadaharu for his homers
1978 Radicals took over and damaged the control tower in Narita
1979 Hostage at the Bank of Mitsubishi, Tokyo Summit, Walkman player
1981 The city of light and waves, it's Kobe's Port Island
*Refrain
1984 Abduction of Glico's president, threatening letters, poisoned sweets
1985 NTT, JT, Crash of JAL, Plaza Accord, Hanshin Tigers
1987 JNR privatized an' divided into 7, who are paying its debt?
1988 Seikan Tunnel, Seto-Ohashi Bridges, politicos arrested in "Recruit" Scandal
1989 His Majesty the Emperor passed away, Sales Tax, Nikkei's all-time high
1989 Who bought Columbia Pictures and Rockefeller Center buildings?
*Refrain
1991 Japan's gradual funding to Multinational Forces harshly criticized
1993 The wedding held
For Their Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess
1993 LDP was out, Rice was in short supply due to cool weather in the summer
1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Aum's Subway Sarin Attack
1997 Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, Yamaichi Securities Went bankrupt
2000 Public insurance for elderly care began with our society aging
*Refrain
2001 Ehime-Maru and Greeneville, September 11 attacks, Suica
2002 Koizumi Junichiro visited Pyongyang, 5 abductees came back home
2004 The Self-Defense Forces deployed in Samawah
To help reconstruct war-torn Iraq
2005 Amagasaki Derailment and Crash,
Prime Minister Koizumi's August Dissolution
2010 LDP was out, DPJ stopped SDF refueling in the Indian Ocean
2011 East Japan Earthquake, "Major Accident" at Fukushima Daiichi
2015 Times are changing, Daiei got wholly owned by AEON
2015 70 years after the war, Their Majesties visited Peleliu
We didn't lose fire
We've been always adjusting
To the world surrounding us
We'll never lose fire
And till we are gone
We're keeping the faith on and on
*Refrain
Lyrics:
1968 Welcome back, Ogasawara, 300 million yen Robbery
1969 Yasuda Auditorium taken by student activists
1970 World Expo Osaka showed us the bright future
1971 McDonald's burgers an' French fries swept through Ginza
1972 Shinkansen extended to Okayama, at last Okinawa back to us
1972 Tanaka Kakuei went to Beijing, then the pandas came to town
1973 After Nixon Shock, finally Yen floated on the greedy market
1973 A steep hike in oil price, and toilet paper was all gone
*We didn't lose fire
We've been always adjusting
To the world surrounding us
We'll never lose fire
No we won't give it up
We keep on loving it
1974 For what was Sato Eisaku awarded the Nobel Prize?
1975 Yoshida Takuro and his fellows launched FOR LIFE label
1976 Ex-Prime Minister Tanaka was arrested in Lockheed Scandal
1976 Cutthroat competition between Beta and VHS
1977 The People's Honor Award went to Oh Sadaharu for his homers
1978 Radicals took over and damaged the control tower in Narita
1979 Hostage at the Bank of Mitsubishi, Tokyo Summit, Walkman player
1981 The city of light and waves, it's Kobe's Port Island
*Refrain
1982 Following LaserDisc, Compact Disc came into record shops
1983 Tokyo Disneyland in Chiba Prefecture took guests to the fantasy world1984 Abduction of Glico's president, threatening letters, poisoned sweets
1985 NTT, JT, Crash of JAL, Plaza Accord, Hanshin Tigers
1987 JNR privatized an' divided into 7, who are paying its debt?
1988 Seikan Tunnel, Seto-Ohashi Bridges, politicos arrested in "Recruit" Scandal
1989 His Majesty the Emperor passed away, Sales Tax, Nikkei's all-time high
1989 Who bought Columbia Pictures and Rockefeller Center buildings?
*Refrain
1991 Japan's gradual funding to Multinational Forces harshly criticized
1993 The wedding held
For Their Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess
1993 LDP was out, Rice was in short supply due to cool weather in the summer
1995 Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, Aum's Subway Sarin Attack
1997 Hokkaido Takushoku Bank, Yamaichi Securities Went bankrupt
2000 Public insurance for elderly care began with our society aging
*Refrain
2001 Ehime-Maru and Greeneville, September 11 attacks, Suica
2002 Koizumi Junichiro visited Pyongyang, 5 abductees came back home
2004 The Self-Defense Forces deployed in Samawah
To help reconstruct war-torn Iraq
2005 Amagasaki Derailment and Crash,
Prime Minister Koizumi's August Dissolution
2010 LDP was out, DPJ stopped SDF refueling in the Indian Ocean
2011 East Japan Earthquake, "Major Accident" at Fukushima Daiichi
2015 Times are changing, Daiei got wholly owned by AEON
2015 70 years after the war, Their Majesties visited Peleliu
We didn't lose fire
We've been always adjusting
To the world surrounding us
We'll never lose fire
And till we are gone
We're keeping the faith on and on
*Refrain
