1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:01,760 Speaker 1: I'm Jason Colvin, I'm d Graves. 2 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:11,599 Speaker 2: Give us five minutes and we will give you the fire. 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,560 Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Surely You Can't 4 00:00:15,560 --> 00:00:19,280 Be Serious Podcast Special Edition five Minutes of Fire. We 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:22,519 are here talking about the lyrics of We Didn't Start 6 00:00:22,519 --> 00:00:25,399 the Fire by Billy Joel. We're covering only five minutes 7 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:27,280 at a time, which is about to link with the song, 8 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:29,480 so it works out kind of nicely. So please join 9 00:00:29,559 --> 00:00:33,280 us as we dive into some new lyrics today. 10 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,359 Speaker 2: All right, guys, so here are the topics that we're 11 00:00:35,399 --> 00:00:36,759 going to be covering today. 12 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: Little Rock Kasternak, Nicky Mantle, Jason, what can you tell 13 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:43,600 me about Little Rock, Arkansas? 14 00:00:43,679 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 2: I feel like I'm stealing this one from you, that's 15 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,719 all right. This is about the Little Rock Nine, which 16 00:00:47,719 --> 00:00:50,280 were a group of black students that enrolled at Little 17 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,200 Rock Central High School in nineteen fifty seven. On May seventeen, 18 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,359 nineteen fifty four, the US Supreme Court issued a historic 19 00:00:56,479 --> 00:00:59,960 Brown versus Board of Education that declared all laws established 20 00:01:00,359 --> 00:01:04,480 segregated schools as unconstitutional. So by nineteen fifty seven, there 21 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:06,959 were nine black students that have been selected by the 22 00:01:07,079 --> 00:01:10,040 NAACP to enroll at Central High School in Little Rock, 23 00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:14,239 Governor Orville Babas called out the National Guard to prevent 24 00:01:14,359 --> 00:01:17,879 these students from enrolling. Babas claimed that the white supremacists 25 00:01:17,879 --> 00:01:19,400 were on their way and he was just watching out 26 00:01:19,439 --> 00:01:22,200 for their safety. Well, that caused Dwight Eisenhower to get 27 00:01:22,239 --> 00:01:24,480 involved and said, you guys, get out of the way, 28 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:27,799 because these students can enroll. And so that began the 29 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,359 integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. Okay, tell me 30 00:01:31,439 --> 00:01:32,680 about Pastornak. 31 00:01:32,879 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: Okay, So Pastornak refers to Boris Pastornak, who was a 32 00:01:37,359 --> 00:01:40,840 poet in the Soviet Union. His family was from Russia. 33 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,799 His father was actually a great painter illustrator for Leo 34 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:48,879 Tolstoy novels. They were high society, hung out with Rachmaninoff 35 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:51,560 and other kind of elites of the day. But ultimately 36 00:01:51,799 --> 00:01:54,280 the revolution happened and he at the time thought it 37 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,680 would be a good idea. But his family soon realized 38 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,439 that the elites were not well regarded their in the 39 00:02:00,439 --> 00:02:03,359 Soviet Union anymore, and his mother and sisters went to 40 00:02:03,599 --> 00:02:07,239 Germany for some medical procedure and decided not to return. 41 00:02:07,359 --> 00:02:09,800 He and his brother, who was an architect, however, stayed. 42 00:02:09,960 --> 00:02:12,280 But as you may or may not know, it was 43 00:02:12,319 --> 00:02:16,000 tough to be an intellectual and elite and a literary 44 00:02:16,039 --> 00:02:18,560 person in the Soviet Union back in those days. And 45 00:02:18,759 --> 00:02:21,199 so this novel that he had been working on for 46 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:24,840 probably forty years at the time, called Doctor Javago, which 47 00:02:24,879 --> 00:02:28,120 he believed was completely in line with what happened during 48 00:02:28,159 --> 00:02:32,080 the Russian Revolution, was not well regarded by the literary 49 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,199 elite that the Soviets had working for them, and they 50 00:02:35,240 --> 00:02:37,639 refused to publish it. Well, and he gets a knock 51 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:41,240 at the door and the Italian Communists Society says, hey, 52 00:02:41,319 --> 00:02:43,960 we'd love to publish your novel, and Italian and brilliant 53 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,280 Pastornak says, well, that's perfect, because if you publish it, 54 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:49,719 then the Soviets will see how great it is and 55 00:02:49,759 --> 00:02:52,120 they will welcome me with open arms. It could not 56 00:02:52,199 --> 00:02:55,520 have been more wrong. The novel gets published, the Soviet 57 00:02:55,599 --> 00:02:58,759 Union does everything it can to stop it from getting published, 58 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,759 but it still ultimately comes out it is not in 59 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,840 line with what their version of history is, and so 60 00:03:04,919 --> 00:03:08,639 that upsets them. But ultimately he wins the Nobel Prize 61 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,039 for it. He's asked to come out to Germany to 62 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,280 accept his Nobel Prize, and the powers in the Soviet 63 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,759 Union say if you go, you better buy a one 64 00:03:16,800 --> 00:03:19,400 way ticket, so he does not go. So then a 65 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:23,479 cartoonist creates a cartoon that has two Siberian prisoners and 66 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,879 one of them says, I won the Nobel Prize. What 67 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,680 are you in prison for it? He wins the Pulitzer 68 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:31,360 Prize for that cartoon the next year. 69 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 2: Oh wow. 70 00:03:32,039 --> 00:03:35,199 Speaker 1: Yeah. So Pasternak has a friend who is a writer 71 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:39,759 who is arrested for his views. He turns into apostle 72 00:03:39,759 --> 00:03:41,360 Peter and says, I don't know this guy. I don't 73 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:43,599 know this guy. Please, I don't know this guy. Please. 74 00:03:43,599 --> 00:03:46,719 He's terrified and he makes such a fuss about it 75 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,680 that Stalin actually calls him on the phone and says, 76 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:51,960 what are you freaking out about? And he's like, please, 77 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,280 don't do anything to me about it. He's like, dude, man, 78 00:03:54,360 --> 00:03:56,479 stand up for your friend, and hangs up the phone 79 00:03:56,479 --> 00:03:59,080 on him. Wow. He is reported to have been on 80 00:03:59,120 --> 00:04:01,639 a death list, but Stalin thought he was just such 81 00:04:01,639 --> 00:04:03,439 an imbecile that he took him off the list because 82 00:04:03,439 --> 00:04:06,400 he thought he was an idiot. So ultimately the book 83 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,159 becomes a movie in the United States, a very famous 84 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,919 movie starring Omar Shariff and the CIA and MI six 85 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:16,720 order thousands of copies to be distributed as a way 86 00:04:16,720 --> 00:04:19,199 of propaganda. Wow, what have you got for me? On 87 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:20,079 Mickey Mantle? 88 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:22,519 Speaker 2: Can you see how these lined up for me? 89 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,439 Speaker 1: Here? Pretty tricky? How you did that? I wonder how 90 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:25,560 we got out of order earlier? 91 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:30,399 Speaker 2: So Mickey Mantle big number seven for the New York 92 00:04:30,519 --> 00:04:32,920 Yankees baseball player. I'm gonna get that out of the way. Yeah, 93 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:36,319 aka the Mick or the Commerce Comet. Played his entire 94 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:38,360 career with the New York Yankees from nineteen fifty one 95 00:04:38,399 --> 00:04:41,519 to nineteen sixty eight. This was my dad's favorite baseball player. 96 00:04:41,639 --> 00:04:43,839 I was almost named Mickey in honor of him. 97 00:04:44,079 --> 00:04:44,720 Speaker 1: Wow. 98 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,079 Speaker 2: Widely considered to be the best of the hitters and 99 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,000 fielders and overall athletes of the time. Warn in Spavnaugh, Oklahoma, 100 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:55,759 his dad trained him every day to switch hit and 101 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:57,519 would get mad at him if they were playing like 102 00:04:57,519 --> 00:04:59,519 a pickup game. If he saw his son and the 103 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,120 guy he was facing was pitching right handed and he 104 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:04,800 didn't switch hit, and his dad caught him big trouble. 105 00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:06,879 He hit for power and average from both sides of 106 00:05:06,879 --> 00:05:10,759 the plate. Was a sixteen time All Star, seven time 107 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,480 World Series Champ, three times al MVP. He won the 108 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,279 Triple Crown in nineteen fifty six. And that's a major thing. 109 00:05:17,399 --> 00:05:20,519 Best average, most home runs and most RBIs for the 110 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,439 entire season. Also known for the nineteen sixty one home 111 00:05:23,519 --> 00:05:25,639 run chase. If you saw that movie by Billy Crystal 112 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,319 called sixty one, where Roger Marris actually bested in by 113 00:05:28,399 --> 00:05:31,480 hitting sixty one homers in nineteen sixty one, man All 114 00:05:31,519 --> 00:05:35,160 finished with only fifty two. Known for his winning personality, 115 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,000 fast living, hard drinking, and infidelities, died of liver failure 116 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,439 due to alcoholism in nineteen ninety five. 117 00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:43,519 Speaker 1: I always feel a little bit awkward about that when 118 00:05:43,519 --> 00:05:47,920 I'm having a beer at Mickey Mantle's here in Oklahoma City. Okay, guys, 119 00:05:47,959 --> 00:05:50,199 that does it for today's episode. Join us next time 120 00:05:50,199 --> 00:05:51,199 for five minutes of fire.