How can you call a song a cover when it’s kind of, sort of a cover? That’s what we’re finding out today. Fall Out Boy shared an updated version of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but with different lyrics. Joel’s version mentioned events that took place from 1949 (the year of his birth) through 1989. Fall Out Boy picked up where Joel left off, starting with references from 1989 and ending in 2023.
Unlike the Joel version, Fall Out Boy did not run through the timeline in chronological order. Examples of that include how Rodney King is mentioned next to deep fakes, Kim Jong-un and Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, well you get the point. To the band’s credit, it packs everything in there, from Fyre Fest, LeBron James and Michael Jordan (again, not in chronological order), Kurt Cobain, Pokemon, Unabomber, John Bobbitt, Captain Planet and the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016.
On the song’s release, the band wrote “I thought about this song a lot when I was younger. All these important people and events- some that disappeared into the sands of time- others that changed the world forever. So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years- we felt like a little system update might be fun. Hope you like our take on it…”
1. I thought about this song a lot when I was younger. All these important people and events- some that disappeared into the sands of time- others that changed the world forever. pic.twitter.com/uT1epNnxyw
— Fall Out Boy (@falloutboy) June 28, 2023
2. So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years- we felt like a little system update might be fun. Hope you like our take on it…https://t.co/tR26yYzC1y pic.twitter.com/APbwcdg0Ip
— Fall Out Boy (@falloutboy) June 28, 2023
As for Fall Out Boy news, the band kicked off its tour last week with a hometown show at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. Stops in Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, and two stadium shows in Los Angeles are next on the itinerary.
