Fall Out Boy’s newly released cover of Billy Joel song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” has divided listeners.
The 75-year-old singer’s fast-paced song – one of several staples in his musical back catalogue – includes brief references to 118 significant political, cultural and scientific events between the years of Joel’s birth in 1949 and the song’s release in 1989.
Now, decades later, on Wednesday (28 June), Fall Out Boy released an updated version of the Piano Man’s song, replacing the original lyrics to encompass more recent events from the past 30 plus years.
“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,” Fall Out Boy wrote on Twitter.
“So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years – we felt like a little system update might be fun.”
Although the four-piece rock band kept the famous chorus – “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’re trying to fight it” – every other verse was changed.
While Joel’s song included nods to important 20th-century figures such as Harry Truman, Joe DiMaggio, Richard Nixon and Marilyn Monroe, they have been swapped with modern-day high-profile figures like Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Obama and Tiger Woods in Fall Out Boy’s iteration.
The band’s reinvention of the song to replace Joel’s historical mentions with more recent happenings was applauded by several fans.
“I gotta say, this is actually pretty cool for this generation. Every person and event on point. Definitely have this on repeat,” one tweeted.
“This was so fantastic,” another praised, with another agreeing: “Absolutely brilliant, timely take on this track.”
Some, though, weren’t so keen on Fall Out Boy’s format. One argued that their version was a “lazy” update.
“The original is so great because it has an amazing rhyme scheme AND the events are listed in chronological order from when they happen AND it’s supposed to be a retelling of Billy Joel’s life to that point,” they wrote. “This is just events.”
Another similarly wrote: “Wasn’t the original at least an attempt to be chronological going from the 50s-80s?”
“A random assortment of events from the last few decades in any order is not a true cover,” they said, adding that Joel’s lyricism is “superior”.
