In case you weren’t aware, Billy Joel’s classic hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire” was due for a “system update”, according to popular rock band Fall Out Boy.
The 75-year-old singer’s fast-paced song – one of several staples in his musical repertoire – 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), the “Uma Thurman” band has divided fans with a modern version of the Piano Man’s song, replacing his original lyrics with more recent standout events from the past 30+ 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.”
Find the updated lyrics in full below.
“Captain Planet, Arab Spring, LA riots, Rodney King, deep fakes, earthquakes, Iceland volcano, Oklahoma City bomb, Kurt Cobain, Pokémon, Tiger Woods, MySpace, Monsanto GMOs.
“Harry Potter, Twilight, Michael Jackson dies, nuclear accident Fukushima, Japan, Crimean peninsula, Cambridge Analytica, Kim Jong Un, Robert Downy Jr, Iron Man.
“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.
“More war in Afghanistan, Cubs go all the way again, Obama, Spielberg, explosion Lebanon, Unabomber, Bobbit, John bombing Boston marathon, Balloon boy, War on Terror, QAnon.
“Trump gets impeached twice, polar bears got no ice, Fyre Fest, Black Parade, Michael Phelps, Y2K, Boris Johnson, Brexit, Kanye West and Taylor Swift, Stranger Things, Tiger King, ever given Suez.
“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.
“Sandy Hook, Columbine, Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice, ISIS, Lebron James, Shinzo Abe blown away, Meghan Markle, George Floyd, Burj Khalifa, Metroid, Fermi paradox, Venus and Serena.
“Michael Jordan 23, YouTube killed MTV, Spongebob, Golden State killer caught, Michael Jordan 45, Woodstock ‘99, Keaton Batman, Bush v Gore, I can’t take it anymore.
“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.
“Elon Musk, Kaepernick, Texas failed electric grid, Jeff Bezos, climate change, white rhino goes extinct, Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Tom Delonge and aliens.
“Mars rover, Avatar, self-driving electric cars, SSRIs, Prince and the Queen die, World Trade second plane, what else do I have to say?
“We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning since the world’s been turning. We didn’t start the fire, but when we are gone, it will still go on and on and on and on and on and on and on. We didn’t start the fire, it was still burning since the world’s been turning.”
