The popular 1989 song from the Storm Front album of Billy Joel was re-done by Fall Out Boy for a 2023 modern version of events that have taken place since the last song came out. At this rate we will have a band that has members that probably hasn’t been born yet that will make another version in 34 years in year 2057 about the events from 2023 till 2057.
Here’s a comparison of the similarities between the original “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel and the new version by Fall Out Boy:
- Both songs follow a similar structure and rhythm, with a rapid-fire listing of various events, figures, and cultural references.
- Both songs address significant historical and pop culture moments from their respective time periods.
- The concept of not being responsible for starting the fire, but still trying to fight it, is a common theme in both songs.
- Both songs touch upon political events such as the Arab Spring, crime incidents like the Oklahoma City bomb and Boston Marathon bombing, and notable personalities including Kim Jong Un and Robert Downey Jr.
- Pop culture references are included in both songs, such as mentions of Harry Potter, Twilight, MySpace, Pokémon, and Stranger Things.
- Both songs highlight environmental concerns, with the original mentioning the Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, and nuclear accidents, while the new version references the Iceland volcano and polar bears losing their ice.
- Historical events like the LA Riots, war in Afghanistan, and Brexit are referenced in both songs.
- Celebrity deaths are mentioned in both versions, with the original highlighting Marilyn Monroe and the new version mentioning Michael Jackson.
- Sports figures like Tiger Woods and Michael Phelps are referenced in both songs.
- Both songs touch upon advancements in technology and media, with the original mentioning television and the new version referencing deep fakes, Cambridge Analytica, and the internet phenomenon of Y2K.
- Both songs include social and cultural moments, such as the Black Parade (possibly referring to My Chemical Romance’s album) in the new version and the countercultural movements in the original.
While the original “We Didn’t Start the Fire” primarily covers events up until the late 1980s, the new version by Fall Out Boy incorporates more recent events and trends, reflecting the time period since the original song’s release. Noticeably missing according to Fall Out Boy is Covid-19 which they didn’t want to include and left out on purpose. Below are the Fall Out Boy lyrics and the original lyrics from Billy Joel:
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 Downey 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
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
Billy Joel 1989 Lyrics:
Certainly! Here are the lyrics to “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel:
[Verse 1]
Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
[Chorus]
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, “The King and I” and “The Catcher in the Rye”
Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana, goodbye
[Verse 2]
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Perón, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, “Rock Around the Clock”
[Chorus]
Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn’s got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev
Princess Grace, “Peyton Place”, trouble in the Suez
[Verse 3]
Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Zhou Enlai, Bridge on the River Kwai
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, Homicide, Children of Thalidomide
[Chorus]
Buddy Holly, Ben-Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, “Psycho”, Belgians in the Congo
[Verse 4]
Hemingway, Eichmann, “Stranger in a Strange Land”
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion
“Lawrence of Arabia”, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
[Chorus]
Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician Sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say?
[Verse 5]
Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, Terror on the airline
Ayatollah’s in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan
[Chorus]
“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shores, China’s under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can’t take it anymore!
[Verse 6]
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 burn on and on and on and on…
[Chorus]
And on, and on, and on, and on…
[Outro]
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 tried to fight it