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Billy Joel responds to Fall Out Boy’s rebooted We Didn’t Start The Fire

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 11 July 2023

Last month Fall Out Boy released an updated version of Billy Joel’s song ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, with new lyrics referencing people and events that have been noteworthy since the release of the original in 1989.

Everyone had an opinion on it, of course. Everyone except Billy Joel, that is. But now he’s finally passed comment and, well, it seems he hasn’t actually heard it. But he’s fine with it. So that’s nice.

Speaking to Radio 2, Joel simply said that he had “heard about” Fall Out Boy’s new version, which suggested that he wasn’t sufficiently excited about the idea to devote four minutes of his life listening to the new track. He is, however, seemingly hopefully that it’ll stop people from asking him when he’s going to record his own sequel to his 1989 hit.

“Everybody has been wanting to know when there is going to be an updated version of it, because my song started in 49 and ended in 89 – it was a 40-year span”, he said. “Everybody said, ‘Are you going to do part two? When are you going to do part two?’ And I said, ‘Nah, I’ve already done part one’. So, Fall Out Boy, go ahead. Great. Take it away”.

So, there you go, Fall Out Boy have official approval to do a thing they’ve already done. Which is great news, I think you’ll agree.

Of course, the band didn’t do quite as good a job as Joel did in the original when it comes to listing the people and events they name-check in chronological order, and they missed out some significant stuff – most notably the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, I suspect there might still be people out there who are hopeful that Joel will have a go at a sequel and do a better job of it. Come on, Billy. Go ahead. Take it away.