Three a long time have handed since Billy Joel launched his hit single “We Didn’t Begin the Fireplace,” a tune that chronicled cultural and historic occasions from 1949 to 1989. Its rapid-fire lyrics took listeners by means of a time machine, with references to figures comparable to Harry Truman and Marilyn Monroe and occasions such because the Korean Conflict and Woodstock. Now, Fall Out Boy has picked up the place the tune left off with an up to date cowl model.
The only’s cowl artwork reads “A Fall Out Boy cowl of the Billy Joel tune ‘We Didn’t Begin the Fireplace’ protecting newsworthy gadgets from 1989-2023,” and the brand new lyrics seek advice from Myspace, the Mars Rover, Jeff Bezos and the deaths of Prince and Queen Elizabeth.
“I keep in mind listening to the tune once I was a child,” Pete Wentz, the bassist, wrote in an electronic mail. “The ‘J.F.Ok. blown away’ line all the time caught out to me. I might all the time begin the verses however get form of misplaced a number of references in.”
He continued, “This tune was omnipresent in that period, however in a approach the place it crept by means of the cracks of popular culture. I keep in mind speaking in regards to the lyrics in historical past class.”
Based on Mr. Wentz, as a substitute of a straight cowl of the tune, the band needed to amend the lyrics to mirror the 34 years that had handed since its launch.
“I take heed to Billy Joel’s and so lots of the issues in it are both large moments or simply form of shoulder shrugs inside historical past now,” he wrote. “It’s fascinating to see what he referenced from the ’50s and ’60s and what he didn’t. And in some methods it’s simply etchings within a cave — documentation that we existed and this stuff occurred, each triumphant and horrible. We made this tune for ourselves after which we hoped our followers would have enjoyable with it.”
Brady Gerber is a rock music critic who contributes to New York and Pitchfork. As a fan of the unique, he’s fairly keen on Fall Out Boy’s take.
“I believe each technology will get their very own ‘We Didn’t Begin the Fireplace,’” Mr. Gerber mentioned. “I nonetheless suppose the melody is de facto catchy and enjoyable. And I keep in mind that the preliminary response to Billy Joel’s unique model wasn’t actually nice. I believe lots of people truly hated the tune on the time. So it’s humorous, as a result of I’m additionally seeing lots of people criticizing the tune considering it’s ridiculous, nevertheless it’s additionally only a ridiculous tune to start with.”
Whereas it’s onerous to seize each historic second, the tune mimics the unique in that its references span a variety, protecting local weather change in addition to Pokémon and the “Twilight” movies.
Fall Out Boy did, nevertheless, miss one of the latest historic occasions: “I believe our largest omission was a Covid reference,” Mr. Wentz mentioned, “and we debated it, however we depart that to the following technology’s replace!”
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