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Fall Out Boy updates Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start The Fire': Listen here

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Our favorite Billy Joel moments for his birthday
Rich Polk/Getty Images | Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
ByJill Lances and Josh Johnson
June 28, 2023, 8:49 PM

Billy Joel's hit song "We Didn't Start The Fire" has been updated by rockers Fall Out Boy.

While Joel's song covered current events from 1949 to 1989, the new take recounts the years 1989 to 2023.

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For example, where Joel's hit gave shoutouts to Buddy Holly, Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, Fall Out Boy name-drops Kurt Cobain, Pokémon and Taylor Swift.

The new version also references a number of political figures and world events, including 9/11, the Columbine High School mass shooting and the 45th president, with the line, "[Donald] Trump gets impeached twice."

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Interestingly, both versions mention Egypt's Suez Canal: Joel sang "Trouble in the Suez," in reference to the 1956 Suez Crisis, while Fall Out Boy sings "Ever Given Suez," a reference to the container ship that infamously got stuck in the canal in 2021.

"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 Instagram Wednesday in the caption of a post revealing the song. "So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years- we felt like a little system update might be fun."

The band added, "Hope you like our take on it…"

Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire" appeared on his 11th studio album, "Storm Front." The track became the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's third No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him a Grammy nomination for record of the year.

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