Fall Out Boy released their remake of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” over the summer and it has been getting a mixed reception. The original 1989 song, by Billy Joel, was nominated for a Grammy and is just… really darn good. But despite picking a banger song to cover, Fall Out Boy misses the mark.
Billy Joel’s song deservedly received accolades because he has something to say, and it’s interesting to the listener because he doesn’t spell it out. Watching the music video gives us more context for his dark lyrics.
In the video, Billy Joel is an apparition and a spectator, that presides over several generations of affluent Americans. He observes as they shamelessly ignore or distort world events with blithe thoughtlessness. Billy Joel lists these events in rapid succession, linking them with the refrain:
“We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning, since the world’s been turning…
No, we didn’t light it, but we tried to fight it“
In the Billy Joel version, these lines are sung by Billy Joel, but are not his words – they are sung scornfully. These lines are meant to parrot politicians and disengaged Americans who have thrown up their hands in the face of wars, political corruption, assassination, racial tension, the rise of overseas authoritarian regimes… The list goes on and on. He then juxtaposes these events with pop culture diversions like trendy toys, music, and sports. The video mirrors these switch-back lyrics as we follow happy family moments – love, marriage, and the baby carriage- only to get hit with cutscenes of Billy Joel sitting in front of horrific, epoch-defining pictures of torture and war. In these scenes, fire starts to rise around Joel and all is engulfed, only to cut back to the refrain and the endless list.
Billy Joel’s America
FOB’s America
Fall Out Boy’s rendition, on the other hand, is a bop. It’s a fun, top 100 radio hit. In one way, the Fall Out Boy version is gutting because it shows that endless also means timeless. As Billy Joel prophesied, tragedies and apathies did go on and on. These words are still relevant 30 years after the original song was published.
But where Billy Joel makes me want to fight for change, the FOB version seems to just call for fighting. Any fight. Just because we’re mad. Today’s brand of tensions has made the idea of generalized pugnaciousness sound pretty satisfying and FOB’s changes reflect this. Actually, other than the events there’s only one small change but it completely changes the meaning of the song– even while the musical elements are the same.
“We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
No, we didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it”
In the refrain, FOB changed the verb tense. Billy Joel sings: “we didn’t light it (the fire), but we tried to fight it”. But the FOB version makes this line present: “we didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it.” This little change flips the speaker of the song and with it Billy Joel’s nuances. The original song along with the video has an underlying connotation that if we stop being so darn apathetic there is hope. Billy Joel pulls this off by distancing himself and the listener from the refrain- he’s not putting us on blast he is inviting us to create change. A change he suggests starts with pulling our heads out of the sand. Billy Joel wouldn’t have wasted his breath if he didn’t think he could reach people with his words.
In FOB’s song, we are on blast. The “we” in the passage above, is us. We are in the midst and not just passive observers, of the events in the song. And this makes the song much worse. Billy Joel’s call for understanding is replaced by a call to fight. But for what? FOB isn’t fighting apathy like Billy Joel. Twitter (I mean “X” lul) is full of people with an (often very strong) opinion on what’s going on in the world. I know where Billy Joel stands on politics and social issues but I get the feeling FOB is a rebel without a cause. What battle is FOB suggesting we win? By the end of the song, I’m unsure where he stands on any issue.
Saying someone has “a problem without a solution” isn’t usually flattering but in this case, FOB has a solution without a problem. And considering the complexity and sensitivity of the issues in these songs – this almost seems worse. All that aside we are talking about music here and kudos are owed to both artists. Joel made a timeless song that addressed corruption, war, and civil apathy that is still relevant in 2023. And FOB got a top 100 hit on the radio.
Small Words 
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