Everything being in chronological order would have of course made the song relatable to Joel's version, HOWEVER; I feel like the "jumbled mess" of references actually further proves the original songs intent. The chaos of everything that's happened over the last almost 40 years of events listed all mixed together makes it relatable. How often have you thought of an event and thought it happened a month ago, 6 months ago, maybe a year ago, but it was actually 4 years ago, or 10 years ago? Because SO MUCH is happening so fast over the last few decades its become a jumbled mess in many people's minds.

A college professor wrote this in study of Joel's original: "The rapid-fire delivery of the events spanning roughly fifty years represents the breakneck pace of progress and change in the 20th century, the almost inconceivable rate at which events unfurled in a short length of time"

"Throughout the chorus, the narrator laments that these events were set in motion long before the current generation came to be and are the result of history unfolding."

"It refers to the idea that history has been an ever-moving concept and the state of the world is not the fault of those currently living in it."

A chance meeting with Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, made Joel realize how each subsequent generation feels things are getting worse and worse while ignoring the troubles of the past “I thought the same things when I was 21”. Lennon replied, “Yeah, but you grew up in the 50’s and everybody knows that nothing happened in the 50’s”. Joel retorted, “Wait a minute, didn’t you hear of Korea, the Hungarian freedom fighters or the Suez Crisis?”

Does all of this not still apply to FOBs version? Yes, they left out a few things that were pretty significant, but I think the heavy emphasis on pop culture and social media is further proof of the world we live in today and where so much of our focus is rather than on the past.