Idol, Billy - Don't You (Forget About Me) Lyrics

This version can only be better if you are a Billy Idol fan.

My prison penpal is an Idol fan and put me onto this version..not at all bad!! ♡

😍❤❤❤❤

IDOL FOREVER!!!!

To each his own, but I favor the Simple Minds version.

Simple Minds version is superior.

Billy was supposed to sing that song then, but refused. He just sang the song again in 2001 for fun.

simple minds suck so did the song. glad he didnt make it.this is better ,better tempo not depressing like simple minds

It gave me “lukewarm” vibes....perhaps if it’s a semi-acoustic version with the harmonica then I would have loved it....

LOVE BILLY IDOL...FUCK SNOOP DOGG!

I like this version better. When he follows the line, “Slow change will pull us apart.”, with “I’ll put us back together at heart.”, early in the song makes more sense than, “When the light gets into your heart.” , in the Simple Minds version.

Seems like change pulling them apart when light gets into her heart sounds like when it dawns on you what an ahole I am you will try to get away. Something that ruined the Simple Minds version for me.

The Billy Idol version is better because of this.

I heard the guys from Simple Minds actually hate this song

AFter some digging .. The song offered to him did not have the woo woo yeah at the beginning nor the Nanana na at the end.
In fact when offered to simple minds they turned it down. Jim Kerr played around with it , Added the initial OOOH yeah and the Nananan (the man HAS chops Chrissie Hynde does marry just anyone) All said this is NOT the song that Billy refused this is the very much improve song thanks to Jim Kerr

Thanks for showing his sexy body twice.

The difference between Billy Idol getting 660,000 views to Simple Minds getting 120,000,000 says it all ....

I love Billy but this is Simple Minds song and always will be glad he refused to record it at the time

Good version but Simply Mind performance is best

I don't care the song, all the photos in this video are so beautiful! <3
Marry me billy!
43 people forgot about Billy Idol

Come on Billy has White Wedding & Dancing With Myself, Simple Minds owns this song, both played it well but Simple Minds has the nod , still love Billy though

I like this version better.

I love Billy Idols lips but not the way his lips sing this version of a classic.

Dont forget abot Idol

I love singing this song to my love in Belgium.

I ❤ HIM SOOOO MUCH 😘

THIS IS ROCK HARD, TOP DOLLAR, SOLID GOLD. I remember this story, him turning it down, so many years ago. That was a mistake. His take on this is just something else. I am glad I am alive 30+ years to hear this. He should have done this years ago. THIS IS GOLD. Thank you for doing this BILLY. Never heard this version before. IT IS AS GOLD, FRIEND !

beautiful cover…......but i still prefer the original

Fui num shou dele em las vegas.o cara é loco.

Great cover....our vital idol indeed!

I love him too

Yeah!!!

Love this hot damn

Yes, that was bland

Both versions stand on their own

A good tune on both sides no doubt but Billy's version instrumentally is by far the better version. The drums are better the bass is better and Steve Stevens absolutely nails it on lead guitar. That axe just weeps and cries all the way through the song! Damn! You don't even need lyrics! And it sounds the same way performed live. Simple minds, eh...not so much. They were real good at studio recording!

there is angst in this version but not teen angst

Love you Billy always 💜

Nope not good , not good at all.

this music same with jim kerr in simple minds

This song was originally written for Billy but he turned it down and they gave it to Simple Minds. When you listen in retrospect after knowing that then it suddenly does sound like an Idol song. Fun fact...

I think it was written to him first of all

This is good but Life of Agony does it better.

I love Billy, but I hate this version of this song.

Wow!🎵🎶🎤🎉🎊

Nobody should do this song other than simple minds!

The song was written to Billy

Billy sounds like shit, he should have forgot this

This guy is so iconic. What a under rated rocker.

I love this version ! Not better or worse than S.M. but just different. His voice is bit less right vocally than Kerr from Simple Minds, but the instrumentation here is refreshing and damned is that an harmonica playing or electro guitar. So fucking badass add to this epic song. Love S.M., love B.I., love rock band from the 80's, love music...

Sonzeira essa música! Dá uma nostalgia loca! ;)|) Já conheço o som faz tempo, mas não sabia quem cantava nem o nome da música. Tava assistindo o 2º episódio de The Handsmaid's Tale e tocou essa música no final. Aí fiquei o dia todo com ela na cabeça, ;p! hausdfhausd!

I'm 57 and watching Billy Idol on AXS TV right now just rocking out. I prefer Simple Minds for this song Because it's what we always heard. In My Mind Billy Idol is too hard for this song. I like Billy just the way he is rocking out.

Billy and Simple Minds version both are good in difference way. It maybe unfortunate that he turned down a chance to sing this song first but proved to be good choice when he later sing it on 2001 because the sound was more modern and more rockier that suit for his voice very well. Love this version :)

From what I have heard so far there are a couple different versions of Billy Idol's version.

Wtf billyidol

uhhh....no....not for me anyway. Love Billy. Seen him live back in the day. Cult opened for him.

But this? sounds like they're trying too hard to make it different/modern/whatever....

What I would have loved to have heard, would be the way he WOULD HAVE done it if he had accepted it back in the day. Because this arrangement of the song was done by Simple Minds. The original version taken to Billy (and given to Simple Minds originally) is totally different than this. A "scratch track" made by the writer of the song. It would have been cool to see how Billy and Stevens would have arranged their version of it.

Amo demais Billy meu amor eterno

Pretty ok, but it lacks Billy's growl from his day. If he sang it like he did in "Eyes Without a Face", he would've killed it.

Billy💕

So glad Simple Minds did this instead.

Simple Minds version is going to be your look back song of your youth. But this is good

Better for me!

I love this..esp his vocals @1:10-1:42.. I love both versions. Great song.💗

is this a THIRD version? It does not sound like the one on the end of the "Greatest Hits" CD , to me? Maybe I'm trippin'. JUST learned about this today.

The one you heard probably was the remaster version. Here: https://youtu.be/V5GvrsSlM_E

@ Ivana : Yes, thank you! So there IS at least three versions!

Shane Corning Yes. There are 3 versions.

Not bad .But Simple Minds version is way way too good ...

no cover could ever match the original but Billy gets a pass for sure

nice version, not sure if i like it as much as original but still good

Billy Idol version is as good as Simple Minds !! GREAT SONG!!!

Fan here from his start and still promoting his music at 55!!!

It's funny! I knew that the composer of this tune was Keith Forsey. And I knew he wrote quite a few hits for Billy Idol.
I was working on a cover of the simple Minds version and I thought, " I wonder what it would sound like with Billy Idol's voice?" So here I am!

Yea, Billy..... Nice version...this tune is on my covers to do list

Billy will always be proud to live near Bromley - Idols to the end.

I listened and compared Billy Idol and Simple Mind version. I much butter like Billy's interpretation, cause it is full with energy, power, more aggressive and rocking. Simple Mind's version is too gentle to this song. Billy rules.

I LOVE YOU BILLY...

His voice is right for it without his signature cheetah growls though! :) The harmonica from this would've been nice on the SM version! I do prefer the bigger more open sound of the original, this is a bit too boxed in sounding!

I'm so happy they went with the simple minds one

I'll admit the first time I heard Simple Minds version I thought it was Billy Idol, back then in the 80s. I wonder if Billy Idol recorded this for just such a reason because so many people thought the original was him.

David Bowie was offered the song originally.

This version pales in comparison to Simple Minds. It's different, I'll give you that. I love that Scottish bastard's voice far better along with the "gallop" rhthym on the bass.

I didn't know Billy covered this song, until I watched Behind the Music. Great cover...

Interesting to note, Billy Idol has recorded the Simple Minds version of the song here! The original written for him to record had had no 'Hey hey hey heys' or 'La la, la las'... Simple Minds added them to make the song more to their liking!
They only recorded it as a favour to writer Keith Forsey & never expected it or the movie 'Breakfast Club', to become such big hits! 😊
This is a nice version, but nothing can beat the Simple Minds original!

I enjoy both versions. I don't feel the need to pick a "best version". Simple Minds does a softer yet very striking version....and theirs is the original version. Billy gives it too us with powerful music and a slight change in vocal delivery, yet still soft, especially for Billy.

Would've liked to hear Billy hit this song when he possessed that low, resonant 'Eyes Without a Face' timbre to his voice

Would've like to heard Billy hit this in the 80s with that 'Eyes Without a Face' low resonance quality his voice had back then

it would have been NOT as iconic + different movie (Breakfast Club) that ending scene is epic , this version wouldn't have not captured that.

Has Billy Idol covered any other classics?

Response
Reddit sent me here 👍

funny, always thought tis would be a great billy idol song, but inds version sounds more 'billy idol' than this one does. this sounds kind of weak, and doesn't have the vocal mannerisms or feel that i expected from ol' billy. odd....

Don't get me wrong, I like Billy Idol and all but I prefer the original version. This version is okay, but I just don't like how he did it.

Simple minds version is great but theres a certain charm to billy idols music that i prefer more maybe because im more of a punk guy i guess.

Billy's version is the best.

i love this version!

I like the melancholic (as someone before said) tones of Simple Minds, and the 80's pop sound rather than the heavy metal sound better, but for metal Billy Idol is good. It just seems that the Simple Minds version has a bit of a richer sound to it.

The song was originally intended for Billy Idol who rejected it for the movie Breakfast Club. Then it went to Simple Minds instead... Guess Billy reconsidered after all ethose years ;)

Love this version!

This song was written with Billy Idol in mind, I can't remember why he passed on it, (read it in a magazine, as they say....back in the day). I don't think the Simple Minds version is better, this is just different, you can totally tell it was written with Billy's voice in mind.

Simple Minds' version is cooler however I love the guitar sound in this version (no strong guitar riffs in SM)

I love this. I love Billy. XOXOX

Don't You Forget About Me... With balls

You guys need to realize that Billy was a lot older here than he would of been in 1985.