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Danielle Haim Joins Vampire Weekend for "The Boys Are Back in Town"

Are these the boys? Is Yuzawa, in Niigata Prefecture, the town? Or were they simply spreading the word around?

"Are you fucking going to play 'The Boys Are Back in Town' again?" a patron at a mediocre metal bar asked Timothy Faust many years ago, as he was lining up at the jukebox to play "The Boys Are Back in Town" again. Tension, sweat, and violent threats filled the air, but Faust wanted to spread the word around. And when his evening came to an abrupt end, he knew that he had succeeded. "I left with a full heart," he wrote, "flush with new knowledge about the town, and the boys within it, who now would never leave, and word of whom I had spread around."

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The word continues to spread. At Fuji Rock festival in Yuzawa, Japan, on Saturday night, Danielle Haim joined Vampire Weekend for a set-closing cover of Thin Lizzy's masterpiece, trading verses with Ezra Koenig. In that moment, brief though it may have been, perhaps they became the boys and Yuzawa became the town. Or perhaps they were just spreading the word around.

Play it again.

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