Billy Joel appreciation.





Best rocker ever!

My favorite Billy Joel song is "Only The Good Die Young" (1977)

I like a few other songs,too.

The Stranger sums up the creativeness and musicianship of this great artist. By far,... his best album because every song on it is a gem!

I was listening to old Billy Joel the other night. 52nd Street is my favorite right now but I haven't really dug anything by him since River of Dreams.

I'm a fringe fan & totally predictable, my fave is NY State of Mind

i tripped off the fact that "just the way you are" has been covered by Barry White, Issac Hayes, and Grover Washington.....

CalhounSq said:

I so that song. It really captures the mood of NY. The piano and sax and the lyrics are great. It's smooth and dramatic and 5 min plus which great when a song is good.

SoulAlive said:

me too!!!!!

7 responses

Billy's true genius is in his lyrics. I love the music but take the time to actually read his stuff...inspiring craftsmanship to say the least.

Oh Billy Joel...too many songs I like but hear it goes:

Captain Jack
Ballad of Billy the Kid
The Stranger
Movin' Out
My Life
Rosalida's Eyes
Pressure
Angry Young Man
it's Still Rock and roll to me
Big Shot
Allentown
Piano man
New York State of Mind
i go to extremes
Baby Grand (with ray charles)
Scenes from an Italian restaurant
[Edited 8/17/07 9:18am]
[Edited 8/17/07 9:23am]

JackieBlue said:

That's the one that got me digging into his music a bit. I'd heard his version of Just the Way You Are back in the day but never really tripped on him as an artist - unfortunately I remember him more for his Christie Brinkley era stuff than his old stuff But I do like the song "Vienna" an awful lot too

He really has quite a catalog. I really enjoy a lot of the piano which I think adds to his great story telling and melodies. Piano Man and Big Man on Mulberry Street are awesome.

For some reason Allentown is a long time favorite. Even before I listened to the lyrics I just loved that song.

Unfortunately, I’m a bit turned off by him now. He looks quite worn and all that drunk driving or whatever but he has quite a discography.

JackieBlue said:

Piano Man, I like that one too

I would never say that he's the best rocker, but I do like some of his music. He's a decent songwriter.

Allentown
Don't Ask Me Why
We Didn't Start the Fire
Only the Good Die Young
Its Still Rock and Roll to Me
Pressure

Best Album: Glass Houses

Well were living here in Allentown
And they're closing all the factories down
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time
Filling out forms
Standing in line
Well our fathers fought the second world war
Spent their weekends on the Jersey shore
Met our mothers in the USO
Asked them to dance
Danced with them slow
And we're living here in Allentown
And the restlessness was handed down
And its getting very hard to stay
Well we're waiting here in Allentown
For the Pennsylvania we never found
For the promises our teachers gave
If we worked hard
If we behaved
So the graduations hang on the wall
But they never really helped us at all
No they never taught us what was real
Iron and coke
Chromium Steel
And we're waiting here in Allentown
But they're taking all the coal from the ground
And the Union people crawled away
Every child had a pretty good shot
To get at least as far as their old man got
But something happened on the way to that place
They threw an American flag in our face
Well I'm living here in Allentown
And its hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be getting up today
And its getting very hard to stay
And we're living here in Allentown
[Edited 8/19/07 23:57pm]

I was a huge fan of him when I was a teenager, but to be honest, I've kind of burned myself out on his music. "The Stranger" and "The Nylon Curtain" are still great albums to my ears, though.

She's Always A Woman To Me is my fav.

oh wait, doesn't he sing the theme to Bosom Buddies? if so, i like that too...

I like the Piano Man. That is about it. To be honest, his music is a bit boring to me...so I am going to have to disagree on the "best rocker" description.

For me i would have to say "Glass Houses" though its really hard to just pick one album from him. This album from 1980 was just perfect, i wore my brothers record out, you could just put the record on and never skip anything, the JOY of vinyl and 40 minute albums when every track was great. Also some very seldom mentioned Billy Joel songs, "Laure" from the Nylon Curtain "All for Leyna" from Glass Houses and "The Night is still young" which was one of the new songs from his first Greatest Hits package in 1986, he played it live for one of the first times last tour and its on the 12nights Live Discs, AMAZING. That 12 nights release could one of the best live albums of all time. Also for the record Billy has said that his worst song ever was "Modern Woman" from the Bridge album, he hated it then and still hates it.

sosgemini said:

My Life