My "top 10" favorite songs by Billy Joel

Part One: Lost in Let's Remember, or How I Became a Billy Joel Fan Without Really Trying....

Although my taste leans heavily toward the classical/symphonic end of the musical spectrum, there are a few other genres that I like to visit from time to time, and pop/rock is one of them. Granted, I am a bit narrow-minded when it comes to rock; I tend to meander about in the softer, more sentimental stylings of early rock 'n' roll from the Fifties and early Sixties, preferring to listen to the Platters, the Skyliners, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles rather than to KISS, Metallica, or Alice Cooper. Hell, I'll even try listening to Alan Jackson or Garth Brooks if given a good incentive...say, a romantic evening with someone special who likes those singers and will be patient and loving enough to play me her favorite songs by those country singers to share part ofherself with me. I've learned, from personal experience, that a positive introduction to unfamiliar musical styles often results in awakened interests; singing in South Miami High's various chorus classes made me a fan of various singers and/or genres that I probably wouldn't have been exposed to had I not signed up for either the Boys' Choir or the Mixed Chorus courses starting in 10th grade.

One of the singers/songwriters that I gradually became a fan of at that time is Billy Joel. I couldn't stand him at first -- the constant airing of Just the Way You Are in 1977 on the radio was a big turn-off, and it didn't help matters that this was one of my older sister's favorite songs and she played it constantly. (To be fair, I bet she was annoyed whenever I hogged the family stereo to listen to my Star Wars LPs!) Ironically enough, she did have an eight-track cassette of Joel's 52nd Street, the album where I first heard My Life, a song which I secretly adopted as my junior high student's anthem of rebellion. I borrowed it so many times from my poor sister -- who was then studying to become a Licensed Practical Nurse -- that she told me (sweetly, of course) that if I liked it so much, she was willing to part with it.

But one song doesn't a Billy Joel fan make, and even though I grew fond of other songs (Honesty, Rosalinda's Eyes, Until the Night), it wasn't until I heard my best friend Juan Carlos Hernandez's copy of An Innocent Man album that I really got to appreciate Joel's talents both as a songwriter and performer. Maybe it was the album's retro theme -- so many songs in it are in the styles of doo-wop and early Sixties rock -- or maybe it was the way An Innocent Man moved me with its lyrics (Some people stay far away from the door /If there's a chance of it opening up) about the pain and fear that accompany love and heartbreak.

Whatever the reason, I became a Joel fan and listened or owned most of his post-1983 records (on CD), starting with An Innocent Man and on to his River of Dreams farewell-to-rock album.

Part Two: It's Still Rock and Roll To Me: My 10 Favorite Billy Joel Songs

Song/Album

1. And So It Goes/Storm Front: I first heard this bittersweet ode to a doomed love affair -- as Billy Joel describes it, "about a relationship you know won't last" -- while watching his HBO concert from Yankee Stadium in 1990. Billy hadn't performed it in the concert proper -- either on the TV special or the live show I had attended several months before -- so when I heard the sad piano solo intro and the opening lines (In every heart there is a room/A sanctuary safe and strong/to heal the wounds from lovers past/until a new one comes along...), I was not only surprised, but I actually misted up. As another Joel song title would put it, Don't Ask Me Why; I wasn't dating anyone nor would I seriously fall in love with anyone for almost a decade, but I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. Perhaps it was just the melancholic mood of the words and music, or perhaps it was foreshadowing a life-changing event, but And So It Goes never fails to move me, as it brings to mind a certain young woman who I sang this song to when we met one chilly February afternoon.

2. An Innocent Man/An Innocent Man: All of us, or at least most of us, have had romantic entanglements that have gone wrong or been cast off like so much highway debris when it suited our partner's whims, or we have fallen deeply in love with someone who has been betrayed, abandoned or rejected. An Innocent Man is a song not only about people who have given up on love and humanity in general, but is also about Joel's belief in the redeeming power of unconditional love (But I've been there and if I can survive / I can keep you alive /I'm not above going through it again / I'm not above being cool for a while /If you're cruel to me I'll understand).

3. We Didn't Start the Fire/Storm Front: Not only is this song a wonderful way for teachers to get their students to learn about history -- Joel wrote it to sum up the events that shaped his first 40 years -- but it is a kick-butt guitar-driven rock song, a rarity for the keyboard-oriented "Piano Man." Its lyrics (We didn't start the fire/no we didn't light it/but we tried to fight it) are delivered in a fast and furious fashion -- the pacing, rhythm, and delivery would have failed miserably had it been a piano piece.

4. It's Still Rock And Roll To Me/Glass Houses: Another of Billy's "fun songs," it is really a humorous argument between Joel's naive half (What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?) and his more worldly half ("Can't you tell that your tie's too wide?") about fashion, cars, and music. Like We Didn't Start the Fire, it's a fun song to listen to; it's full of energy, has an edge to it, and a nice bouncy beat. See? I'm not always listening to sentimental ballads!

5. Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)/Turnstiles: As I understand it, this song was a wry commentary on New York City's financial woes and the Federal Government's reluctance to step in with aid, but it's also a scary forecast of things to come, as the lights nearly did go out on Broadway on Sept. 11, 2001 (I've seen the lights go out on Broadway / I saw the mighty skyline fall/ The boats were waiting at the battery / The union went on strike/ They never sailed at all.) It's a sci-fi rock song told from the point of view of a former Big Apple resident who now, obviously lives in Florida as a Cadillac-owning retiree.

6. Goodnight, Saigon/Nylon Curtain: As a writer, listener, and former singer, I tend to love songs that tell stories, and this touching tribute by Joel to his friends that went to fight in the Vietnam War is both searing and heartbreaking. Its haunting "helicopter rotor" intro segues into a melancholic solo piano melody and a sad opening first verse (We met as soul mates/On Parris Island / We left as inmates / From an asylum / And we were sharp / As sharp as knives / And we were so gung ho / To lay down our lives) and steadily gets more fierce and yet reflective as Joel describes the sights and sounds of battle (We held the coastline / They held the highlands/ And they were sharp / As sharp as knives /They heard the hum of our motors / They counted the rotors / And waited for us to arrive) that lays no blame on either the Vietnamese or the Americans, but pays equally respectful tribute to both sides' young soldiers.

7. Honesty/52nd Street: Billy Joel's gentle yet yearning commentary about relationships' most precious -- and harder to obtain -- commodity grabbed me when I first heard it as an awkward and lonely 15-year-old boy still coping with his first bad break-up and the resulting loneliness and resentment that followed. With lyrics like Honesty is such a lonely word / Everyone is so untrue / Honesty is hardly ever heard / And mostly what I need from you, it isn't hard to see why I adopted this song as my "Why did you leave me for another guy" anthem that I longed to have my ex-girlfriend hear. Of course, life, love, and sexual relationships are far more complicated than that, and because I, too, have strayed in my romantic misadventures, maybe I ought to have taken Honesty's message to heart.

8. She's Always a Woman/The Stranger: If a screenwriter and director were ever so desperate to make a movie about my life, they'll need to get permission to include this Joel song as part of the soundtrack when they get to the part when I was in college and fell deeply in love with a beautiful classmate in my psychology class. It was my freshman year, and I was still so shy around women, particularly gorgeous women, that I often debated the issue of "do I tell her, or do I keep it to myself?" for so long that by the time I'd "go for it," the semester would be over or she'd already be dating, be a lesbian, or married. In the case of my psych class "sweetie," the semester ended before I got the gumption to tell her anything. I did try to bolster my courage by listening to
She's Always a Woman. Like most of my truly favorite songs, it grabbed me with its simple "vamp" and bittersweet opening verse (She can kill with a smile / She can wound with her eyes / She can ruin your faith with her casual lies / And she only reveals what she wants you to see / She hides like a child / But she's always a woman to me). Annoyingly, I also listened to it far too much when I had a similar situation when I fell for one of my fellow journalism students...and again did not tell her for fear of rejection.

9. She's Got A Way/Songs in the Attic:: Oh, hell. In my case, it is more like "She Got Away" rather than She's Got A Way, but I met someone who, for good or for ill, always comes to mind when I dare listen to this song, especially the lines She's got a smile that heals me / I don't know why it is / But I have to laugh when she reveals me / She's got a way about her / I don't know what it is, / But I know that I can't live without her anyway. In all the time I've known her, we have spent more time apart than we've shared in person, but the precious time we did share was profoundly moving and important.

10. Piano Man/Piano Man: Yes, it's a cliche...most Billy Joel fans would probably have this on their Top 10 songs, but it's one of those really great story-telling ballads. It's based on Joel's short stint as a...well...."piano man" in a West Coast bar, and the people he described (John the bartender, Paul the "real estate novelist," and the politics-practicing waitress was Billy's first ex-wife.) were all real people. I like the lyrics; I mean, how can you go wrong with a line like there's an old man sitting next to me / making love to his tonic and gin? Even 30-plus years after its release, this song is still a crowdpleaser, as anyone who has ever participated in a Joel concert's encores/singalong can tell you.