Gotta Play

There was a period of time when the sounds that everybody wanted to make were the sounds that Billy Joel was making. And with good reason: His music had it all. Vocals that soared and swaggered. Lyrics that were poetic and biting. Horn parts that kept sax players employed. Totally cool pianos parts. Talk about making you want to grab some keys!
Things haven’t changed all that much, at least as far as Billy Joel’s inspiration factor goes. Folks in my generation are understandably still under Billy’s sway, but there are a couple more recent generations that embrace his music no less than we did.

A couple of years ago, I had a chance to hang with Billy Joel prior to one of his New York-area shows, which was really cool for me, given my own experience with his music. What experience? With the various bar and wedding bands I’d played with over the years, I’d probably performed “Movin’ Out” about 1,000 times, and many of his other songs a similar number of times. So no one was more surprised than I when as I congratulated Billy on the successful opening of his Broadway collaboration with Twyla Tharp, I unfortunately referred to it as “Movin’ On.”

Ah, the things we do when under pressure. It’s not that Billy was intimidating; quite the opposite, in fact. He was warm, friendly, and extremely funny. At once down-to-earth and highly charismatic, he really is one of the world’s great entertainers. Billy’s keyboard-wielding wingman and bandmate, David Rosenthal, had provided the backstage introduction, so there was a great deal of built-in goodwill already. I wasn’t just some schmuck journalist who didn’t care about the titles of Billy’s songs. Still . . . he’s Billy Joel, for cryin’ out loud.

Which all made me feel even worse when I realized what I had just said, and watched Billy’s attention — quite understandably — shift elsewhere. I had come representing readers of all ages, hoping to make a connection that would benefit everyone . . . and instead, I brought disgrace to the Keyboard Temple.

So when Michael Gallant called me from Sag Harbor in early August to gush about how he and Billy Joel spent over two hours having a very deep and enjoyable conversation, I was thrilled. Not only would we have a fantastic cover story, but we’d also rekindled a friendship. The lesson I take from this: If you want redemption, delegate.

I hope you enjoy our coverage commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Billy Joel’s The Stranger. Billy always has a lot of great things to say, so much so that we’ll have the second half of Michael Gallant’s interview in next month’s issue.