IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKIN' ALONE: The Official ILM Track-by-Track BILLY JOEL Listening Thread

forever pining for a younger man's clothes

One of the very very few Billy Joel songs (maybe the only??) where i like the lyrics more than the music. Music is totally fine but a little bit unpolished; the lyrics are great. Most of what I like about them has been covered

tooka fressh packaLuckies an' a mint called Sen-Sen

I'm going to disagree with the posters saying the music is underbaked. I generally like it when a Joel song foregrounds guitar instead of piano. The understated drums give room for percussion - I think the quiet-but-insistent shaker that holds down the 16th-note feel is key.

A messier arrangement might have fought with a melody that I think is unimpeachable. The only things I would change about this song are some of the cornier vocal adlibs - whoawhoawhoa ohyesidid yeahyeahyeah. The lyrics are strong; the song doesn't need filler.

The '80s-leaning a/c station in my area played the hell out of this in the late '90s.

What's next – the two new songs for the comp?

Glad you asked!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9BNoNFKCBI

We Are The World, a charity single by "United Support of Artists For Africa" released in March of 1985, probably needs no introduction. One of the biggest-selling singles in history, it helped raise tens of millions of dollars that from what I can tell did actually go towards immediate short-term famine relief in Ethiopia and Sudan. Its mini-duet between Billy Joel and Tina Turner has gone overlooked in previous examinations of the project but surely we can do it justice here.

As well, for any who were around at the time, perhaps this provides an opportunity, in the wake of An Innocent Man's success, to reflect on Billy Joel, Superstar. What was he like as a member of the pop firmament? By the time I was cognizant of such things, he had receded into being an Adult Contemporary artist who I knew through his old 70s and early 80s songs. Here, he stands confidently alongside genuine titans of the field (and some also-rans), some of whom will show up in duets on his next LP. What a strange fate for the cranky little Long Island nobody with big dreams and a big piano. Hey, Billy - everybody loves you now!

What was he like as a member of the pop firmament?

Undeniably huge, but perhaps a bit corny? Not quite fuddy-duddy, but not exactly edgy or of-the-moment either.

He occupied a space in between Neil Diamond (old and busted) and, say, Howard Jones (the new hotness).

Compared to a Simon LeBono or Lauper-type star, he was old news but didn't yet seem like a forebear or father figure. More like an older brother back from college, or an uncle with an earring.

What a time it was to be alive.

https://i.imgur.com/7wuNxv6.jpg

I should say, an uncle with an earring... and a Camaro.

I guess we're lucky BJ didn't hurl body sweat over his one line in "We Are the World" like Kenny Loggisns and Bruce did; he doesn't disgrace himself. But he's not Dionne, Daryl Hall, or Steve Perry.

Kids were buying his records and MTV aired his videos as much as any Duran Duran or MJ. It was still OK to be pudgy and ugly and older than 30.

for reference, Billy got one vote (Euler!) in this if I do say so iconic ilx poll

Who Bodied Their Verse On "We Are The World"??

however, his vote was mitigated by Alex in NYC coming off the top rope, calling Billy a "Crappy craphound of the crappiest order."

couple other ppl express positive feelings about his contribution

https://i.imgur.com/IkBSkVK.jpg

MJ: So I really enjoyed "Allentown".

BJ: Thank you.

MJ: No, seriously. Coming from a place like Gary, Indiana, it's about time someone put into words the struggles felt by the workers of blue-collar America.

BJ: Um, yes. Thank you again.

lol

maybe cuz I was in the Midwest but Billy was fuckin huuuge in my mind, closer to Springsteen that Howard Jones, all those early MTV new wave acts became nostalgia/ironic like 3 years after they came out, like oh remember that goofy Flick of Seagulls stuff? very odd phenomenon come to think

I'd imagine Billy started playing arenas in the late 70s and never looked back?

I hope it's MJ drinking from that can of Bud.

That photo brings to mind Gene Siskel's old standard of judging a movie: is this movie more or less interesting than a recording of these actors having lunch together would be. I would love to have been a fly on the wall during the recording of this, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to this song again.

tooka fressh packaLuckies an' a mint called Sen-Sen

first time i've ever seen that line written out. never had anything close to an idea of what he might be saying.

maybe cuz I was in the Midwest but Billy was fuckin huuuge in my mind, closer to Springsteen that Howard Jones

ditto in the northeast. as much a rock star as pop star. billy was pretty much the slash in pop/rock. and a bigger star than springsteen, as far as most of the world was concerned, until born in the usa changed the map. and though he was over 30 and stuff, he made cool videos.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/71/1a/54/711a54af35486a99b8c28d215ec391a6--sen-sen-my-grandmother.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/88/c7/fd/88c7fdb07f72dacb474588e997a20f05--vintage-medical-vintage-ads.jpg

Man, people had weirdly shaped dicks back then.

Interestingly, I looked up what year Trojan condoms became available (just to validate this song's accuracy, lol) and the answer is: 1916!

In my youth, there was a popular "meme" (avant la lettre) stating that it was ironic for Trident to be a brand of gum because trident means "three teeth."

Further, it was ironic that a brand of condoms was named Ramses, because Ramesses had at least 80 children.

One might strain this joke further by noting that "Trojan" is similarly undercutting because it evokes the Trojan horse - something that seemed harmless on the way in, but once it was in it broke open and lots of men spilled out.

Magnum sounds like a gun that shoots bullets.

Good one! Or, alternatively, a large champagne bottle that spews uncontrollably when popped open.

I just realized it's "my old man's Trojans" probably because Dad would be responsibly non-monogamous by bringing rubbers to the cathouse or his city girlfriend.

Or, wait, it's before the Pill. he just needed them at home.

xpost

or mom was too trad to go on the pill, and Daddy Joel didn't need anymore rugrats to feed

https://img.discogs.com/jJkSsUhNoOvdrzLvI_dVx9uGpgo=/fit-in/600x597/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1326435-1352488740-5488.jpeg.jpg

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https://img.discogs.com/vRn0pdGDnPFJ0tOxPvCsPAU_r9g=/fit-in/557x423/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-7299269-1438333232-7500.jpeg.jpg

Greatest Hits - Volume I & Volume II was released September 2, 1985, and would become Billy Joel's most successful album. To date, per Wiki, it "has been certified double diamond by the RIAA, selling over 11.5 million copies (23 million units) and is tied with Pink Floyd's The Wall and Led Zeppelin's Led Zeppelin IV for third most certified album of all time in the US.[3]" Elsewhere, they estimate its US sales as being roughly tied with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, making it the 43rd-or-so best-selling US release of all time, but obviously there's some fuzziness in a lot of these numbers, particularly for older albums.

As previously discussed, the comp features the majority of Joel's US chart singles up to that point, with some variations in tracklist depending on pressing and market. It's quite a lineup, to put it mildly, including nearly all of the songs for which he will probably still be remembered a few decades from now. Where short versions of singles were available, they were generally used ("Goodnight Saigon" seems to be the exception), then replaced with the long ones for a 1998 remaster. If you listen to it on Spotify it's further altered, with outright wrong versions of songs (the studio "Say Goodbye To Hollywood," for Pete's sake!). You can read about most of this confusing history here.

Left out of the canonical release but later restored are "Honesty," "Captain Jack," "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," "The Entertainer," and "She's Got A Way (Live)." As just mentioned, "Keeping the Faith" and "An Innocent Man" got held over for Volume III, which didn't appear until 1997 and barely cracked single platinum, probably hurting those songs' cultural presence a bit. Totally excluded are the lower-hanging chart entries "Worse Comes To Worst," "Travelin' Prayer," and "Sometimes A Fantasy"; and the non-charting or non-US singles "The Ballad of Billy the Kid," "James," "Until the Night," "All For Leyna," "You're My Home (Live)," "This NIght," and understandably, the original "She's Got A Way" and "Say Goodbye to Hollywood."

I bother listing all these because, per industry practice, the set does include two new singles which total about ten minutes of music and thus block out space that could have been given to roughly three other songs. The presence of "The Stranger," not a US single but an airplay hit (and big in Japan), also poses the possibility of including other fan favorites or things that deserved a bigger audience than they got. The new songs were both successful singles in their own right, though, so it's as easy to argue that they helped the album's success, as to say it'd have been better to save them as backup singles for the next LP. I'll queue up the first one of them in a second, but I'll wrap this post by posing this weekend's question: what would you have done?

Side One

1. "Piano Man" 5:36
2. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (Live) 3:54
3. "New York State of Mind" (w/ subbed sax solo) 6:02
4. "The Stranger" 5:07
5. "Just the Way You Are" 3:36

Side Two

1. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" 3:28
2. "Only the Good Die Young" 3:53
3. "She's Always a Woman" 3:17
4. "My Life" 3:51
5. "Big Shot" 3:43
6. "You May Be Right" 4:09

Side Three

1. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" 2:54
2. "Don't Ask Me Why" 2:57
3. "Pressure" 3:15
4. "Allentown" 3:48
5. "Goodnight Saigon" 7:00

Side Four

1. "Tell Her About It" 3:35
2. "Uptown Girl" 3:15
3. "The Longest Time" 3:36
4. "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" 4:48
5. "The Night Is Still Young" 5:28

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLVTrD32Rs8

You're Only Human (Second Wind) is Billy's interpretation of ska and an effort to speak to teens about suicide. Released as a single (with a trimmed-out sax solo shedding a half a minute), it hit #9 in the US, #2 on Adult Contemporary, and charted in a couple of other markets. I'm not sure I've ever heard it outside of this comp - maybe his most forgotten top-tenner? It even had a video, with a harmonica-playing Billy taking up the Clarence role from It's A Wonderful Life.

Per Wiki, "Joel donated all royalties from the song to the National Committee for Youth Suicide Prevention," which I think would also include a slice of that big Greatest Hits pie. I guess the "We Are The World" spirit rubbed off on him.

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good lord, this video

Jesus, this song. First time I heard it, I think I actually spit out my drink the first time those abysmal synth horns show up. Then there's the lyrics, which are the musical equivalent of telling a depressed person to "just be happy". Let's just say, I feel like this song fails on a lot of levels, though I do get it stuck in my head a lot

I heard it on the radio a few times into the late '90s, but otherwise, yeah, it's gone. I hear the next album's "This is the Time" a lot more.

The YOU'RE ONLY HUMAN OOH OOH bits are a major annoyance. Was he aiming for the Howard Jones positivity market?

And yes, the video is something else

I had convinced myself the OOH OOH stuff was some bizarre attempt at borrowing certain aspects of Graceland but the timeline obviously doesn't work for that.

I wish he'd tried to write the troubled-teen material over our next song, which might make it feel less like a clueless "just be happy" pep-talk. You really don't get much of a sense of Billy's own experience with depression from this one.

I have a good music crit friend who adores the next one -- it's his favorite Joel song.

Well, he's allowed to make his share of mistakes.

j/k, it has its qualities. As does this one, really - the "til that old second wind comes alo-hoong" bit is pretty hooky and it's kind of an interesting/different sound for Billy. I just wish it was more artificial and synthy, like a McCartney II track or something. Forget the harmonica - break out that dear old dusty Moog! As it is, it's kind of in the uncanny valley of Reagan-era positivity pop. It sounds like an audition to do the theme song for America's Funniest Home Videos.

The only affectionate connection that I have for this song (aside from its presence on the GH set that was such a beloved staple of my childhood) is that I'm pretty sure my father once used it in one of the season's-end video compilations that he used to put together for the track and field team he coached--cause running...second wind...get it? Other than that, ugh, the sonics on this are just ghastly.

lol

"songs parents used to soundtrack videos" would be a good thread imo

"Joel donated all royalties from the song to the National Committee for Youth Suicide Prevention," which I think would also include a slice of that big Greatest Hits pie. I guess the "We Are The World" spirit rubbed off on him.

I once believed in causes too.

It sounds like an audition to do the theme song for America's Funniest Home Videos.

Completely lol @ imagined montage in my head right now.

Thanks for the Batsignal, Dr C!!!

I have never seen this video before & ... i have notes

Is it bad that the intro makes me wish they’d just use the suicide scene from Saturday Night Fever?

If 5 o clock shadow BJ in a trenchcoat accosted me with a harmonica & sang about not killing myself I would kill myself out of sheer secondhand embarrassment

My skeleton wants to leave my body for that poor kid & Billy’s awkward shuffle

WHY DID HE NOT SHAVE. He looks like a pedo

leave the trenchcoats to strippers, guys with knockoff watches & flashers

i do kinda like this song, it reminds me of my Mum’s aerobics classes

:D :D :D

...and thus the VH-1 aesthetic was born.

Yo didn't BJ try to kill himself at one point? I just googled it - he did, in his early 20s. "You're Only Human" sounds glib, but I've been depressed and I've never gotten close to putting a gun in my mouth. So that's one slice of cornpone I'll give him. Also want to note that "Keeping the Faith" makes me cry for some reason - I think it's that the song is nostalgic in a very literal sense: he's straining in every line to hit the notes; the bitterness of the memory fading shading the sweetness of the recall. I dunno, it's kind of maudlin, but I like maudlin a lot of the time.

yeah he did try. luckily a trenchcoat-wearing harmonica player talked him out of it - they made a music video about the experience