Billy Joel was always on the radio in Delhi, with ‘Piano Man’ and ‘Just The Way You Are’ particular favourites on A Date With You. ‘Piano Man’ is his signature song – from his second album, way back in 1973. Not having much luck as a singer in NY, BJ found his way to LA as a 23-year old, and worked at the Executive Room bar as a piano player. That is where he met every one of the characters in the song – they are actually all based on the regulars who came in every day. “John at the bar” was Billy’s friend, “Paul is a real estate novelist” – there really was a Paul, a real estate agent who was trying to write a novel, and, there was a real life “Davy in the Navy”. Oh, and “the waitress practising politics” was his wife Elizabeth, who actually was a waitress at same the bar!! How much more ‘real life’ can you get! Amazingly it wasn’t a hit when released and it took till 1977 (when “The Stranger” was released”) for ‘Piano Man’ to became a huge hit

Billy Joel stopped making new music in 1993. He has since been playing sold-out shows, including his current six-year old residency at Madison Square Garden. The next five shows, starting Sep 20, 2020 are sold out. He is the 16^th highest selling artist of all time – selling more than “The Boss”, Queen and The Rolling Stones. And yet ..… the critics have always hated him ?. And Billy Joel has always looked for respect all his life – I believe that is the underlying anger and angst you hear in his voice and his lyrics. And for me that’s what makes him so perfect. His lyrics are so relatable – perfect montages of an imperfect life, of love and heartbreak, of passion and anger, and, of hope and hopelessness. He sings of real life!

Billy wrote a number of songs about the women he loved. Interesting story about Elizabeth, his first wife – she was married to Billy’s first bandmate in a band called Atilla, but she left her husband and married Billy (the band broke up at that point ?). At one of her birthdays, Billy wrote ‘Just The Way You Are’ for her as a birthday present. Billy also made Elizabeth his manager, and the story is that she and her brother swindled him out 30 Million bucks…they divorced in 1982. ‘She’s always a woman’ is also about Elizabeth – once you know the back story, lyrics like “She can ruin your faith with her casual lies” take on a new poignancy don’t they? Christie Brinkley inspired the album “An Innocent Man” and Elle McPherson inspired “Uptown Girl” (though Christie was in the video…. go figure!)  

The first BJ album I ever heard was ‘Glass Houses’ thanks to Sujata (my best friend in high school – thanks Sujju!) The first four tracks on it are amazing – ‘You May Be Right’, ‘Sometimes a Fantasy’, ‘Don’t Ask Me Why’ and ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me’, and still amongst my favourite Joel songs. The last of these, ‘It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me’, was BJ’s response to the critics who dissed his music, while praising the ‘new wave’– so he wrote a sarcastic song about new wave music just being repackaged rock and roll – and to twist the knife in, scored a No. 1 hit! My favourite Billy Joel album though is ‘Billy Joel Greatest Hits – Vol I & II’. Every song on it is outstanding – ‘Big Shot’, ‘ Pressure’, ‘ Second Wind’ , ‘New York State of Mind’….I know the lyrics of every song on the album for a very simple reason. I’ve heard the double album end-end about a bazillion times! I am a proud Billy Joel fan and the critics can g……..