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

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Welcome one and all to what is sure to be one of the most popular threads in ILM history, as we take a song-a-day, track-by-track journey through the musical output of the Piano Man himself. A quick glance at Wiki confirms his significance: thirty-three self-penned Top 40 hits, twenty-three Grammy nominations (six wins), an estimated 150 million records sold worldwide, and a position just one slot shy of the Eagles as the sixth-best-selling artist of all time in the USA. If this staggering track record has not always translated into critical cred or hipster kisses, all the more reason to dig deep, listen close, and re-evaluate.

To get things started...

https://img.discogs.com/QNpKf3_ZWbH_YncKomidPiXwucI=/fit-in/600x607/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1580441-1420639267-9442.jpeg.jpg https://img.discogs.com/sgvR7zxU8gGhZJivqUljTKBeoy8=/fit-in/473x445/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1580441-1257610467.jpeg.jpg

It's July, 1971. Buffeted by the troubles of the times, rock listeners find themselves reaching for the heartfelt, melodic expressions of the singer-songwriter. Perhaps taking note of Carole King's position at the top of the charts, the tiny Family label sees no reason not to take a chance on a demo tape of earnestly-sung, piano-backed ballads by a twenty-two-year-old keyboardist from Long Island. Already the veteran of a few flopped-out rock combos, but stripped of his earlier West-Coast freakout and heavy-metal trappings, William Martin Joel enters the studio to record his solo debut, Cold Spring Harbor.. It hit the streets that November, and we begin our journey with the kickoff track and sole, non-charting single: She's Got A Way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUn-XOQoN3U

Note: This recording is from a 1980s remix correcting a legendary mastering goof on the original record: the entire album ran slightly too fast, producing an up-pitched "Chipmunk" effect on Joel's vocals. Chronological purists who want to experience the music as it was originally released should click here.

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:27 (seven years ago) link

Wow - I didn't know that She's Got A Way was first-track first-album! I loved this already ... but even more now know it pushed the boat out

it's just so clean & simple & pleasing.

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:37 (seven years ago) link

omg @ chipmunk version LOOOOL that is hysterical

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:39 (seven years ago) link

Well, to add to the embarrassing recording goofs, I've still got the wrong version up there! Sorry, Billy! The Youtube above is actually the Songs in the Attic live version from ten years later, which did chart. It's sort of hard to pin down these versions but give me a second here.

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:57 (seven years ago) link

that Songs in the Attic version is the one i already knew. interesting!

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 02:58 (seven years ago) link

So, the full, pitch-corrected 1983 remix of the album is here; it's also on Spotify. Individual YouTubes are a mishmash, with both the live hit and the original Chipmunk version getting slapped up with the CSH album cover, and a bevy of do-it-yourself corrected versions. But basically this is what we should listen to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXAKedxxVe4

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:03 (seven years ago) link

It's very interesting to compare the "corrected original" to the "live hit" versions - the lingering psychedelic "let us be like children together in the garden" tweeness of the earlier recording gets ironed out of it, and he adds a pinch of harder vocal grit to the second pass through "she touches me, I get turned around." Essentially, he brings it much closer to his signature late-70s sound, though he retains the very, very stripped-down arrangement.

To be honest, I've never really strongly connected with this song - good melody, great opening line... without the Chipmunk thing, and with the right promotional backing, you imagine he could have gotten at least a regional hit out of this. But it's one of these "she's great, she's great, she's really great" kind of songs without conflict, narrative or rhythm section... makes it a bit too easy for it to just drift by. I do think I like it better in its original, rather less professional incarnation. Elsewhere, I love Joel's grand-entertainer, crowd-pleaser populism, but on these first couple albums I like also hearing this kid - affectations and fumbles and evident desire to be Paul McCartney and all.

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:13 (seven years ago) link

i enjoy the way he over-enunciates as a young man. like someone said to him it's important that we understand all the words

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:14 (seven years ago) link

totally!

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:18 (seven years ago) link

it's probably more proto-air supply than anything tbh

but even in that category it's head and shoulders above. like, compared with the overwrought verging on gross "baby ima want you" syrup that will be pouring into listeners ears in the coming years, it's great

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 03:20 (seven years ago) link

Just based on this song, in a vacuum, I would've expected him to turn into more of a Manilow-type than he ever ended up being.

Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Monday, 17 July 2017 04:12 (seven years ago) link

the path of earnest songwriting is fraught with danger

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 04:46 (seven years ago) link

it's funny I haven't heard joel and manilow compared much - sure their careersan attitudes and styles are quite different, but as showtunes holdouts and staples of the adult contemporary charts... idk

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 05:11 (seven years ago) link

joel has way better songwriting (as this thread will hopefully bear out) - it's his abilities as a storyteller that navigated him out of those waters imo

manilow had good hooks but his lyrics are pretty bad, more like long commercial jingles

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 05:30 (seven years ago) link

though i agree with dr c that there's not much to the lyric on "she's got a way," it's A-plus compared to most of what we're going to be listening to over the next week and a half, simply by virtue of billy not trying too hard. he's infatuated with a girl, he says so, he rhymes "about her" with "without her," he tosses in a bridge, he's done. he can do worse, much worse, and he will. and the melody sticks. a telling start to his career: he's a piano man with a gift for a hook and not a lot to say, not yet.

having not heard cold spring harbor in years, i miss the octave vocal leap that ends the song in the songs from the attic version. that was a nice touch.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 17 July 2017 06:12 (seven years ago) link

This recording is from a 1980s remix correcting a legendary mastering goof on the original record

warning: they also re-recorded the backing tracks on a couple songs, without billy's involvement. the relationship between family productions' artie ripp, who signed him and owned these masters, deteriorated fast, and though billy quickly dumped him for columbia, ripp won a lot in the divorce: he owned a piece of billy's next ten (!) albums, and his logo appears on all of them.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 17 July 2017 06:22 (seven years ago) link

christ that's awful, the music industry really is full of absolute bandits.

i love how he put out 'Greatest Hits I And II' as one CD/album, not bothering with the traditional 1 and 2 volumes separated by say half a decade like most folk.

piscesx, Monday, 17 July 2017 10:59 (seven years ago) link

http://www.thatericalper.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Attila-008.jpg

We're going to pretend this never happened?

calstars, Monday, 17 July 2017 11:16 (seven years ago) link

re: Manilow and jingles, I had no idea he actually did some of that! "Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there" - wow. Another difference, as Attila reminds us, is that for all his wistful balladeering, Billy wants to ROCK, and to be thought of as a rocker. This too connects him with Lennon and McCartney much more than Manilow or most of the other archetypal singer-songwriters.

I had floated the idea of including Attila and the Hassles in this thread but ppl pointed out that they were distinct "things," and anyway we were looking at a lot of tracks on this thread. But I think ppl should check 'em out - we could do a short pause after CSH and just say "today is Attila Day," rather than going track by track... idk!

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 11:32 (seven years ago) link

I mean I guess people can also just talk about it whenever, also! Just thinking in the spirit of dedicated group experience or w/e.

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 12:01 (seven years ago) link

The ratio of "discussion of Attila as music" to "lol, that cover" is historically quite lopsided. Not that I want to be the person to correct the imbalance - just sayin.

"She's Got a Way" is gr8 btw

didgeridon't (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 17 July 2017 12:48 (seven years ago) link

Woah, hadn't realized we had started this!

So, "She's Got a Way." The version I know is the Greatest Hits one, which is the Songs From the Attic one, and this is my first time hearing the CSH version. I've always found it decent but unexceptional, not to mention tonally jarring within the chronological ordering of GH, sandwiched between the more, uh, muscular 80s material.

Listening to the original for the first time, I can see why he went with a later version. The mixing on CSH really is disgusting and I imagine that it will make the next 9 days of this thread something of a slog.

some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:52 (seven years ago) link

There is a piece from Entertainment Weekly from around the time of River of Dreams where Billy offered brief commentary on all of his albums. I tried to dig it up, but I couldn't find it. Also, EW's website is the worst.

Basically, as I recall, Billy dismisses the record due to the mastering error, claiming that he can't ever listen to it. Having my first taste of it just now, I can see why.

some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:58 (seven years ago) link

Tuneful prettiness. Not bad.

the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 17 July 2017 13:59 (seven years ago) link

affectations and fumbles and evident desire to be Paul McCartney and all

Listening to the Chipmunk version you linked above (only being familiar with the GH version before) and given the year, it strikes me that this is definitely his attempt at re-writing "Maybe I'm Amazed."

Old Lynch's Sex Paragraph (Phil D.), Monday, 17 July 2017 14:06 (seven years ago) link

CSH is canon, but I can't help but always thinking of Piano Man as his first record.

Similar to Bowie.

pplains, Monday, 17 July 2017 14:18 (seven years ago) link

(Just thought I'd beat the rest of you to writing out that last sentence.)

pplains, Monday, 17 July 2017 14:18 (seven years ago) link

(see also: warren zevon)

fact checking cuz, Monday, 17 July 2017 14:25 (seven years ago) link

ATTENTION! NATALIE MAINES IS NOT A LESBIAN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPxllU2WUak

pplains, Monday, 17 July 2017 14:41 (seven years ago) link

I know singers have been tweaking lyrics to suit their gender/orientation for decades, but shifting it from first-person to third-person changes the context too much.

pplains, Monday, 17 July 2017 14:42 (seven years ago) link

centuries

didgeridon't (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 17 July 2017 14:57 (seven years ago) link

The song's vagueness--he likes this woman, but can't quite isolate her particular qualities--nicely mirrors my own ambiguous feelings towards it.

some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:24 (seven years ago) link

It's a vague sentiment, sure, but it's light-years better than "Always a Woman," in which the message is "she's a heinous bitch but I like her anyway."

didgeridon't (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:40 (seven years ago) link

i like this, nice little song

love the cover, i love how period it looks, like it could be some long forgotten "lost classic" reissued by Light in the Attic

though I'm pretty impressed, for a first song on a first album this feels very much like a "Billy Joel" song, like he's got his aesthetic and identity right out of the gate, like Black Sabbath or something

Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:41 (seven years ago) link

new goal of this listening thread: to pinpoint the moment he loses his hopeful high voice

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:45 (seven years ago) link

The vagueness also makes it one of VERY FEW love songs that a father could plausibly dedicate to a daughter and have it come off in a not-totally-creepy way.

This may venture into uber-maudlin TMI territory, but: the line "she's got a smile that heals me" does in fact make me think of my daughter. I know it's corny as hell but there it is.

didgeridon't (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:48 (seven years ago) link

no that's otm

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:51 (seven years ago) link

and lovely <3

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:51 (seven years ago) link

for a first song on a first album this feels very much like a "Billy Joel" song, like he's got his aesthetic and identity right out of the gate, like Black Sabbath or something

haha. but i'm not sure he truly finds his "billy joel" voice until track 3 on this album.

his hopeful high voice

sounds like he's channelling paul mccartney via emitt rhodes, who at this particular point in time was making better billy joel records than billy joel was.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 17 July 2017 16:53 (seven years ago) link

true!

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 16:54 (seven years ago) link

I don't know if its the pitch issue, but his voice sounds more shaky than I expected. Starting from "Piano Man" on, his voice has a confidence that he never loses - I just figured he always had it. Interesting to hear, actually

Vinnie, Monday, 17 July 2017 17:03 (seven years ago) link

i think he's trying to go for lilting & comes off as slightly petrified haha

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 17:10 (seven years ago) link

yeah track three is KEY to joel's entire steez going forward, looking forward to that.

agreed about trying to sound lilting. ATTILA reminds us that he did already know how to sing in a more forceful and confident manner, so this here is as much a "poetic" affectation as his bellows over there are an attempt to find his "hard rock" voice.

"maybe i'm amazed" is a very apt comparison - and it, too, wasn't a hit until a live album years later! I picture joel watching it rise on the charts in 1976, clenching his fists, blood boiling at the CSH screwups all over again, and swearing that if HE ever gets big enough to merit a live album, he knows just what the single will be and won't THAT show 'em all? "your song" also probably had to be on somebody's mind, the label's if not the artist's.

﴿→ ☺ (Doctor Casino), Monday, 17 July 2017 17:34 (seven years ago) link

like he's got his aesthetic and identity right out of the gate, like Black Sabbath or something running down the road, trying to loosen its load....

pplains, Monday, 17 July 2017 17:41 (seven years ago) link

i'm guessing this song's about the other member of attila's wife (later to be his own).

i'd always understood that the "mastering error" is because they wanted to cram too many minutes of music onto the album.

Thus Sang Freud, Monday, 17 July 2017 17:46 (seven years ago) link

so many wives...

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 17 July 2017 17:59 (seven years ago) link

like he's got his aesthetic and identity right out of the gate, like Black Sabbath or something running down the road, trying to loosen its load....

― pplains, Monday, July 17, 2017 12:41 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you know...for some reason it never occurred to me till this very second that the protagonist of "Take it Easy" was shitting his pants

Universal LULU Nation (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 17 July 2017 19:50 (seven years ago) link

i'd lump the eagles in with billy as a band who didn't achieve their full aesthetic and identity until track three of their debut album. chug all night y'all.

fact checking cuz, Monday, 17 July 2017 20:03 (seven years ago) link

i'd always understood that the "mastering error" is because they wanted to cram too many minutes of music onto the album

I hadn't heard that specifically about CSH. But I have heard that "Silver Springs" was kept off Rumours partly because the resulting length would have mean that they could just BARELY fit it in only by narrowing the grooves and unacceptably compromising the bass response.

Tangent: Interesting to think about the degree to which actual physical limitations were relevant - all of this in living memory. Les Paul was faking multitracking by ping-ponging, then the Beatles were on four tracks, then eight, then DSotM, then Steely Dan's automated mixes, then ProTools... all of this has happened within the lifespan of specific known humans. The time from the Wright brother's first flight to walking on muthaflippin moon? Many of us have grandparents who lived through both.

didgeridon't (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 17 July 2017 20:32 (seven years ago) link

agreed about trying to sound lilting. ATTILA reminds us that he did already know how to sing in a more forceful and confident manner, so this here is as much a "poetic" affectation as his bellows over there are an attempt to find his "hard rock" voice.

Ah gotcha. I ain't heard CSH yet, so I sure as hell ain't heard Attila yet

Vinnie, Tuesday, 18 July 2017 01:52 (seven years ago) link

Could have used an actual melody. I figure his voice must be Auto-Tuned to hell(?)

jake morgendorffer core (morrisp), Friday, 2 February 2024 03:46 (eight months ago) link

I like it, but man, it really reminds me of another song that I can't put my finger on.

End of the Road by Boyz II Men? Because that's what is somehow getting mixed up in my head.

MarkoP, Friday, 2 February 2024 15:46 (eight months ago) link

I think his voice sounds like 2024 Billy, he sounds older here and of course the studio sands away the rough edges from live performances. did detect auto-tune as well which tends to 'youngify' voices.

never trust a big book and a simile (Neanderthal), Friday, 2 February 2024 18:51 (eight months ago) link

The orchestra feels unnecessary, but then I realize we're talking about one of the last of the stadium acts. The piano dynamics would really stand out without all the backing.

Feels pre-Glass Houses in a good way. Maybe his first song without a "rock" band arrangement since then (though I'm not going back to the last few albums to check)?

underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 2 February 2024 18:59 (eight months ago) link

since when did he use co-writers? I don't care, but it's striking.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 2 February 2024 19:03 (eight months ago) link

I missed that there were co-writers (hadn't read about it until just now). Interesting that it involves the same guy who wrote Pussycat Dolls' legit-good "I Hate This Part." Guessing we'll hear at some point how this song was built.

underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 2 February 2024 19:13 (eight months ago) link

my guess is the older you get, more time you spend on the toilet and sleeping, less time to write

never trust a big book and a simile (Neanderthal), Friday, 2 February 2024 19:19 (eight months ago) link

I like it, but man, it really reminds me of another song that I can't put my finger on.

The changes and orchestration remind me of Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"...

underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 2 February 2024 20:13 (eight months ago) link

Which of the four of them wrote the line, "I see you now / As we're laying in the darkness"? Is the narrator wearing night-vision goggles(?)

jake morgendorffer core (morrisp), Friday, 2 February 2024 20:54 (eight months ago) link

Used the flashlight on his phone

assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 2 February 2024 21:00 (eight months ago) link

It's his muse he can see in the darkness.

underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 2 February 2024 21:05 (eight months ago) link

since when did he use co-writers?

i think this is more a case of the co-writers using him. if
i've got the story straight, they approached him, unsolicited, with an unfinished song and asked him to help top it off.

fact checking cuz, Friday, 2 February 2024 22:20 (eight months ago) link

Hope they put bread in his jar

jake morgendorffer core (morrisp), Friday, 2 February 2024 22:54 (eight months ago) link

I think I thought it was "Only Time Will Tell" by Asia, but that's it's squirmier than that.

pplains, Saturday, 3 February 2024 04:14 (eight months ago) link

First impression: better than "Now and Then," but not exactly grabbing me. Hate what I'm hearing as auto-tuning, and the cheesy "arena drums plus strings" production. The actual song seems fine if not special - I could see it being a bit of a grower if it closed out an album, at the tail end of a mixed bag of pastiches on Side B.

not the one who's tryin' to dub your anime (Doctor Casino), Saturday, 3 February 2024 12:24 (eight months ago) link

yeah it’s a bit “Where’s the Orchestra” isn’t it

assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 3 February 2024 13:20 (eight months ago) link

This damn song has been stuck in my head since the Grammys, and I’m not happy about it…

atmospheric river phoenix (morrisp), Wednesday, 7 February 2024 03:23 (seven months ago) link

So apparently "Vienna" is having a moment? My 16-year-old daughter is working up a cover of it. It's not my favorite key but I will get there somehow.

Virginia Wolfman (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 9 February 2024 12:56 (seven months ago) link

i finally heard the new song & i like it well enough. enough to be interested in hearing more, anyway.

is Freddy Wexler any relation to Jerry Wexler? Freddy’s wikipedia entry starts at 2008 & eschews any real biographical info

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 9 February 2024 15:37 (seven months ago) link

BJ likes the disposable vapes apparently

calstars, Friday, 9 February 2024 15:49 (seven months ago) link

So apparently "Vienna" is having a moment?

it's his tiktok hit!

fact checking cuz, Sunday, 11 February 2024 22:32 (seven months ago) link

It’s a good song.

The Ginger Bakersfield Sound (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 12 February 2024 12:02 (seven months ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOf6CMbHPuA

Thru the ages

Maresn3st, Friday, 16 February 2024 19:20 (seven months ago) link

That was all right, but man, Billy. Don't give Elton any ideas.

pplains, Saturday, 17 February 2024 00:30 (seven months ago) link

two weeks pass...

i really really hate this guy and his music but ... i heard "Sleeping with the Television on" and didn't recognize it, so had to Shazam. really interesting to read everybody's thoughts on it here. i haven't listened to everything the man's made, but i agree this is a standout track, probably the best think i've ever heard from him. the rink organ is a shame but it's a pretty solid little power pop thing otherwise. can hear the comparisons to Joe Jackson but i think mostly it sounds like Squeeze in terms of the composition

budo jeru, Sunday, 3 March 2024 00:16 (seven months ago) link

killer song. my first karaoke performance coming out of the pandemic closure years!

not the one who's tryin' to dub your anime (Doctor Casino), Monday, 4 March 2024 17:22 (seven months ago) link

one month passes...

dunno if this was ever posted, but I loved this story about the struggle to make Piano Man a hit: https://keithyates.com/the-time-a-stiff-caught-fire/

Vinnie, Sunday, 21 April 2024 00:48 (five months ago) link

Some might say a struggle best left alone

calstars, Sunday, 21 April 2024 00:55 (five months ago) link

wow, that was quite a read. had no idea it played out like that at all.

not the one who's tryin' to dub your anime (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 21 April 2024 03:11 (five months ago) link

Sometimes the authorities say,
“Best leave this one alone”

calstars, Sunday, 21 April 2024 03:21 (five months ago) link

It's better than leaving alone

Vinnie, Monday, 22 April 2024 12:01 (five months ago) link

That was a great read!

rendered nugatory (morrisp), Monday, 22 April 2024 14:01 (five months ago) link

did anyone watch the televised MSG 100 concert?

watching now, idk i guess i’m
a dork but it’s kinda nice

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 27 April 2024 21:44 (five months ago) link

Vienna was lovely <3

werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 27 April 2024 21:45 (five months ago) link

That "Piano Man" story is readymade for a Netflix treatment. The scrappy group of Fresno longhairs who made Billy Joel a star

one month passes...

I don't know if this belongs here, or on the Vampire Weekend thread, or on the Christgau thread, but there's an amusing pre-VW blog post by a young Ezra Koenig defending Billy Joel's honor against the snide attacks of Mr. Christgau, which segues into a rant about the pointlessness of negative reviews in general:

https://internetvibes.blogspot.com/2005/10/critical-beatdown.html

o. nate, Friday, 31 May 2024 17:43 (four months ago) link

ha yeah I remember it! I think we discussed it a few years ago.

the talented mr pimply (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 31 May 2024 17:54 (four months ago) link

three weeks pass...

I will almost always read the memoirs of rock musicians, especially drummers. I recently ordered a used copy of Liberty DeVitto's _Liberty. I didn't know this upon ordering it, but my copy was signed on the cover page, "Snuffy - cheers. Liberty DeVitto."

Further, it contained a handwritten note tucked inside the front cover: "Snuffy, Our mutual friend Vicki Abelson thought you might like this book. Let me know what you think. Regards, Liberty, libertydevi✧✧✧@a✧✧.c✧✧."

Upon investigation, it seems that the intended recipient was guitarist/composer W.G. "Snuffy" Walden. Snuffy does not appear to have treasured or even read the book. And because the bookseller hadn't noticed, it seems likely that the last person to open the book before me was Lib himself.

Unfortunately it's not a good book. So I'm stuck with an object of only mild interest to superfans, and worthless to ordinary people.

Millennium Falco (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 21 June 2024 20:05 (three months ago) link

But who is Lisa DeVitto?

(I kid.)

pplains, Friday, 21 June 2024 22:27 (three months ago) link

one month passes...

unexpected special guest at billy's final (for now) madison square garden show tonite: axl rose. he sang "live and let die" and "highway to hell" (w/billy on gtr) during the main set, then returned during the encore to join billy on "you may be right." he looked like he was auditioning for a residency in vegas, he sounded good, and i was kinda pissed they didn't give "november rain" a go. billy was in a particularly cheerful mood throughout and promised us that, end of the residency notwithstanding, he'll be back. he did not play "turn the lights back on," which seems to be quietly slipping out of his repertoire. i was hoping he'd not so quietly bring liberty back for a song or two on this special night, but alas that was not to be. all in all, a very billy show.

fact checking cuz, Friday, 26 July 2024 04:16 (two months ago) link

nice, I'm glad you made it!

the last visible dot (Doctor Casino), Friday, 26 July 2024 11:09 (two months ago) link

I can’t believe this is the end *sniffs*

calstars, Friday, 26 July 2024 18:41 (two months ago) link

Onstage Thursday night, Joel reminded the audience of the band’s accomplishments: “We were the first American full-fledged performance in the Soviet Union,” he said.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3cBp_Bf43M

calstars, Friday, 26 July 2024 19:53 (two months ago) link

three weeks pass...

It’s not better than drinking alone

calstars, Monday, 19 August 2024 02:49 (one month ago) link

“Workin too hard can give you a heart atTttttttacckkkkk

calstars, Monday, 19 August 2024 02:50 (one month ago) link

“You should always argue with a crazy mamamamamamaamama”

calstars, Monday, 19 August 2024 02:51 (one month ago) link

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I once was on Sullivan Street in NYC and looked up at this brutalist hospital and thought "That's the one!"

bratwurst autumn (Eazy), Monday, 19 August 2024 04:10 (one month ago) link

Rosalinda's Eyes, I don't know if he's ever recorded a more lonely-sounding song but it has one of the best fade-outs ever.

Maresn3st, Monday, 19 August 2024 09:44 (one month ago) link


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