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

Don't ax me why is def top 10 for me too. For all the reasons mentioned. I love the lightly strummed acoustic, the sly lyrics.

Something that always gets me in the verse is the interval and contrasting tone between the first and second lines. (For example) "All the servants at your new hotel" is mocking cynical Billy. But for the line "throw their roses at your feet" is sung sweeter, higher, and clearer in his balladeer style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEm3Kx7bAxo

It's Still Rock and Roll To Me, released as Glass Houses' second single in May of 1980, was a major boost to the album's sales and a massive success in its own right, with eleven weeks in the top ten and two at #1 - the first of Billy's three chart-toppers. (At #2 were Paul McCartney & Wings' "Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)" and Olivia Newton-John's "Magic," both of which had their own stints at the top.) It was the ninth-biggest U.S. hit of the year, and also made it to #10 in Australia and #14 in the UK (not always a receptive crowd for Joel). The video offers plenty of facial expressions from Billy and a different vocal take, but is otherwise just another one of those "I guess we could... film them on a sound stage?" turn-of-the-decade vids.

For such a big hit, it hasn't been much covered, perhaps owing to its somewhat time-sensitive subject matter. The most interesting version is probably a 1980 attempt to break it in Swedish by one Hans Edler, Det Är Rock And Roll För Mej. There's also a novelty 90s skate/pop-punk version by a group called 30FootFall, which sounds basically like all other novelty 90s skate/pop-punk versions of familiar songs. Sadly, neither ventures any take on "All right, Rico!" - a pattern broken by Weird Al's never-released parody. More mean-spirited than his usual fare, it might find one or two appreciative listeners around these parts. Many, many years later, Yankovic would get Joel's permission for a rather tamer take on "Piano Man."

https://img.discogs.com/cVbmWbZlNEN_zShXQuIo6I2gyIQ=/fit-in/600x589/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-2058599-1375050316-2449.jpeg.jpg https://img.discogs.com/fxH4Y2Jbq0UO9ZVLGSy8Vw9tdsY=/fit-in/600x590/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-1505211-1464339549-5116.jpeg.jpg

Ha, I'd never heard that weird Al version

Does anyone else find Billy's beer swigging in the video to be a very odd affectation?

Learned "beau brummel" from this song.

Also tab collars, for that matter.

Sidewinders, still don't know.

He does keep going back to very specific clothing details (comes up again in "Keepin' The Faith").

I was just talking abt this yrsterday w MrVeg

at first it just sounds like “old guy all bunged up about new music” genre that i kinda hate...
but: he’s not that old!
and: he embraced the new style ~for this album~
and: it’s also kind of about...cars? and...fashion? and stereos?
and: quite a few the references are jazz-age which..huh?
the last point especially makes me wonder if he was trying to do a modern take on “anything goes” with the lyrics? idk

I mostly like it bcz it was my Mum’s favorite when I was little

i love when the sax break stops & he goes into the final verse with that long “Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhooooooooo”

It's one of his more new wave songs! The thumping guitar and bass in the verses reminded me of rubber bands when I was a kid.

I like his outfit for this. It was a good time for normie new wave fashion. Reminds me of
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/b4/39/cd/b439cdca5e4d6d6e32db45866433af6a.jpg

re: his age, yeah! He was 30 when he recorded this, which doesn't seem that old to me. Though I guess how you wear 30 can make you seem either legit or poseur in the eyes of 17 - Sting, just a year or two younger than Billy, managed to get away with it (albeit with some protesting too much re: being "Born in the Fifties").

The jazz age thing is interesting and makes me think of Taco's "Puttin' on the Ritz." Joel conceives of himself as a songwriter more than an interpreter but I kinda feel like he shoulda thrown a synthed-up, wirey take on a Gershwin tune on this album.

then again, it also might just be that his go-to bag is 100% full of old-man references

well, I think even a non-fan could agree that Joel was a diligent student of music history. dude had clearly listened to a lot of old records. indeed, possibly to a fault. cf. all the talk of him biting the steez of old doowop and r&b records.

He's always seemed like an old man to me. The cynicism, the pastiches.

This song is awesome btw - hearing it a hundred times has not made it lose any luster for me. The beginning, just hitting on one bass note, is a really cool way to start a song

yeah it’s def a rocker for me

"White Baby Boomer mansplains rock 'n' roll" is definitely one of the worst lyrical genres ever, but (as some have pointed out) Billy's entry is less cranky than bullshit like Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock N Roll" and Bryan Adams' "Kids Wanna Rock." The whole "call it what you like, it's all rock and roll, maaan" strikes me as generous and inclusive--and while I wouldn't press the issue too hard, the intrinsic queerness of New Wave says something nice about Billy's refusal to give this music the knee-jerk dismissal that many of his peers were pushing at the time.

That said, as a song...blah.

(also, since I just realized that I missed "Don't Axe Me Why" yesterday--I like his sharp lyrical turns of phrase much better than the tune. Some days that's enough for me, and others I need something more muscular, even from Billy.)

I like Dont Ask Me Why okay but it strays into annoying jingle territory for me, it’s a bit annoying/earwormy

"White Baby Boomer mansplains rock 'n' roll" is definitely one of the worst lyrical genres ever, but (as some have pointed out) Billy's entry is less cranky than bullshit like Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock N Roll" and Bryan Adams' "Kids Wanna Rock." The whole "call it what you like, it's all rock and roll, maaan" strikes me as generous and inclusive--and while I wouldn't press the issue too hard, the intrinsic queerness of New Wave says something nice about Billy's refusal to give this music the knee-jerk dismissal that many of his peers were pushing at the time.

That said, as a song...blah.

― the general theme of STUFF (cryptosicko), Sunday, September 24, 2017

otm on every point

otm x 1000 on the generosity and inclusiveness. i'm not even sure this song is *about* new wave or rock and roll. it's more about fashion, about the idea that you've always got to be throwing out what's old and buying what's new regardless of what you like. the idea that you have to always race to keep up. none of the verses is about music. they are, in order, about clothes, cars, clothes again and friends/cliques. i hear the jazz-age references as billy's way of saying this isn't a new concept. there are always new waves and there are always people feeling left behind and you '60s hippies were just as guilty of that as these skinny-tie kids.

that said, i've never loved this song either. but listening to it now, i think the stripped-down production is pretty great.

i love when the sax break stops & he goes into the final verse with that long “Ooooooooooooooooohhhhhhooooooooo”

me too.

Before I actually had the album and the lyric sheet, I experienced one of my few true mondegreens by hearing "You can't get the sound from a story in a magazine/aimed at your average teen" as "You can't get the sound from a story in a magazine/Hey, that's your average teen" which made no sense at all even to an 11 year old.

that’s what i heard too!

https://68.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrt60ip38n1qf6l2ko1_500.png

https://youtu.be/_v7CPzuGwRA

I think I started from something like "even if you're ever esteem" or god knows what string of syllables and words. "Beau Brummel" was "forerunner" or "full runner" iirc.

I mean Billy was right too in a lot of ways, esp. because I'm gonna guess the bands that were probably most up his alley were (given their prominence in NYC & general pop instincts) Ramones and Blondie, both who were 50s and girl group influenced, so it was actually still rock n roll to them (and me and Billy)

Yes, it is weird that he takes a swig of beer.

I am a major New Wave fanboi but even I am aware that New Wave was largely just rock with sillier haircuts.

"Beau Brummel" was "forerunner" or "full runner" iirc.

Yes!

"bold runner" is sounding right to me suddenly...

gotta say as far as this kind of thing goes, billy's assessment of the musical situation rings much truer and more optimistic than huey lewis's desperate "the heart of rock and roll is still beatin'!"

ugggh fuck that song forever...it’s just a catalogue of cheap pops to get applause from every fkn city in the country

Billy the Peacemaker, bridging Sha Na Na and The Knack.

sha na nack-ack-ack

Software be like pic.twitter.com/LH5StC6NCn

— Biappi (@Biappi) September 25, 2017

I feel like some 90s band did a thing where they encouraged everybody in the audience to bring a boom box with their record in it, and all press play at about the same time. Flaming Lips?

The Lips did release the 4cd Zaireeka, where all cdss were meant to be played simultaneously.

I am not sure whether or not I want to know what 12 Billy Joel songs played simultaneously sounds like.

Well TOO BAD

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

IT'S BETTER THAN ONE HIT ALONE

Okay wow, thanks Phil. Strangely hypnotic. Mostly major-key/mid-tempo mush for a while - "Honesty" surprisingly prominent.

As one might expect, after four minutes you can hear more specificity. Oh, there's "Captain Jack." For a while it seems like it's just "New York State of Mind" and "Pyanno Man" mashed together, but "Captain Jack" isn't nearly over yet.

This weird motif of Billy Joel releases getting screwed up by random engineers is slightly amusing.

sounds like a sgt. pepper/magical mystery tour outtake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhIx7EaTido

All For Leyna, an attempt to capture the intensities and agonies of teenage love, closes the hit-packed first side of Glass Houses. In a couple of overseas markets, it was the first single off the record, making it to #40 in the UK and #16 in Spain. The video features a peek at Billy's synth rig, and some truly alarming stare-down work.

https://img.discogs.com/SaANVGEpmAYbiX1pzwJ6jdBq8Sw=/fit-in/378x378/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4388222-1365151106-4451.jpeg.jpg

^^ Ooh - I love the idea of leather-jacket Billy Joel throwing a rock at Piano Man.

Oberheim. That's it.

this inspired me to make my first gif #alwayslearning

https://media.giphy.com/media/6SyzdGgKcpHtm/giphy.gif

I think this was the first song I ever heard where the music stopped when the singer said "stop."

that part would make a gif almost as great as ums's

hahahaha ums

this was the first song I ever heard where the music stopped when the singer said "stop."

HMMM I SMELL A LIST THREAD, LADS

I think for me it was James Taylor's version of "How Sweet it Is."

There is also a Cure remix - I think it is Antidote Megamix - during "A Forest," when the lyric goes "Suddenly I stop" and Robert's guitar cuts out. We thought that was A+ clever, back in the day.

Songs that actually, like, stop when the singer says 'stop.'