Billy Joel: COLD SPRING HARBOR

Summary

Jokermen Podcast Episode Summary: Billy Joel – Cold Spring Harbor

Release Date: May 19, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode

In the inaugural episode of the Jokermen Podcast series focused on Billy Joel’s debut album, Cold Spring Harbor, hosts Billy Darrell and Evan dive deep into the early stages of Joel’s illustrious career. Joined occasionally by Ian, the discussion aims to dissect the nuances of Cold Spring Harbor, offering insights, critiques, and appreciations for both loyal fans and newcomers alike.

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Overview of Cold Spring Harbor

Cold Spring Harbor, released in 1971, marks Billy Joel’s first foray into a solo career after his stint with the band Attila. The album presents a raw glimpse into Joel’s early musical style and personal struggles, setting the foundation for his future works.

Billy Darrell [01:14]:

"It's the Billy Joel. It's Billy Joel. It's Jokerman Billy Joel podcast, which began as something of a joke, and now it's real."

Evan [02:44]:

"This is the first one where I'm really kind of going in with a basic understanding."

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Discussion of the Album Cover

The hosts discuss the album’s cover art, noting Joel’s evolving image and the artistic choices that reflect his state of mind during the album's creation.

Evan [21:17]:

"He starts to figure out as an artist, as a songwriter. He's trying something avant-garde, but the music itself ends up being more straightforward."

Billy Darrell [22:15]:

"It's a monochrome, unsmiling, high-contrast image. He’s presenting himself in a very different way."

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Song-by-Song Analysis

1. "She's Got a Way"

A straightforward love ballad that showcases Joel’s melodic prowess despite simplistic lyrics.

Evan [25:07]:

"The melody of the song, the performance of the song, the way he delivers the lines, it's what sets him apart."

Billy Darrell [28:36]:

"His ability to convey intimacy in a way that isn't super quiet and intimate sounding."

2. "You Can Make Me Free"

Echoing the influence of Paul McCartney, this track highlights Joel’s skill in channeling his inspirations while beginning to carve out his unique style.

Evan [31:30]:

"He is a Beatles nut and completely leans into that here."

Billy Darrell [33:43]:

"Musically, it's Andrew Lloyd Webber and it's Billy Joel."

3. "Banger"

An energetic track praised for its fast-paced piano and innovative drumming, drawing comparisons to post-punk and post-disco sounds.

Evan [40:56]:

"It's thrilling, exciting, and sustains attention with minimal components."

Billy Darrell [42:17]:

"These drums are pretty ahead of their time. They sound kind of like post-punk adjacent."

4. "Falling of the Rain"

A fantastical narrative with ornate piano arrangements, though lyrics are deemed less compelling.

Billy Darrell [59:28]:

"It's musically as good as anything he's done, especially on this record."

Evan [62:05]:

"It's a beautiful, ornate piano playing at the beginning, extremely corny lyrics."

5. "Tomorrow Is Today"

A deeply personal and vulnerable song reflecting Joel’s struggles with mental health, offering a somber counterpoint to the more upbeat tracks.

Billy Darrell [73:03]:

"It's a sign of confidence that he's sending you out with a piano type song."

Evan [70:30]:

"He has spent time institutionalized following a suicide attempt, and this song reflects his experiences there."

6. "Got to Begin Again"

Concluding the album with a note of hope, this track encapsulates the emotional arc from despair to optimism.

Billy Darrell [76:00]:

"It's a simple chord on the piano, nothing more than that. He knows where his strengths lie."

Evan [78:08]:

"He pulls it all together with an anthemic quality, selling the song effortlessly."

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Themes and Lyrics

The album intertwines themes of love, self-reflection, and personal struggle. While some lyrics are criticized for being simplistic or corny, Joel’s heartfelt delivery and musical composition compensate, creating relatable and emotionally resonant tracks.

Evan [53:42]:

"Billy Joel has an everyman feel to him, which makes his music deeply relatable."

Billy Darrell [53:42]:

"His songs trigger thoughts of being seen too clearly, drawing from everyday experiences."

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Billy Joel's Early Career and Personal Struggles

Hosts shed light on Joel’s tumultuous early career, including his time with Attila, the theft of his bandmate’s wife, and his subsequent personal challenges, including a suicide attempt that heavily influenced his songwriting.

Evan [36:25]:

"Billy Joel tried to kill himself and then played a part reflecting that struggle."

Billy Darrell [70:42]:

"He spent time institutionalized following his suicide attempt."

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Comparison with Other Artists

Joel’s work is juxtaposed with contemporaries like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, and Lou Reed. While drawing inspiration from these influential figures, Joel begins to establish his unique identity within the music landscape.

Evan [33:43]:

"It's so much like Paul McCartney... it's Billy Joel at his most Joel-esque."

Billy Darrell [69:30]:

"Bob Dylan's New Morning feels related to Joel's Cold Spring Harbor."

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Reception and Critique

While Cold Spring Harbor is acknowledged for its musicality and Joel’s potential, critiques highlight its lyrical simplicity and the album’s overall cohesion. The hosts rate the album cautiously, recognizing its place in Joel’s development as an artist.

Billy Darrell [84:39]:

"One star out of three. The good type of that, though."

Evan [81:56]:

"It's not a life-changing record, but it's impressive for his debut."

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Conclusion and Ratings

Concluding the discussion, the hosts emphasize the album’s role in Billy Joel’s artistic journey. They acknowledge its strengths in performance and musicality while noting areas for growth in lyrical depth and narrative cohesion. The episode serves as a sincere exploration of Joel’s early work, setting the stage for future deep dives into his subsequent albums.

Evan [84:19]:

"One star for Cold Spring Harbor. Pretty good."

Billy Darrell [84:45]:

"Thank you for listening to the first episode. There are 11 more coming."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• [02:44] Billy Darrell:
  "But he's not someone who people are, like, rushing to claim as an influence vocally, maybe."

• [25:07] Evan:
  "The melody of the song, the performance of the song, the way he delivers the lines, I think, sets him apart."

• [31:30] Evan:
  "He is a Beatles nut and completely leans into that here."

• [70:50] Evan:
  "He did end up spending a little bit of time institutionalized following that event."

• [84:45] Evan:
  "One star for Cold Spring Harbor. Pretty good."

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Final Thoughts

The first episode of Jokermen Podcast’s Billy Joel series offers a comprehensive and critical examination of Cold Spring Harbor. While acknowledging the album’s imperfections, the hosts appreciate its foundational role in shaping Joel’s storied career. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe for deeper analyses in upcoming episodes, promising an engaging journey through the life and music of Billy Joel.

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Subscribe to the Jokermen Podcast on Patreon for ad-free episodes and access to an extensive back catalog of music content. Follow @jokermenpodcast on Instagram and Twitter for updates.

Transcript

[Billy Darrell]

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome Mr. Billy Darrell. This is.

[Ian]

This is called the Root Beer Ra.

[Billy Darrell]

Thank you. Welcome, welcome, one and all.

[Evan]

Welcome, welcome.

[Billy Darrell]

Hello, Ian.

[Evan]

Hello, Evan.

[Billy Darrell]

Evan. And this is the first episode of Joeller Men.

[Evan]

Joel Kerman.

[Billy Darrell]

I've always thought of it as Jollerman. When I thought about how we will never do this and that, when it was just a joke to me, I always said, Joel or Men. Joel Kerman or Piano men.

[Evan]

Piano Men is. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. It's the Billy Joel. It's Billy Joel. It's Jokerman Billy Joel podcast, which began.

[Evan]

As, I believe, actually an April Fool's post that you made several years ago.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, like I said, this was something of a joke, and now it's real. I want to say right off the top, we don't think of Billy Joel, William Joel, as a joke.

[Evan]

No, certainly not.

[Billy Darrell]

He's not just a punchline. However, I. I don't think we'd be telling the whole story if we didn't really acknowledge that there's something. There's just. There's a way about him. He's got a way, which I don't know what it is, but it definitely is. I don't know. There's a vibe around Billy Joel. I think he's extremely, extremely influential. I don't even. I don't just think that it's. I think it's. It's just true. But he's not someone who people are, like, rushing to claim as an influence vocally, maybe. And I think that there's even people in corners of music who probably are influenced by him who don't even know it.

[Evan]

Yeah, I would say so. And, yeah, I mean, that's. That's certainly all accurate. I think that just as, you know, momentous or just as significant for Billy Joel as his influence is his popularity. This is a man who has as many Spotify listeners on a monthly basis as the Beatles do. He's had 32 million something listeners as of this one. I'm sure it'll go up to 33 million as soon as this podcast posts. You know, the Jokerman bump, as we saw with John Gray. But so, I mean, he is just a titan of the industry. And I will. I don't know about you. I kind of know about you, but I will just lay out for myself here at the beginning, I don't know all that much about Billy Joel. This is the first artist that we've covered that I don't really have much of a history of listening to. And so, you know, I think in all of our series we've, you know, had to learn. Learn a little bit about the artists that we're covering and kind of get our sea legs, so to speak. But this is the first one where I'm really kind of going in with a basic understanding. But there's a lot that is just unknown territory for me here. So I feel like it's going to have sort of a different kind of texture to it than previous Jokerman explorations of certain artists have.

[Billy Darrell]

I. I think that I've got what probably a lot of people have in terms of history with Billy Joel. I grew up definitely with like CDs around the house and in the car.

[Evan]

I imagine your parents kind of were Billy Joel fans. Yeah, listeners.

[Billy Darrell]

I think we had like a couple. Definitely one greatest hits type Billy Joel cd. I forget what it's called, but Greatest.

[Evan]

Greatest Hits, the Essential Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

I'm looking for which one it was. I recognize the. It's. Oh, yeah. Because the Essential Billy Joel. That's. Essential Joel2001. I feel like we had that and I think there's maybe another Greatest Hits. Anyway. Yeah, Greatest Hits volumes one and two, we had that. So I probably had like, you know, between those three. That's a lot of hits. That's a lot of Joel hits.

[Evan]

And he's got the hits to fill out several volumes of greatest hits records. There's no question about that.

[Billy Darrell]

He does. And I do think I even listened to some at least, like the Stranger and like maybe a couple other whole records. At least, like, maybe definitely that one. But yeah, I was definitely familiar with the Broad Strokes. As many, many, many people are definitely an important gateway artist for my ability to be able to read certain streams of popular music. Not literally read the music, but, you know, make it legible to me. Like, where certain things in rock music then bleed into pop music and whatever, where, like the standards exist, where the classic songwriting of Tin Pan Alley, what that turns into. Not that I understood any of that as like a nine year old, but I do think that there's a lot of times in a young person's musical exploration where these things just kind of come into consciousness. And I definitely feel like unlike many other cases where this is. This could be applied like, you know, Weird Al or like the. They Might Be Giants. Like things that are basically like playing.

[Evan]

With novelty, jokey type stuff.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, I mean, those. I think both. Those were like, huge for me as a little kid because they. They involve so many musical styles. Like, you learn so much Even in one Weird Al song, he has these crazy montage songs where it's like 10 different styles of music, but they're accurately represented. And so, you know, anyway, Billy Joel isn't really, like, doing that in a novelty way. He's. He is just kind of expanding the ideas that are in every kind of rock singer, songwriter repertoire. And in a very theatrical kind of way at times, certainly theatrical. But it's not a gimmick. He's not a gimmick artist.

[Evan]

No, no, he is. He is sincere, to a fault, perhaps. And, you know, I think just for me, I'll say it's indisputable that something about this man has struck a nerve in the culture, you know, and again, as sort of an outsider here, I have puzzled, you know, at what it is and why it is and how something that on its surface can seem so, you know, just corny, frankly, can at the same time be such impactful, meaningful, significant music to millions of people across the world, as well as, you know, many people who know, you know, kind of no ball, so to speak, when it comes to actually knowing music. I do think that a lot of the inherited wisdom, the learned lessons that I got at least, were that Billy Joel was kind of the pits, the worst of the worst, just cornball bullshit, antithetical to punk rock, something like that, which is where my father's musical interests lie. I've spoken at length before about how I inherited a lot of his tastes, potentially against my will, and so that, you know, I was kind of biased against someone like Billy Joel, I think, from the start. But I just. I found myself drawn to the man, and I want to. I want to understand him, quite frankly. And I hope I speak for both of us when I say, you know, as much as this whole concept might have appeared to be a joke, started out as a joke, as an April Fool's Day post initially, this is not going to be a series where we're just, like, sitting here poking fun at and dunking on any old, corny Billy Joel songs. I'm sure there will be some that we happen to think are funny or goofy or ridiculous, but it's going to be a sincere, wholehearted, genuine effort to meet the man where he's at and understand what it is that, you know, the world has come to love from Mr. Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, I think that there's. It's a totally different direction than we're used to. How do I put this? Like, when we were talking about Lou Reed, who's, like, in many ways, the alternate Timeline, the other, like, other universe, Billy Joel, both from Long island, even just before anything else. But I feel like when we talk at length, talked at length about Lou Reed's records, it's like you go into Lou Reed's discography knowing him as the coolest person alive, the coolest person to ever live in music. And then there's things in it that seem to contradict that in certain ways. Like the image that you might have had of Lou Reed as the impeccable, utterly, untouchably stylish Velvet Underground leader is, like, definitely challenged by something like, I don't know, red joystick. Or like, that stuff is like, oh, wait, he also did this. Whereas with Billy Joel. I think everybody goes into Billy Joel's discography basically. Like, I mean, not everybody. Music snobs like us. And people. People on the Internet who are under 40, they go into Billy Joel's discography like, okay, this kind of goof, goofy guy and these goofy records and, like, boomer bullshit. Yeah, it's like, yeah, yeah, I get it. And the opposite thing happens where I think you. If you go in looking at his records, there are things that challenge your idea of him as wholly goofy and. And silly or, like, overly quaint. And I think that is. That's sort of what we're going to be encountering a lot of, I think, which is not to say. I mean, basically that means, like, yeah, like, the overall picture is, like, not that he's the cool guy, but this isn't about cool versus uncool. I think that when we've looked, as we have, with the depth that we have at the careers that we have thus far, it's. It stops being about cool and it starts being more about, like, who's really committed, who's really about this, who is, like, who has music in their soul. To quote Brian Wilson.

[Evan]

Brian Wilson, sure. Absolutely.

[Billy Darrell]

And, yeah, that. That's not even debatable. Like, this guy is. If that were the metric for cool. He's as cool as Bob Dylan and Lou Reed and the rest.

[Evan]

Absolutely. I think I've developed. I think we both probably have developed maybe without even realizing, like, sort of a smell. You know, smell test or, you know, ability to kind of detect. Like, when is there something worth talking about here? Like, you know, where this artist is there something at the core of that, this person's body of work that is significant and worthwhile, of relatively deep consideration in a format like this? And when is there not that type of thing? And I think for myself, certainly. And I would tend to imagine. You agree, since we're doing this now, that I think we've come to realize and reckon with the fact that there is something there in the Billy Joel corpus that is worth laboring at and listening to and attempting to understand and unpack.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. I mean, listening to, for sure. Yeah. I don't know if there's much more preamble to give in terms of our position going into it, but this is.

[Evan]

Yeah, just to restate. This is serious. It's not a joke. We're not. I'm sure we're going to do some riffing, I hope. But it's not just all sitting here lobbing softballs and making fun of Mr. William Joel. We are in for real. As committed to it as we were with Randy last year with Bob, Lou John, the Beach Boys, Steely Dan, Scott Walker, David Berman, all of you.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, we're not going easy on Billy Joel either. I mean, it means that we're going to just take it as it comes. And if there's stuff that we think is good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad. And as always, our opinions just assume they changed immediately after the episode.

[Evan]

Well, your opinions maybe just a little housekeeping. Also, to clarify for those of you who maybe haven't been with us in one of these situations before or remind you of what's going on before, we're not taking a pause on the Beach Boys. The Beach Boys are going to continue, but we're into the shit with the Beach Boys. So over the following couple months, throughout the summer, the Beach Boys episodes will be coming out on the free feed. This Billy Joel episode is coming out on the free feed, but everything else for Billy is going to be on Patreon for Big Shots.

[Billy Darrell]

The big shot tier.

[Evan]

Well, no, it's on the regular tier, but yes. Yeah, you know, spiritually on the Big shots tier. So listen to this one. It's on the free feed again, but subscribe. The Piano man episode is going up same day as this one on Patreon. So we're ready to rock with all your Billy Joel goods. But here we are today. To start with this one.

[Billy Darrell]

Like what you just said? Yeah. This one.

[Evan]

Cold Spring Harbor.

[Billy Darrell]

That's a township in Long Island.

[Evan]

It sure is. I believe Hamlet is the preferred nomenclature.

[Billy Darrell]

I'm sorry, I just had another tab open here. Okay, nevermind. This is old news from 2019. New TV show based on Billy Joel songs in the works. Okay, well, I'm assuming that Covid took scenes from an Italian restaurant away from us. That's tragic. Maybe the Jokerman bump will bring that back into the conversation. There is development hell out there.

[Evan]

I was not aware of this, but Grace told me about this today when I was telling her what we were about to record today. There's a Billy Joel musical. You might be aware of that as Mr. Theater, but.

[Billy Darrell]

Right, right, of course. I did children's theater in middle and elementary school. Of course I know about this.

[Evan]

Yeah, the William Joel musical. Maybe we'll get to that at some point. Probably not, but, you know, he's expanded his reach beyond just the recorded album. You ever been to Oyster or. No, excuse me, not Oyster Bay. You ever been to Cold Spring Harbor? It's by Oyster Bay.

[Billy Darrell]

I don't think so, no.

[Evan]

Yeah, me neither. I remember I drove out to Long Island a couple times, kind of like early Covid time, when we were trying to just kill time. And we had a car to walk around some of the state parks out there, but never went through Cold Spring Harbor. Looks like it's on kind of maybe on the north, you know, north side of the island. About halfway. Well, no, about one third of the way east out there to the tip of Long Island. But, you know, just a classic little. Classic little Long island hamlet, part of the world from which Mr. Billy Joel hailed. I don't think we're gonna do. Actually, I know that we're not going to do because I'm not doing it. So maybe you are, but I would assume not the Billy Joel biography, the same way that we are with the Beach Boys. We're gonna touch on that here and there, but it's not going to be quite as intricate a part of. Integral. A part of these episodes. But just to establish. Billy Joel, Jew, born in the Bronx, grew up in New York City, not.

[Billy Darrell]

Practicing Jew, normally raised Jewish even, but.

[Evan]

The child of two Jewish immigrants who came to the U.S. you know, around the time of World War II. As so many. In the years preceding World War II, as so many of our favorite artists.

[Billy Darrell]

His original name before they got to Ellis island was just Billy Jew. And they changed it.

[Evan]

No, no. He was born in the United States in 1949, but you know, his parents hail. He's a first generation American is what I'm saying here.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah.

[Evan]

And his parents came to this country, but yes, non practicing. Went to Catholic church with his buddies up there in the Bronx, which is why we see so much Catholic imagery and concern throughout his discography. And then just kind of moved out to Long Island, I think, when he was 10 or something like that. And was sort of a, you know, kick around, not so great student, but was super dialed into music from a young age. He was in a bunch of bands. You know, as a teenager out there, honestly, like, I don't know, like, my mind flashed right to, like, Pickwick Records era Louis. I almost feel like these two dudes would have been, like, at the same house party out there on Long island one night in 1965 or something. And they just, you know, it's two ships in the night with the two of them. Like they're the same person, but they just go completely in opposite directions.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, they've probably eaten at the same hot dog stands. And whatever else happens in Long Island.

[Evan]

I'm sure they, you know, maybe had an egg cream at. They both had an egg cream at. Where's the place that Lou name checks the best egg cream in Brooklyn. But mostly you go to Becky's, sit in a booth and say, hello. Anyways, you know, that's Billy. And so he's a real committed student of the music industry, I think, and makes it known from a very young age that he wants to be a musician. And so he's in these bands. He's in, like, a Beatles British Invasion cover band from a young age, then ends up doing his own, you know, moving into a couple other bands, one of which Attila, that's the band that he's in immediately before launching his solo career with Cold Spring Harbor. We're not gonna do the Attila record. Sorry, folks, it's fine, but, you know, we're not starting the Billy Joel series before Billy Joel is even going by the name Billy Joel. And then eventually abandons Attila after he breaks up the band by stealing his partner's wife in that band. It's a two man band and. And his band partner is married to a woman, and he ends up stealing her away, and she goes on to be his wife for 10 years or so. I can see why a band would fall apart after that type of thing. And then 1971, here we are, Cold Spring Harbor. He's signed to a teeny little Pickwickian type label there in New York, and he's gonna make his solo debut under his own name.

[Billy Darrell]

Billy Joel with his mustache.

[Evan]

Yeah. With a very fragrant looking image on the COVID of this record. I mean, I feel like you can just. To me, I can just smell kind of the grease and the dirt in his. He's got quite a mane on the COVID of this record.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, I mean, I feel like, this record cover definitely smells of the sea. Smells of low tide and old corduroy. He's presenting himself in a. In a very different. I mean, I. I had no idea about this record at all.

[Evan]

I'd never heard of this record. I'd never seen a picture of this record.

[Billy Darrell]

No, no. I'd never even seen a picture of it. And, yeah, I've never. I'd never listened to it either.

[Evan]

But he looks kind of swaggy, I gotta say. It's. He goes through a lot of different. I've realized this, you know, in our preparation for this, as we've been, you know, going back and forth on cover art for the series and stuff. A lot of different. Billy Joel's out there just in terms of the way he looks and kind of his physical presentation.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. I mean, now he looks. He's stuck to one look.

[Evan]

He's looked the way that he looks now. Yeah. For about 20, 30 years. But I feel like from 1971, in this case, up through river of Dreams, where we're gonna end this series in 1993, he goes through a lot of different phases.

[Billy Darrell]

He's a Taurus, by the way.

[Evan]

Is he Taurus? Hey, like me. When's his birthday?

[Billy Darrell]

His birthday is. Jeez, the bull.

[Evan]

Strong, virile. Me and Billy Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

May 9th.

[Evan]

May 9th. Okay, sure. I'm the 23rd, so, yeah. Happy early birthday to Billy. As we're recording. Happy late birthday as this episode posts.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, what did you. Should we just talk about this. This album?

[Evan]

I guess we should. All right. Do we have any other. Do you. I mean, do you like the. You didn't say anything about the COVID.

[Billy Darrell]

Do you like the COVID It's fine. I mean, I also. I don't know if. I mean, it's. I know it's Cold Spring harbor, but I don't know if it actually, like, is. It's on the water, Right. It must be.

[Evan]

What do you mean?

[Billy Darrell]

Like, it's right on the water. Where. Where he lived. Cold Spring harbor must be, like. Is a coastal little hamlet.

[Evan]

It is a coastal hamlet. Yes, that's right. I don't think he actually lived in Cold Spring Harbor. I think he lived in Oyster Bay, but that's, you know, about 15, 20 minutes down the road.

[Billy Darrell]

Oyster Bay better damn well be. Both of these have the nautical quality, I think. I like that. The text on the top, it's. Yeah, it's got kind of a. Like, you know, Herman Melville would be proud.

[Evan]

Yeah. I feel like they don't really have a.

[Billy Darrell]

He looks Like Ishmael here.

[Evan]

No way.

[Billy Darrell]

In 1971.

[Evan]

Greasy Ishmael. Jewish Ishmael. I feel like they don't really have a sense for who this man is and what type of music he makes. With the COVID of this record, I think that's corrected very quickly on the COVID of Piano Man. But this first record on the COVID of Piano man, he sort of looks like Dracula. But we'll get to that when we get to that. This one, he's very much in the state of becoming. I think he doesn't know how he wants to present himself. I think the record company doesn't know how they want to present him. So it's like. It looks more kind of artistic and avant garde than the music actually ends up being, if that makes sense to me, at least.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, I mean, he's taking himself seriously. It's monochrome, it's unsmiling, and it's pretty high contrast. He's just kind of like, by the road, I think. I forget what road. I heard where the. It's a road. And it's like he's off on the side with the.

[Evan]

It is in Cold Spring Harbor. Yeah, we should. We gotta make a pilgrimage. Time we're back in New York, we gotta make a pilgrimage out to Cold Spring harbor to take a picture where the COVID of Cold Spring harbor was taken.

[Billy Darrell]

Yes. Anyway, I think that's about it for the COVID All right.

[Evan]

How about the songs?

[Billy Darrell]

How about them? Track one.

[Evan]

Yeah. She's Got A Way. I will just begin by saying that, like, it has been a breath of fresh air getting to listen to this music as. As good or not good as any one of these songs may be, they're all good enough. They're all totally quality, doing what they want to do and executing and succeeding at that. And coming. Coming from the Mius and the Celebrations and the LA Light albums that we've been forcing ourselves to digest on the Beach Boy series. It. Like I said, breath of fresh air.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, it definitely is good enough. And I think this first song, I was, like, I was impressed. Throwing it on to hear that it pretty much sounds like fully formed Billy Joel. Like, it just has that kind of romantic piano, forward sound. And he sounds pretty confident with it. And his sense of melody is already, like, pretty front and center. He is a man. Knows his way around a catchy melody.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Billy Darrell]

And that is evident right from the top with She's Got Away. It's a very simple, straightforward love song. She's got a way about her. I don't know what it is, but I don't.

[Evan]

It's something I know that I can't.

[Billy Darrell]

Live without her yeah, I know I can't live without her that I can't.

[Ian]

She's got a way about her I don't know what it is But I know that I can't live without her she's got a way of pleasing I don't know what it is but there doesn't have to be a reason Anyway.

[Billy Darrell]

Lyrically, there's not really much more to say about it. I mean, there's not really that much super interesting. I do think that what is interesting is just the confident tone and texture of it.

[Evan]

Absolutely. And I think this is instructive because you're totally right. Lyrically, there is not really anything here. He himself has even sort of talked shit on this song. He acknowledges it as overly sappy and kind of too corny for its own good. So if Billy Joel himself is calling something corny, you know, it's corny. But like, again, to use some of our Beach Boys stuff as a counterpoint here, like the Bruce Johnston stuff. Right. Is not terribly different from this. At least some of the more kind of milquetoast piano based ballads and stuff. And yet, I mean, this song just on a fundamentals level. The melody of the song, the performance of the song, the way he delivers the lines, I think, which is significant here. Like, he's just operating at a different level than someone like Bruce does on his solo release. And I think that's part of it. Part of the thing is like, you know, despite the lyrics seeming corny or the, you know, the music itself not being overly impressive or whatever, he's just, I think as a performer, as someone able to deliver music, you know, there's that. That is what sets him apart or starts to set him apart. And really, once he starts kind of coming up with significant songs ideas. Exactly. Then it really starts to roll. But I think here, from the beginning, from the beginning, I think he's making it clear that he's got a way, he's got a way to sell the song, even if the song is not really worth selling in the first place.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, his voice sounds really good too. It just feels. I think the thing that is his strength is this ability to. He's able to convey intimacy in a way that isn't itself super quiet and intimate sounding. Like these songs make themselves known. They have like a certain boldness inherent to them. Like, even when he's doing a ballad, it's kind of like a little bit punchy in some way. And this song doesn't even have, like, any percussion, but you don't notice that.

[Evan]

Yeah, it doesn't feel spare or like dressed down or anything. I think it is literally just him and a piano. But it totally feels fully formed and fully executed on the note of his voice. Also, we should just note just to make everyone out there aware that we're aware. Yes. His voice is too high. We're talking about the version of this record that is commonly available on streaming platforms. You can seek out different versions of this record. One in particular from the 80s when they fixed the record after it was initially mastered at too fast a speed, leading to his voice sounding a little higher up in the register and allegedly.

[Billy Darrell]

Leading to him throwing the.

[Evan]

Flipping a shit. Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

The disc out the. Onto the street. When he first heard it.

[Evan]

When he first heard it. Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. I mean, understandably, like, you're putting all of your effort and every chance you have into making your debut and some.

[Evan]

Guy just fucked up and made you sound like. I think Billy Joel said he sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks.

[Billy Darrell]

He doesn't, but exactly. I mean, yeah, like, especially when I listened to this and I didn't know that about it at first, I thought, oh, he just. Is he younger?

[Evan]

He's young. Yeah, exactly. And I mean, it's not. I think you can hear it if you know about it. And certainly by the time you get to Piano man, when he's actually, you know, he's only a year older basically when he records that record. But he sounds like Billy Joel at that point, like, that difference becomes more noticeable. But I don't think it's a huge. As a novice Billy Joel listener, at least as two novice Billy Joel listeners, it's not a huge, you know, make or break type of thing.

[Billy Darrell]

No. I think the more noticeable thing about it isn't his voice as much as it is like, the. At times, what feels. Feels like unnaturally fast piano playing. Cause it technically is like just a little bit.

[Evan]

Although he is. Listen, he's the piano man.

[Billy Darrell]

He's no slouch.

[Evan]

He can tickle those eyebrays.

[Billy Darrell]

Next song, You Can Make Me Free. So this one is like the other side of the coin of the. Cool. Cool.

[Evan]

It's Paul McCartney. He's just doing Paul McCartney.

[Ian]

You can make me free. You can make me smile. You can make me be like a little child who can melt the ice that chills my body. You can dry my every tear. You can make the lonely hours disappear. You can make me free.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, Yeah, I mean, I guess I wouldn't say it's the other side of the coin, of She's Got Away. It's just a different part of the same side of the coin. It's the edge of the coin. It's also, you know, like a kind of straightforward shocker piano ballad. But I do think the thing he does here is, like, he has this kind of expansive sense of yearning that make some of his best songs work so well, but he hasn't yet really added any angle to that. Like, he doesn't really know where to aim, but you can tell it's there.

[Evan]

Yeah, I mean, I think this. To come back to what I was saying on the first song, it's the performance that really sells this. And I think part of the strength of this performance is he just. He's a Beatles nut and so he knows what a great Paul McCartney performance sounds like, and he just completely leans into that here when he does his, like. Yeah, yeah, that sounds straight out of McCartney. And I think that, frankly, is part of his strength, part of Billy Joel's strength. And it might appear to be a weakness, at least initially, but his sort of chameleon, like, quality Billy Joel, you know, his ability to sort of interpret and imitate a variety of different influences and, you know, run them through the Billy Joel machine and kind of put them all out.

[Billy Darrell]

The Billy Joel machine? The piano? Well, yeah, this machine creates Billy Joel's.

[Evan]

This machine. It doesn't kill fascists. It does nothing to fascist. It makes them happy. Yeah, they like listening to this music.

[Billy Darrell]

I mean, I'm sure that Donald Trump loves Billy Joel.

[Evan]

Oh, no question. Musically, anyway, it's Andrew Lloyd Webber and it's Billy Joel. Absolutely.

[Billy Darrell]

When, if that musical is happening, like, you know, who's going to be first? And especially if he weren't the President of the United States, he would probably be tweeting about it.

[Evan]

Well, and I mean, that is. I mean, that's maybe a good point to note here is like, you know, part of what makes Billy Joel a little disreputable, at least amongst, you know, people like us and those we run in circles with, I think, is his appeal to, you know, the kind of landed the common man, suburbanite, big tent Billy.

[Billy Darrell]

That's what they call him.

[Evan]

Yeah. I mean, you just gotta get over that, you know, and there's no way around it. But I do think that has a part to play in his reputation as, you know, whatever it is that he is sort of a cornball or a faker.

[Billy Darrell]

We gotta, like, Remember that the generation that decided he was corny in terms of, like, the, you know, everybody who fancies themselves like a music maven, buff, whatever, what have you. We're talking about Generation X deciding Billy Joel was uncool. I mean, Gen X thinks that, like, everything is uncool.

[Evan]

Gen X is the biggest Donald Trump voting block. If you see, if you look at any of those approval polls, Gen Xers are commonly always the most approving of the Donald Trump regiment.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, I mean, whatever the politics aside, like, culturally, like, I don't trust. You can't trust Gen X with deciding what is cool and uncool. Like, they are kind of. If they have a flaw, if they have a flaw at all, it might be that they're. They're like, kind of incapable of enjoying things that are outside of the purview of coolness or like, oh, they, this is a sellout. And then it's like, well, all right. You're just, like, going around pissed off all the time.

[Evan]

Yeah. I looked up Chris Gow's Billy Joel page. He hates him, obviously, but I feel.

[Billy Darrell]

Like he's a boomer, though.

[Evan]

He is. But I feel like people like Chris Gow are, for me, at least the people that I was inheriting or the types of people that I was inheriting, my kind of own view on Billy Joel from these people who are like, we love punk rock, we love serious art with capital A type thing. We don't like any of these cornball industry professionals. This guy sucks. And so.

[Billy Darrell]

Too long didn't read. This guy sucks.

[Evan]

Yeah, basically. On the note of Donald Trump and Billy Joel, I have just pulled up. Here we are, May 28, 2016, Billy Joel Colon. So quoting Billy Joel, Donald Trump's campaign, very entertaining. Acclaimed piano man Billy Joel described Donald Trump's presidential campaign as, quote, very entertaining. Saturday after dedicating a song to the presumptive Republican nominee at his Madison Square Garden concert in New York on Friday. Trump immediately accepted the shout out as a compliment. While others speculated that Joel might have meant it as a joke. Trump posted on Twitter, thank you, Billy Joel. Many friends just told me you gave a very kind shout out at msg. Appreciate it. Love your music, of course. And then, just to clarify, Billy Joel followed up in an email. This is to Time magazine again, this is nine years ago at this point, Billy Joel said, I'm in the entertainment business. He had dedicated the song the Entertainer to Donald Trump. I'm in the entertainment business. Donald Trump's campaign has been very entertaining. Aside from that, who cares about the political opinions of a piano player. So, hey, there you have it.

[Billy Darrell]

That's right. That is right. That's right.

[Evan]

Someone cares about the political opinions of a piano player. But today, us, you and I, you know, we're going to set that one to the side.

[Billy Darrell]

I mean, more people who are supposed to be the ones to have political opinions should have said more about. Oh, it's very entertaining. Like, that would have given them probably a little bit more perspective on what exactly was going on in 2016.

[Evan]

Long time ago.

[Billy Darrell]

Huge part of it is a long time ago, actually.

[Evan]

It is a long time ago. Oh, boy. Geez. Oh, man. This is for everyone out there who loves to see the Donald Trump Mike Love picture. We're gonna. Here we are at the Oscar de la Renta Fall Fashion. Fall Fashion Week 2004 show. Backstage, two famous New Yorkers right next to one another.

[Billy Darrell]

They look great.

[Evan]

God, Trump's wearing a pink shirt with, like, a. Is that like a lilac, like, shiny silk tie and the white collar. Not a good look.

[Billy Darrell]

It's like a silver tie.

[Evan]

It's. But I feel like it's got some purple. Silver's even worse. Wow, Billy looks good.

[Billy Darrell]

Is that him on stage next, or is that. Doctor, is this.

[Evan]

Is that real? That looks photoshopped to me.

[Billy Darrell]

It does, yeah.

[Evan]

That's not real. But, yes, there is at least one photograph of, you know, the 45th and 47th President of these United States with Mr. William Joel. So, you know, take that for what you will. Either that's a really good thing or a really bad thing. This song is really good. You Can Make Me Free. It's not a Beatles song. It's not a Paul McCartney song, but it's a totally passable, reasonable facsimile of one. And so for him to be this capable of something this early, you know, Song two on his solo debut, Good work.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, I didn't really catch that. It was so obviously Paul McCartney until he mentioned it. But, yeah, like, at 1:19, he's like, you can make it so much better.

[Evan]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Ian]

You can make me free, you can make me cry. You can make it so much better if you would only try.

[Evan]

And that's what he's gonna go on to do throughout the rest of his career. He's not only, you know, imitate Paul McCartney, imitate John Lennon, imitate Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, but imitate, like, Tin Pan Alley singers, imitate, you know, kind of a Frank Sinatra type. He's really, really good, I think, at just kind of pulling from a Whole bunch of different influences and representing them as his own. Not unlike a certain artist covered on the very first series of Jokerman podcast, Mr. Bob Dylan. How about that?

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, that's true.

[Evan]

Okay, well.

[Billy Darrell]

Next song is the best song on the record Banger.

[Evan]

Absolutely. Everybody loves you now.

[Billy Darrell]

I love.

[Evan]

Huge tune.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, it's great.

[Evan]

Just listen to that piano. Oh, man. Yeah, that's great.

[Ian]

The lights are turned on you now you're in the center of the stage. Everything revolves on what you do. I. You are in your prime, you've come of age and you can always have your way somehow. Everybody loves you now.

[Evan]

Unbelievable.

[Billy Darrell]

Super fast and. And when, you know, when we say this is a good song, it's. That's what we're saying. Really fast piano.

[Evan]

The faster the better. It's.

[Billy Darrell]

I wish this song. The problem is I think he could have shaved about two minutes off of it.

[Evan]

Two minutes. Wow. All right.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, he could have played it even faster that that would have been. I mean, as it is, it's still pretty fast, so I think it's pretty good. No, no, it's actually. It's really good.

[Evan]

It's thrilling, it's exciting and it is. It is sped up, but it's still like. There's not that much music actually going on in this song. You know, you've got a piano, you've got some drums, good drums. You've got a couple, you know, a couple vocal tracks. He's kind of, you know, tracking himself on the chorus, but it's not an overwhelming, you know, symphony of musicians or something. And that, I think is really impressive that he's able to sustain your attention this much and pull you in and turn it into this drama with so, you know, so few component parts.

[Billy Darrell]

I think these drums are pretty ahead of their time. They sound kind of like post punk adjacent. It's quick.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

You know, they sound like post disco, but it's actually by way of being pre disco kind of. It's like they have a really tight locked in hi hat. Heavy. I think it's great. And lyrically, it's basically. It's. It's the proto big shot. It is just like.

[Evan]

Or it's the. It's the post. Like a rolling stone.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I just. I never thought about. Big Shot is also just like. Like a rolling stone. But everybody loves you now. It's. It's just that, you know, it's just like talking about everybody loves you. And I. I do too. Between you and me and the Staten Island Fairy so do I. That part is like. That's the first moment where it's like. Like, everybody.

[Evan]

That's Billy. There he is.

[Billy Darrell]

This is the music for the people. Those people in, like, Spider Man 2, like, on the train, like, he's not any older than my kid. And they're like, go, Spider Man. That's who loves Billy Joel. They have the same feelings about Billy Joel as they do Tobey Maguire's Spider Man. They're just like, yeah, Spider. I mean, Billy Joel.

[Evan]

I mean, I do feel like of the artists that we've covered here, at least in great depth, they have either been New York artists or they've been Los Angeles artists. And we've been a little heavy on the Los Angeles recently between Randy last summer, obviously, the Beach Boys recently. Now we gotta throw the New Yorkers a bone here. So we got one of your patron saints lined up for this summer.

[Billy Darrell]

What else to say about this song?

[Evan]

Well, let's hear from Mr. Joel himself. This is from Genius on the about page. So I guess take this with a grain of salt, but whoever wrote the annotation claims that in a 1974 performance at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, Billy mentioned that this song was about, quote, a bitch. There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. What is. What else is there to say? This song's about a.

[Ian]

They all want your white body and they await your reply. But between you and me and the Staten island fairy, so do I.

[Evan]

I do think that. I mean that it's unavoidable. I think that some of the songs in the Billy Joel corpus, certainly we're gonna see this a few other times in the future. Big shot, for instance, are maybe not gonna paint the kindest picture of a woman, of a female in his life. And it is what it is. I don't think there's any way around that. So you're perfectly welcome to not enjoy that, but I think we're just gonna need to acknowledge it and reckon with it and move on and just agree that even if this song is about a bitch, it also slaps.

[Billy Darrell]

Ah. They all want your white body and they await your reply. I took that as a poetic turn of phrase.

[Evan]

I'm glad you did.

[Billy Darrell]

Between you and me and the stat line. Yeah.

[Evan]

So it's a. I mean, that's a great line.

[Billy Darrell]

He's. If she's a bitch, he's a loser, and. And yet he's. He's just angry enough to put this song across in a way that's just undeniable It's. It is his version of like Rolling Stone. I. We also can't point. We have to point out that he says, you ain't got the time to go to Cold Spring harbor no more.

[Evan]

That's right. That's where we get the. That's where we get the time, you.

[Billy Darrell]

Know, that nothing lasts forever and it's all been done before.

[Evan]

That's right. It's a common, you know, it's a common. What's a well worn lyrical focus for all of our favorite artists? You know, look at this bitch. Basically we've got Bob Dylan songs like that.

[Billy Darrell]

Can you believe this?

[Evan]

We've got the Reed songs like that. We've got Beach Boys songs like that. We've got a Billy Joel song like that. So.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, it's telling on some level that like he slides like right into this seat. You know, this is like exactly where he belongs in terms of like using his powers for good or for ill.

[Evan]

For good and ill.

[Billy Darrell]

He knows how to use them when he's just kind of like vindictively shit talking someone who clearly hurt his feelings badly.

[Evan]

I just love the idea of going up on stage and being like, you know, this next one is about a bitch. And just like lighting into the intro to this song.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, I think he might say that the next song is. Is similar in, in that way, except it's a different type. It's. It's. It's different. I think this is about his sister.

[Evan]

Yeah, his sister actually is named Judy. And yes, you know, I think maybe Judy is there. Maybe this song and the previous song kind of go together as a package deal. Judy is here to offer him some insight and some warmth and guidance after having been in, you know, sort of a negative interaction with this quote, bitch.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, but what are the lyrics here?

[Evan]

Well, I think he's sort of pleading to Judy, why?

[Billy Darrell]

Oh, I see. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah. Maybe he's why he's seeking solace in the. Is it an older sister? Judy?

[Evan]

I don't know. Let's find out. Do I know if Judy is. Billy Joel's older? So you expect. You just ask that question and I'm supposed to know the answer. Judy, Joel. Judith Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

Judith, Joel.

[Evan]

Yeah. Big sister. Big sister. Look at that. All right, there you go.

[Ian]

Of all the people in the world that I know you're the best place to go When I cry When I cry I never asked for much before not before things are changed I need more Tell me why Choose.

[Billy Darrell]

It is funny to imagine this being a younger sister, a man my age is very young. So I'm told.

[Evan]

So I'm told. Why do I feel so old? I was so much older than. I'm younger than that now. Yeah, there are going to be many. I mean that's maybe semi stretch. There are going to be quite a few Bob Dylan connections in the Billy Joel series already come to realize, beginning on Piano man with a song about a certain western outlaw that Bob Dylan was also fond of.

[Billy Darrell]

Yes, that's right. There's another little bit of editorializing here. At this point In Joel's career, 1971, he'd been trying to make it in the music business for nearly a decade with no signs of success. I won't read the rest, but I suppose that this song and the. The ending here. There's no tomorrow because my dream did not last so I live in the past. Tell me why, Judy, why? Oh, tell me why. I think he's probably saying, yeah, like I feeling like a bit of a failure, a loser and trying to get some kind of reassurance. Definitely kind of feeling sorry for himself. And you know, that's as good of a subject as any, I suppose.

[Evan]

Sure, it is maudlin. It is maybe, you know, self serious and it is not particularly poetic on its face, but it's. I do feel like there's a relatability quality to Billy Joel. I think that a lot of people like, you know, like, you know, people like Bob Dylan, like Lou Reed, like Brian Wilson. Part of the reason we love them, part of the reason you and I in particular love them is because they, they have like some sort of aura you. Not that they're gods are necessarily, but they're just like, you know, preternatural talents. They're brilliant on its face. They almost seem inhuman at certain points for a variety of different reasons. Superhuman and Billy Joel. Superhuman. Billy Joel, never to me at least I never get that sense with him. There's much more of a workday, blue collar, everyman feel to this guy who is again, fantastic performer, extremely talented as a musician, as a lyricist, as everything that he is. But he does feel of the people, I think in a way that a lot of these other artists that we focused on.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, definitely. And I think that maybe the way that people react to him, you can, you can boil it down to that. Like if somebody says he's uncool, I kind of think it's because they're saying they feel uncool. Like listening to him makes them feel uncool. I think because he's inescapably relatable very often. And it does bring you back. Like his songs. I feel like on every one of his records, there's at least one song where it. It kind of triggers like a traumatic moment of embarrassment from childhood. Like triggers thoughts of being like, at school or at home or with your parents, or like feeling kind of seen too clearly, whatever it is. Even just like having fantasies, power trip fantasies and ideas about, oh, I would, I'll show them. It's like all of that is part of what he uses to draw from when it comes to songs. And if. If that does strike you as uncool, I think it's maybe telling of a kind of. He got you. He got you there.

[Evan]

Yeah. I think you need to be able to get over yourself to listen to Billy Joel at least. I've had to get over myself to listen to Billy Joel and embark upon this. You know, I guess for most people, they never even. That doesn't even factor into consider. Cause they just listen to the songs and they say, hey, that's a good song. I like to listen to that. But for the music nerds, the nuts, the people who are a little maybe overly self conscious of the music they listen to and what it says about them. It has been a process of deconstructing the self to get into Billy Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

It's true. I think it's like an aesthete, a cultural. Someone who's culturally sophisticated. That being a goal can be an impediment to just seeing this stuff for what it is. And that's not Billy Joel's fault.

[Evan]

No, listen, it's purely what others bring to him. Falling of the rain Falling of the rain.

[Billy Darrell]

So this is a weird lyric for him.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's like sort of a, you know, like fantasy type. It's almost like a Lord of the Rings type thing. Another banger. Musically. I think that. I mean, it's just like beautiful ornate piano playing at the beginning, you know, Extremely corny, like Thomas Kinkade ass lyrics. But like, I think the performance once again makes this come off.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. Once there was a man and he'd painted next to a stream. What is it?

[Ian]

Once upon a time in the land of misty satin dreams There stood a house and a man who painted nature scenes. He painted trees and fields and animals and streams and he stayed and he didn't hear the falling of the rain we didn't hear the falling of the.

[Evan]

Rain.

[Ian]

In the forest green lived a girl who put her hair in braids.

[Evan]

Once upon a Time. In a land of misty satin dreams There stood a house and a man who painted nature scenes. Bob Ross painted trees. Yeah. And fields and animals and streams. And he stayed and he didn't hear the falling of the rain.

[Billy Darrell]

All right, settle.

[Evan]

Settle down.

[Billy Darrell]

I mean, that's a. It's not technically a fantasy situation.

[Evan]

In the forest green lived a girl who put her hair in braids and she sang as she walked all about the wooded glades. All right, if you're saying wooded glades, I'm thinking Zelda. I'm thinking, you know, Legolas. I'm thinking, you know, hobbits. Creatures. Yeah, exactly. Shires and hobbits and wizards and such. She was glad when the rain came falling on her face and she sang because she didn't mind the falling of the rain.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, but you gotta think about, like, what else was coming out musically at this time in 71. Like, what do we have? We've got, I think, some, like, Ren Faire adjacent aesthetics going on in the culture. Like, even like, Zeppelin.

[Evan]

Zeppelin, sure. Van has got a little bit of this as he's, like, moving in towards the, like, Vedant Police era over the next couple years. We've talked about this several times, Lou, with Ocean.

[Billy Darrell]

Oh, yeah.

[Evan]

You know, Ocean.

[Billy Darrell]

Exactly.

[Evan]

You know, and the wizards and shit that he had just written about, you know, a year before this. So it's, you know, it's in the air at this time. You can't hold it too much against Billy.

[Billy Darrell]

No, but I mean, of course he's an easy target. I don't think that people even point to this song. They don't think of him as ever having even traded in what they would call this type of cringe. They were like, oh, I didn't even know he had another string to his bow in terms of me making fun of him.

[Evan]

But you even saying that is making me think of Legolas again.

[Billy Darrell]

Straight to us. But, yeah, I think everybody was kind of vulnerable to like, that for whatever reason. Yeah. This kind of, like, weird fantasy thing.

[Evan]

And this I think maybe is the most instructive in terms of, like, the challenge that we might be dealing with with Mr. Joel at this moment in time is. Cause, like, yeah, this is 1971. It's relatively early, but keep in mind, Randy Newman's second album, 12 Songs, came out in 1970, the year before this record. And if you recall some of the extraordinary darkness that he's reckoning with there in terms of sexual violence and individual desperation. And then you've got a song like this like. That's like I was saying, you gotta kinda acknowledge and confront and overcome the corniness factor here because it is a different type of ballgame than what I'm used to.

[Billy Darrell]

At least you also got Aqualung Jethro Toll coming out. I feel like they've got like some like, medieval quality, you know, their like, flute and everything.

[Evan]

I believe you when you say that. I don't know the first thing about Jethro Tull. I could not name a single Jethro Tull song.

[Billy Darrell]

You don't know the song Aqualung. It's good.

[Evan]

It's certainly possible that I will know the song Aqualung if I click play and listen to it as just something that has been playing in, you know, a TJ Maxx while I've been walking through.

[Billy Darrell]

Probably not mostly, except it's not really TJ Maxx music. It's like. Anyway, I'm getting off topic, but they. They have an album from 75 called Minstrel in the gallery.

[Evan]

Oh boy.

[Billy Darrell]

I'm sure they have one called Songs from the Wood. They have. You know, there's a flute in it.

[Evan]

Anyway, back to the wooded Glade.

[Billy Darrell]

I think that this song is basically musically as good as anything he's done, especially on this record. So lyrically, you know, whatever, whatever.

[Evan]

It's fine. Yeah, who cares?

[Ian]

And it seems that time has brought things to an end. Nothing's changed. Cause you can't stop the falling of the rain no, you can't stop the falling of the rain.

[Evan]

There is drama. There's a showmanship to a lot of this music. I think from the very beginning that I tend to appreciate much more now, especially coming at this point after we've developed such an appreciation for the triplicates and the shadows and the knights and adult child from Brian, for instance.

[Billy Darrell]

Outsider big band. This is.

[Evan]

Yeah, this is insider.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, you know what this is to that point, I feel like the grandeur, the sense of. And it's the same thing that happened with Lou, which is a great thing to happen as far as evolving as an artist is. It's like a rookie mistake as an artist to do something that sounds this dramatic and fantastical. And to think that the content, the text of it also has to be something otherworldly and fantastical and magical or like. Like a fairy tale. Like that isn't. That's actually not as interesting as having the music sound that way. But then letting the lyrics be about something prosaic and something every day and elevating the everyday observations and feelings to acknowledging that they can feel that intense and otherworldly. That's like, really what you can do with this medium is elevate the. The normal to the abnormal. And in this case, I feel like it's a missed opportunity to kind of be like, well, I wrote this thing. It sounds kind of like this. So I've got to come up with something. How a man in the paint. He's painting by the misty stream. And then.

[Evan]

That's right. But then he's also the boy. And then. Yeah. I mean, yes. And to his credit, to Billy Joel's credit, in this case, he is actually just talking about a relationship between a human, a normal guy, and a normal woman. He's dressing it up in this kind of overly fanciful language and using, you know, some of these storybook, fairy tale type of lines.

[Billy Darrell]

It'll be a while until he realizes, I could just do that, but have them be in Long island or in a piano bar.

[Evan]

It's a good song. I really dig the music. You know, the lyric is not much to write home about, but then again, most of these lyrics aren't much to write home about, at least at this point. It's about the playing and the performance and the belief that he has in himself. And I think that goes for the next.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, turn around.

[Evan]

I mean, this is where we get into a little bit of the schlock. Like, there's no.

[Billy Darrell]

Oh, sweet lady.

[Evan]

There's no two ways around.

[Billy Darrell]

Running like a stream.

[Ian]

You don't look back because you know your hands are clean.

[Evan]

You make believe that.

[Ian]

That the past was just a dream. You make believe the past was just a dream.

[Evan]

There's an undeniable schmaltz quality to a lot of this. And, you know, everyone has their own, you know, taste for schmaltz or their limit for schmaltz. How much they can take before it gets too much. He gets close to that line for me on a song like this, but it's brief enough and again, I think, you know, well performed enough that I'm able to sort of just move along with this one and keep it going. Oh, Eliza. It's worth noting that the woman that he stole from his bandmate in Attila, who would go on to be his first wife there, Elizabeth, maybe not his first wife, actually might have been his second wife, but, you know, his wife for 10 years, Elizabeth Weber. So she seems to be a main focus, I think, throughout this. Throughout this whole record.

[Billy Darrell]

She is probably the focus of the next song. You look so good to me I like that title.

[Evan]

That's it. That's a Dennis Wilson song title right there.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah.

[Evan]

To me. So good.

[Billy Darrell]

So good.

[Evan]

Oh, man.

[Billy Darrell]

To me. I can. I could write that song right now.

[Evan]

I think you just dissed. I've been listening to. Yeah, I can't wait. I'm looking forward to talking about Bamboo, because he's really just in his bag on that one, Dennis. But that's a topic for another day.

[Billy Darrell]

That's another time. This one is. It starts with that little organ. Which brings to mind my favorite thing ever said about Billy Joel is that a friend of the show, Adam Green, has told me that Billy Joel is like, if the entire discography of the Beatles was written by a major league baseball player.

[Ian]

Ah, you look so good to me. With my eyes open wide, I can see.

[Evan]

I'm still trying to figure out exactly what he's getting at there.

[Billy Darrell]

You think about, like, scenes from Italian Restaurant. I mean, I'm getting ahead of myself, but it's like, imagine you have the desire to write something that's like A day in the Life, but the only things you know to draw from are like, it's an Italian restaurant. That's the way that it develops out of you is like. The only reason I bring it up here is because it starts with this little ball game organ.

[Evan]

Yeah, it sounds like an organ that they might play in between at bats, at a ballpark. I see that. But I think that's a good point. And I think that's what we were saying earlier is that's the everyman quality to Billy Joel is like, we all know what an Italian restaurant is like, bottle of red, bottle of white. And that means something to us in a way that a song like A Day in Life, which is just, you know, artistically mind expanding and certainly a greater piece of art, I would say, but is not necessarily as meaningful to individuals on a daily basis and probably.

[Billy Darrell]

Not nearly as meaningful to people in Cold Spring Harbor.

[Evan]

Certainly not New York. Certainly not. Yeah. You know, bottle of red, bottle of white.

[Billy Darrell]

You're like, oh, yeah. Oh, he's speaking my language.

[Evan]

I've been there, brother.

[Billy Darrell]

Oh, he's got it right on the money. And then he spins a beautiful yarn. A compelling yarn.

[Evan]

A compelling yarn. That's right. I love it when music is compelling.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, he really knows how to do that. And, yeah, I just love. I love that that is allowed to run free. Like the idea of a baseball player's imaginative fancy just running, running for the shooting for the stars. Making a grand slam.

[Evan]

Making a grand Slam. Yes. Yeah, that's definitely the right terminology. Doing a grand slam. Yeah. Does Adam have any Billy favorites? We should get him on for an episode.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, we should get him on.

[Evan]

We've been trying to sort out anyone from our Rolodex that is interested and willing to come on and do some of these episodes. We've got a couple already, including what I hope is gonna be a great grand finale. But, you know, it's gonna. Might take a little more poking and prodding than usual.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. I mean, we're gonna find out who separate the. I don't know, the wheat from the.

[Evan]

Chaff, the joker men from the Jolker.

[Billy Darrell]

Kids, the bottles of red from the bottles of white. Or perhaps we're gonna find the bottles of Roseanne.

[Evan]

That's what we're looking for. Exactly. You look so good to me. This is, you know. Come on. It's a song called you look so Good to Me, and it's sung by Billy Joel in 1971. You know exactly what this is.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. It's also got kind of Paul McCartney thing.

[Evan]

Yeah, exactly. It's got a little sort of McCartney one RAM energy. Not quite as charming, I would say, but also not quite as. Not really going for much here. He's got a nice little heartbeat to it, too. That's a fun little note, I think. Is that the first instance of the harp on a Billy Joel song?

[Billy Darrell]

I guess so. I mean, it's definitely not the first notable one.

[Evan]

Well, I mean, we were aware what the first notable one is going to be that's gonna be on the very next episode. But he's got that. He's got that in his bag here from the beginning. And again, I think that's his, like, little nod at someone like. Someone like Bob. It's crazy that this record came out just after, like, New Morning came out, you know, it just. It feels like.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, hey, that makes perfect sense. I mean, New Morning.

[Evan]

I don't know. They just feel like different mornings.

[Billy Darrell]

New Morning in this. This is actually, like, pretty damn close to New morning.

[Evan]

Yeah, you're being too. You're being unkind to New Morning there.

[Billy Darrell]

Am I? I mean, New Morning's got, like, damn, you know, Winterlude on it. It's got the song New Morning. It's got One More Weekend. This is, like, as good as One.

[Evan]

More Weekend, you know, One More Weekend is maybe not my favorite song, but.

[Billy Darrell]

Like, also, sign on the Window is definitely.

[Evan]

We've heard this Billy Joel.

[Billy Darrell]

This is. That's like Billy Joel. That's like Bob at his most Joel esque.

[Evan]

You know, you always said sound in the window was Bob doing Newman, not Bob doing Billy.

[Billy Darrell]

I'm seeing it from a different angle here. I see how it could be also Bob doing Billy.

[Evan]

Well, Billy didn't. Had not even put out a record when sign on the window came out. So you might need to get your facts straight on that one.

[Billy Darrell]

That's how good he is. Bob Dylan's getting influenced by him before he even writes the songs.

[Evan]

They just feel distinct for me for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on. But, you know, the new Morning Conversation has been had and had again here.

[Billy Darrell]

They've even got the same type of COVID I feel like there's definitely something going on.

[Evan]

Tomorrow's today.

[Billy Darrell]

So this is the serious song.

[Evan]

Yes, the emotional core of the record.

[Billy Darrell]

Cause he has said that this is a song about being suicidal in his. I guess, early in his, like, early adulthood.

[Evan]

Yeah. I think had been. Had attempted to commit suicide at one.

[Billy Darrell]

Point by just thinking about it.

[Evan]

Maybe paint thinner or something.

[Billy Darrell]

Oh, is that right?

[Evan]

Yeah. Or no furniture polish. And you know, did not succeed, obviously, fortunately. But I think he did end up spending a little bit of time institutionalized following that event. And I think this song is a reflection of his experiences there, frankly. You know, you remember who else was institutionalized, you know, in the 1960s on Long Island.

[Billy Darrell]

Troubled young men of Long Island.

[Evan]

String on the bulletin board.

[Ian]

Saving. But I just can't have my way And I'm afraid to go to sleep. Cause tomorrow is today.

[Evan]

I think it's a really nice song. And I think really pulls the second half of this album together. I do think that the second side is not as strong as the first side. I think he's got some bangers there on, you know, really. You can make me free. Everybody loves you now and Fall under the Rain, I think are all great songs. And then it starts to slow down here on the back half. But Tomorrow is Today, I think really brings it all together.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, it's all right. I think it's got. Yeah, I agree. I think it's pretty good. Although I don't. I don't like the verses as much as the chorus. I like the chorus. I mean, I don't know. They're not bad. It's just like. It's almost. It's almost there in terms of, I think, as good as he can be. But for his first record especially, it's like, pretty impressive.

[Evan]

Yeah, we're grading on a curve here. I think it's Important, because to me, it illustrates degree of interiority and self awareness and artistic intent, frankly, that is maybe not there so much on all the other songs, at least on a lyrical level. And that's not to say that this is one of the great pieces of poetry that I've ever heard in pop music, but I feel like it is kind of going for something more than a song like Turn around or you look so Good to Me, and it's mostly succeeding.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, well, it's definitely vulnerable in a way that is unmistakable and has only become more clear with his clarifications and elaborations on it. Because that's. Yeah, that's. That's him putting himself as out there as one can. Really.

[Evan]

Yes, absolutely. And it's also. I mean, it's a slower song. You know, I think it's almost five minutes long. I do feel like, you know, at certain points on this record, I'm. I'm drawn more to the music and kind of the madcap piano playing, certainly on a song like Everybody Loves yous Now or Falling of the Rain than I am to anything else. And this is an example of one where he's able to sustain my attention and really kind of, you know, paint a story.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, he does have this middle part, which is a little bit like, oh.

[Evan]

My, I love my life. When I first. I know that's coming now. And I think I still, you know, chuckle anytime I get there. But the first time I heard this song, which was not that long ago, I just. I started laughing. I was like, oh, my God.

[Billy Darrell]

I mean, it's. It's funny to imagine somebody being like, yeah, so this is like one. He doesn't play often because he tried to kill himself. And then you just play the part where he's like, this is my life and I'm sick of living it.

[Evan]

Oh, my.

[Billy Darrell]

It's like, yeah, it does sound like he. You're right.

[Ian]

Oh, my Go to the river Going to take a ride and the Lord will deliver me make my bed I'm going to lie in it if it don't come But y' all going to.

[Billy Darrell]

Die in it Too late, too much Giving a lot of life and a B in it I keep hoping you.

[Ian]

Will pass my way and someday if your dreams are leaving you I still.

[Evan]

Believe in you that weird, deep vocal, whatever that is, intonation comes on so suddenly at the beginning of the. You know, this one verse, and then he segues so cleanly out of it at the end. He just like, yeah, smooth as butter from that Sound to like, you know, the voice that he's using for the rest. Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

Into this very angelic and very, very crisp delivery.

[Evan]

It's a nice. It's a nice song. And I do think the sentiment is, you know, it's worthwhile. It's something, you know, relatively impressive. You know, he's having a hard time and just every. You know what this is? This is. Every day is like Sunday, you know, 20 years before every day is like Sunday. Morrissey took a page out of the Billy Joel book on that one.

[Billy Darrell]

Right. That's what he did.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Billy Darrell]

The next one is just. Well, not just. It's an instrumental.

[Evan]

It's Billy Joel playing piano. You should be so lucky as to hear 2 minutes and 46 seconds of that.

[Billy Darrell]

Nocturne. It's just. It's the Billy Joel. I think it's. You know, it's a statement about the seriousness of the prior song being sort of extended, giving it a landing on the Runway of this. More of this quiet moment. And, you know, it sounds. Sounds like. Sounds like a somber piano number.

[Evan]

Sure. Yeah. You know, sounds like. Sounds like Billy Joel playing, you know, some moody piano music for a couple minutes. I think it's a. It's a. It's a gesture more than it is, like, a successful song. You know, gestures and, like, I'm trying to prove myself as an artist, as someone with some legit bona fides. It's not the most important song on this record, but it's significant of something.

[Billy Darrell]

It's got intent in terms of structuring the record. This isn't just a record with tracks slapped together. This is clearly a sequenced record ala the Beatles. I think he's very much aware of trying to create a. An arc here, even if it gets lost in the middle. He's very much trying to let the last three songs be ones that make sense in succession.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Billy Darrell]

And that is especially true of the last one here. It's like the. It's. I mean, it's called Got To Begin Again, so. Sure, you can imagine what the themes are.

[Evan]

I think that one. Yeah. This last one is clearly in dialogue with Tomorrow is Today. And I think that nocturne, separating the two of those songs. I almost think of these last three as like a little miniature suite from this doom and gloom, hopelessness, isolation of Tomorrow is Today. And then we've got this dark night of the soul in nocturne. And then we were ending on a note of hope and brightness with Got To Begin Again, which is exactly what you would expect it to be based on a song that's titled Got to Begin Again. But again, I think kind of sells itself.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, definitely not the most interesting one to me, but you know, I think there's an.

[Evan]

I don't know. To me, I think this record ends on a high note with this song and with this three song package in general. After maybe getting a little. A little dodgier there in the middle, comes out swinging strong. First act, second act, maybe not so much third act. He kind of pulls it all together. There's an anthemic quality to this and something kind of like, I don't know. I dig the self mythologizing and the small scale sense of drama that he manages to build in a song like this. Whether or not it's earned comes across from it.

[Ian]

Well. So here I am at the end of the road where do I go from here? I always figured it would be like this still nothing seems to, seems to be quite clear all the words have been spoken and the prophecy fulfilled But I just can't decide where to go Guess it's been quite a day and I should go to sleep but tomorrow I will wake up and I'll know.

[Billy Darrell]

The best thing about it is that it's confidently reliant on just his voice and the piano. And then I like very much that the end, the last moment is just a simple chord on the piano, nothing more than that. And I think that's a. A sign of confidence on his part that like as much as he's doing a lot at certain moments of this record, like he, he knows where his strengths lie and he, he also knows where he wants to put the emphasis. He didn't like put a ton of strings and synthesizers and effects to make some big flashy ending. It's like, I've got it, I know what I'm doing here and I, I will just send you out with a piano type song.

[Evan]

Piano type song. That's right. One of the best types of songs. Piano type.

[Billy Darrell]

Well, we've got one of the best piano type songs on the next. The whole next record is actually even.

[Evan]

Titled Piano Type Man. That's right.

[Billy Darrell]

Piano Style Man.

[Evan]

I mean, yeah, I think what's notable on this record for me, this is not a. Not a life changing record by any means. And it's certainly not one of Billy Joel's best.

[Billy Darrell]

It is for him.

[Evan]

Well, the next record is really the life changing record. But what's notably missing and absent on this record, and I think that's what maybe we're talking around without Acknowledging it so far is like, you know, this is an inward focus record. It's sort of interior, diaristic, personal songwriting. And that is a strength of his. It can be a strength of his. But I mean, where he really comes into his own is when he's outward facing and he's telling stories about other people, you know, characters in his life, real or imagined, or even just inserting.

[Billy Darrell]

References to the outside world. I mean, that's why Everybody Loves yous Now is the best. It's got like, it's got it all. It's got all the classic Billy things that you want for just a. For an up tempo Billy song anyway.

[Evan]

I mean, I think that song is a. That's a character study, you know, and it's drawn from his own personal experience, certainly, but he's painting a picture of another person besides himself, you know, and he's positioning that person in relation to himself. But I think, you know, Uptown Girl, Piano Man, Captain Jack, you know, these are all songs, you know, all of Nylon Curtain, for instance. These are all songs that are focused on people, you know, around him, which.

[Billy Darrell]

Inadvertently also say like a ton about him and his attitude. Like that song has attitude in a way that I think we come to really recognize as like his trademark thing. And so, yeah, stay tuned for more. Billy Joel's attitude.

[Evan]

That's what everyone's looking for.

[Billy Darrell]

Manifest.

[Evan]

Yeah, I mean, ultimately, I think there's an anonymous quality to this record that makes sense because it's his first record. He's figuring out what he wants to do. The skills are, the basics are there, but he needs time to sort of breathe and develop and figure out what he wants to do as an actual, you know, songwriter. And he, you know, frankly, very quickly starts to figure it out, as you'll see on the second episode of Joel Kerman. Joellerman.

[Billy Darrell]

Jollerman. Yeah.

[Evan]

Joel Kerman, Piano man, which again, available now the instant this episode is over on Patreon. So come on over, folks. Subscribe. Summer of Joel. How about that?

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. Is that the best we got?

[Evan]

Hot Joel Summer. I don't know. I haven't. I haven't put any thought into this.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah, me neither. Okay, Joel, Billy Joel, Summer, State of mind. How about that?

[Evan]

Okay, well, we're really selling it. One star. One star for Cold Spring Harbor. Pretty good.

[Billy Darrell]

Yeah. One star out of three. The good type of that, though, you know, you know how it works.

[Evan]

Yeah. Sometimes one star is a really negative score, other times pretty positive. In this case, it's the latter. Thank you for listening to the first episode. There's 11 more coming. Subscribe to hear the monkey Time to.

[Ian]

Go to Ghost Ring harbor no more.

[Billy Darrell]

Joel.

[Ian]

See how all the people gather around hey, isn't it a thrill to see them crawl? Keep your eyes ahead don't look down yeah Lock yourself inside your sacred wall oh, this is what you want it ain't you proud Everybody loves you now.