An Innocent Man

Well, apparently Billy Joel has taken up residence in my head.  For the past several weeks, lyrics from We Didn't Start the Fire keep floating in an out of my brain.  I think it's my mind's way of trying to memorize and make rhythmic sense of the barrage of historical headlines.  The video is great, incidentally, as it takes the viewer through four decades of iconic imagery. 

William Martin Joel, of the Bronx, NY, was born May 9, 1949 and began learning the piano at age 12.  In 1971, he signed a solo contract, but eventually moved to the west coast to evade fallout from a contractual dispute. There he performed in piano bars under the name Bill Martin.  However, his talent couldn't keep him hidden and a leak of a tape of the song Captain Jack in Philadelphia resulted in Columbia Records tracking him down and offering him a recording contract.  Piano Man was his first top 20 single and first gold album.  The rest is history, as the saying goes.  The video to We Didn't Start the Fire, incidentally, currently has over 7 million hits on YouTube, a trend that follows with many of his other videos from the 80s.  Fire also reached #1 in the Billboard singles charts in 1989. 

Like many great artists, listening to the current Billy Joel is just as good as listening to the vintage Billy Joel.  He has a very distinctive piano style, kind of like how you can usually pick out Elton John's piano playing.  Joel's style is 50s pop inspired,  with conventional chord progressions and driving rhythms. But his lyrics and powerful voice are what set him apart from other piano-playing songwriters.  Hopeful, optimistic, but always rooted in reality, which makes him come across, at times, as a bittersweet, sad sort of soul. 

I truly appreciate his creativity, as evidenced in his sometimes wild music videos (Pressure) and lyrics (Allentown).  And:  in the The Longest Time, a doo-wop styled song, (written in 1983, released in 1984) Joel is the only voice you hear.  He recorded 14 tracks, with himself on lead vocal and the backing vocals, then mixed them all together.  Nifty!

As far as I'm concerned, there are worse artists to have living in one's head, so I'll try not to complain too much.  But I just might start talking to you in song lyrics for a while...