In Defense of Billy Joel

Slate evaluates the career of Billy Joel, and comes down firmly on the side of cheesiness. The author describes how she was at an early age a Joel fanatic, until she discovered Elvis Costello when a friend told her that Costello "writes songs about why people like Billy Joel are just so bad."

Yes, Billy Joel is totally cheesy. I still wince whenever I hear that line in "Big Shot" where he does the "Beeg Shot DEEENcha" bit. No one else's songs could make such a seamless transition to the full-on schmaltz of a Broadway production like Movin' Out. Lyrically, Joel always took himself way too seriously.

If you can look past his corny lyrics, it's clear that Joel's real strength lies in the hooks, and the author admits as much. His songs are incredibly well-crafted. The author believes that Joel is a master songsmith who would have excelled in the Brill Building, but was unfortunately born a decade too late:

But Joel came of age in the post-Beatles era, when songwriters grew self-conscious about rock's aesthetic and social significance, and felt compelled to make statements. Alas, Joel is a leaden lyricist with nothing to say...

She's right, but so what? I guess it's all in what you look for from your artists. I love Billy Joel, and I'm never going to apologize for his presence on my iPod. I spent the better part of my senior year in high school trying to play "Root Beer Rag" on the piano, and never quite got it. It's as good a Joplin piece as Joplin ever wrote, in the same way that "Uptown Girl" out-Frankie Vallis Frankie Valli.

I wore out my Billy Joel songbook playing them over and over - "This Night," with its Beethoven melody; "Honesty," with its incredibly agile prechorus and hooky chorus melody; "Pressure," "Allentown," and of course "Italian Restaurant." And despite the ultimate cheese of "Just the Way You Are," it's a freakin' great song. I really don't care what any of those songs are actually about - with some artists, that certainly means you're missing out on something; that's less the case with Joel.

I guess everyone (of a certain age) who plays popular piano makes a Yankees vs. Red Sox choice between Billy Joel and Elton John. For me, it was simple. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is in my opinion one of the best songs ever written. But for consistency in sonwriting quality across the board, you can't beat Billy Joel.

One other thing: in tenth grade, I went with a friend to his church. The Sunday school lesson was all about the evils of rock and/or roll. The Sunday school teacher read from "Only The Good Die Young" to illustrate the pure evil of rock music. So as a lyricist, at least Billy Joel has that going for him. Which is nice.

Comments

[Sean]

I don't know how I ended up here (random browsing), but you should really give BJ more credit.
I'm confused by your Red Sox v. Yanks comment. I love Elton and Billy, but I find Billy more accessible as a piano player/singer/performer.
I've had a similar argument/discussion with another player regarding Gershwin and Porter.
I think Billy is the better songwriter (words + music), but Elton does pretty well himself.
Gershwin wrote great stuff, but Porter combined words and music sublimely (is that a word?).

[Charlie]

Sean - Oh, I absolutely think Billy Joel deserves credit! My point with the (perhaps misguided) baseball analogy was only that while you can love both Billy Joel and Elton John, it seems many people tend to have more affinity for one or the other (admittedly unlike the Red Sox or Yankees, where it's all or nothing). Maybe the Gershwin/Porter comparison is more apt. Or Beatles/Stones.
It's difficult to evenly compare Billy Joel and Elton John as complete songwriters, since Joel writes his own lyrics, and John usually works with a lyricist. Perhaps Billy Joel's songs would have benefited from a separate lyricist.
Looking at their styles and abilities with chord progressions, riffs, and melodies, I still think Joel comes out on top.
And I completely agree about Cole Porter.