Billy Joel regrets ignoring John Lennon: “We should’ve done”
After 1970, it was time for Beatles fans to come to grips with the fact that the dream was over. Although it felt like the Fab Four could have continued until the end of time, their dissolution following Abbey Road left a hole in rock and roll that would never be fully put back together. It was time to move on, and Billy Joel became one of the many Beatles fanatics left to pick up the pieces.
Around the time The Beatles were bowing out, Joel had already been working as a working pianist for a few years, on the verge of releasing his first album, Cold Spring Harbor. While Joel had had formal training and considered his favourite performers to be classical musicians like Beethoven, he always had a spot soft for The Beatles’ music.
First seeing them on The Ed Sullivan Show, Joel was knocked out by the power they brought to their music, telling 60 Minutes, “Up to that moment, I’d never considered playing rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn’t look like they’d come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon’s face – and he looked like he was always saying: ‘F*** you!’ – I said: ‘I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys.’ This is what I’m going to do – play in a rock band’”.
Though Joel would play songs adjacent to rock and roll, his immaculate ear for melody led him to create some of the most sophisticated pop music for his generation. Starting with albums like The Stranger, Joel created many different soundscapes, a handful of which had a direct lineage to what The Beatles had pioneered. While Joel may have been dominating the world, members of The Beatles would enter into his life as well.
Around the time Joel was pumping out hits in his native New York, John Lennon was just beginning his new life in America, moving to ‘The Big Apple’ with Yoko Ono and creating militant rock and roll on albums like Some Time in New York City. Although Joel would hear about Lennon living around the same area, he never went out of his way to visit him, thinking that he would be imposing.
Looking back, Joel regretted not talking with Lennon when he had the chance, telling BBC Radio 2, “I never met John, which is kind of sad because we live near each other. I used to drive my boat by his house, and I’d say, ‘There’s John’s house, but I’m not gonna bother the guy; I’m sure he gets bothered all the time!’ He used to do the same thing with me. So, we never bothered each other, which we should’ve done”.
Outside of the proximity to his idols, Joel would eventually write a song that blended the styles that he loved from The Beatles. While Joel has never admitted to it, ‘Scandinavian Skies’ is a perfect amalgamation of both Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting techniques, down to the different vocal inflexions that he uses towards the end of the song.
Not wanting to make the Lennon mistake again, Joel would become much more friendly with Paul McCartney, even having ‘The Cute Beatle’ accompany him onstage for what would be the final performance at Shea Stadium. Even though Joel may have a well of hits to choose from on his own, he’s only barely scratching the surface of what The Fab Four could do in their prime.
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