“He was a freak”: The guitarist Billy Joel thought was out of everybody’s league
Inventing a whole new language.
Billy Joel
“Disco bullshit”: The classic rock band featured in the background of Billy Joel’s 1978 number two hit
“Play it the way I told you to play!”
The 1974 hit song Billy Joel expected to flop: “It’s the smae thing, over and over”
“It doesn’t change too much.”
The 1980 song Billy Joel thought he butchered: “This song really sucks”
Not doing the lyrics justice.
The one musician Billy Joel said played everything right: “Always perfect”
Showing him the ropes of music theory.
The 1977 Billy Joel song banned by radio stations: “Nothing sells a record like a boycott”
How censorship worked to Billy Joel’s advantage.
The 1970s singer Bruce Springsteen called the best songwriter: “Built like the Rock of Gibraltar”
The best kind of wordsmith.
The 1977 song Paul McCartney was insanely jealous of: “A song you wish you’d written”
The purest of love songs.
The 1980 song Billy Joel never wanted to play live again: “This song really sucks”
Reading the room in the wrong way.
The 1975 Bruce Springsteen deep-cut that Billy Joel calls his favourite
The two musicians have been friends for a number of decades.