Billy Joel
Billy Joel
William Martin "Billy" Joelis an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States. His compilation album Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 is one of the best-selling albums in the US...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth9 May 1949
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
And the only people I fear are those who never have doubts... Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes they're for.
I took a fresh pack of Luckies, a mint called Sen-Sen, my old man's Trojans.
The piano sounds like a carnival and the microphone smells like a beer. And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say, man, what are you doing here?
Sing us a song you're the piano man. Sing us a song tonight. Cause we're all in the mood for a melody, And you've got us feeling all right.
I really wish I was less of a thinking man and more of a fool not afraid of rejection.
I'm not sure about life after this; god knows I'm not a spiritual man.
Give a moment or two to the angry young man with his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand.
I'm carrying the weight of all the useless junk and modern man accumulates.
There ain't much future for a man who works the sea, there ain't no island left for islanders like me.
Every child had a pretty good shot, to get at least as far as their old man got. But something happened on the way to that place. They threw an American flag in our face.
I always wanted to try to be a teacher even before I was in the music business. I liked history, and good teachers made an impact on me.
Most people you'd tell "I'm gonna be a musician," they'd say, "you're crazy, you're gonna starve, you're gonna be poor, a drug addict, go to jail, you'll never make it, there's too much competition, it's a terrible business," etc. But my chorus teacher in high school said, "you've got what it takes to be a really good professional musician, you should consider it." That was an epiphany for me. So I thought, well, maybe I can help somebody, too.
I didn't graduate high school, so I never got a teacher's education, I'm mostly self-read, self-taught. I always loved music, so I would probably either be in a band with another group of people, or an arranger, a producer, a musicologist, a music history guy, something to do with music. Either that, or I would probably be in jail. Or dead.
I look at some of the songs I wrote years ago and I can't believe I wrote such crap.