I’m 51 years old and have been hearing his music my whole life, and never until this moment saw him playing the guitar.

@auckalukaum

Жыл бұрын

He played lead guitar on Purple Haze at the Palace of Auburn Hills. On a purple guitar. With a purple headband. And purple stage lights. When it was over he said, "Man, you can't do that on a piano."

@jaymazza69

Жыл бұрын

Really? How is that possible. He's played guitar on other songs. Example... kzread.info/dash/bejne/aK2NxcqgiJTMfdo.html

@boozefueledreviews6928

Жыл бұрын

Not going to lie... when it started, I thought Bruce Springsteen was guesting on the track!!

@WendyKay84

Жыл бұрын

Same! I'm a little younger, but my Mum was a huge Billy Joel fan, so I've been listening to him since I was a kid. I did know he played the guitar, and he wrote some amazing guitar riffs, but I've never actually seen him do it!

@rrmemphis427

Жыл бұрын

slightly older, but same here!

When this song was released a lot of high school history teachers in the U.S. broke this song down into sections and had their classes look up and write papers on the historical references Billy Joel mentioned.

@boozefueledreviews6928

Жыл бұрын

I was going to comment about this. I had a History teacher in 1996 that was still using this song to teach us about these significant events. Not only did he make us memorize the song's lyrics, but also expected us to know what year the stanzas were taking place. One of the coolest lessons I've ever had!

@chrismaverick9828

Жыл бұрын

I first heard this in third or fourth grade when the music teacher played it for us right after it released. Obviously it meant more to her having lived through most of it, but she was presenting it as as being a type of story telling.

@FyrenMagus

Жыл бұрын

Mine did, as did my Humanities teacher

@yusted1

Жыл бұрын

Should do that today

@topherwhite370

Жыл бұрын

Billy Joel’s org actually gave away free curriculum guides.

I binged a bunch of reactions to this song, and I think I saw one reactor knew the history enough to where her smile faded at the "Children of thalidomide" line.

Loved this song love you more keep up the good work.

Right now Billy has been continuing his "residency" at Madison Square Garden. The deal was to play one show a month until the demand stops. During COVID the shows paused, they picked back up and at last count he's advertising show #99.

@illegal_space_alien

Жыл бұрын

I wish more classic bands would do this. Vegas isn't the only place where something like this would take off.

@vernhoke7730

Жыл бұрын

@@illegal_space_alien a few bands have done them in Atlantic City over the years.

Love love love this song.

closest to this song I can think of is R.E.M. - It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). That would be a fun reaction

This song used to set the dance floor on fire with dancinngg AND singing along! Those were the days!!! I'm almost 59yrs old :-)

I’m 54 and grew up on Long Island, NY. Billy Joel was KING, also being from Long Island. I saw him twice in 1988 and 1990- my seat was right over his piano, and it was so fun watching him perform! My favorite was in 2016- I went to a Billy Joel tribute band concert in Smithtown, NY (Long Island), and showed up!! I was 8 feet from him. Magic.

Musically this was very different from the studio version. I feel like he was taking the chance to play around with it in a live setting. I'd reccomend listening to the studio version to get a taste of just how much variation he was putting into this.

@Subangelis

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, they slowed it down to play live.

I had no trouble learning this song when it was released. Even today I still know the words. Billy Joel has said several times he doesn't like this song.

@christopherallen9580

Жыл бұрын

I hate this song

@wbfaulk

Жыл бұрын

​​@@christopherallen9580 It's awful. Could the recorded version have any less emotion in it? It sounds like he's reading off cue cards that are just a list cribbed from a Wikipedia article.

As a native New Yorker like Billy, this song makes so much sense to me due to the many New York City references and American history weaved through it. Billy grew up on Long Island like I did, and during my time overseas traveling and living, I used to listen to Billy's music to remind me of the places I know bast around Long Island in NY.

Long time drummer Liberty DeVItto knew all the lyrics to the songs, and it's rumored that Billy Joel used to look at him if he forget the lyrics. Except for this one song.

This, REM - 'The end of the world and we know it' and Faith No More - 'We care a lot' are my favorite of this kind of rapid fire listing historically or culturally significant things type song with Red Hot Chilli Peppers - 'Californication' also kind of in a similar vein.

Please check out “The Downeastern ‘Alexa’”.

Thank you for this. It's given me a better appreciation for the song. Also, amazing live version

Billy Joel has said that musically this is his least favorite song he's written, because it's just flat and repetitive. And he also said he still has trouble remembering the words. He said the only thing he focuses on is the start of each verse, because then the rest flows back together. He said there are moments that he relies on the audience singing along, so if they're wrong, then everyone is screwed! 🤣

@Bad_Wolf_Media

Жыл бұрын

Aa an added note, I was at a show in 2017 (photographed then first three songs then got to stay for the rest) and I was punched emotionally hearing this song live. Not because of the lyrical content, but because this song has just been a part of my life since I was 14, 15 years old, and hearing it live was just a real "moment" for me. Not the least bit ashamed to admit that I cried just a little at that moment.

@anngulliver5964

3 ай бұрын

And he felt the opposite about Uptown Girl. He said that the catchy hooks but was lacking lyrically.

This tune has reminded me of a Gilbert & Sullivan Patter Song ever since I learned what a patter song was.

Beth, you need to watch his new track, it's beautiful.

Beth Roars 🤩❤‍🔥👏

24 years old i had to learn this in music class, not complaining i still know every word and love it to this day

My favorite song ever is Billy Joel's Summer, Highland Falls

You make everything you react to interesting and fun. :)

@BethRoars

Жыл бұрын

You're the best!

At my school this was our 10th grade US History project. Each student got a verse. Best project I’ve ever had in my life!

Merry New Year, Beth, my best to you.🫶

I had the fortune to be able to see Billy Joel on this album tour. The adrenaline level at his show was stellar. I went to the show recovering from flu and left the show with no trace. Phenomenal writer and showman.

American Pie is the only song I can think of that crams so much history into it. I was born early enough to witness 90% of both songs. Ugh. I’m old. My favorite ‘new’ song is The Down Easter Alexa. I love Swordfish but it the song put me between a rock and a hard place. They’ve been overfished yet the fishermen need to make a living. The film The Perfect Storm illustrates this conundrum perfectly. No pun intended. Incredible movie.

Awesome! Thanks Beth 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

WOW Whoa. Billy Joel plays guitar?

Wow!!! No autotune, no melodyne, just raw talent. Billy Joel's piano teacher was Morton Estrin and his son Robert Estrin is a concert pianist and teacher. Check out his YT channel Living Pianos. I have learned quite a bit from those videos.

@howtodoitdude1662

Жыл бұрын

Billy said his piano teacher was a woman.

The whole concert was great

Ryan started the fire! (The temp).

2 other songs with a lot of cultural info in them are creeque alley and american pie, although creeque alley is more specific to the formation of mamas and papas and american pie takes some interpretive license.

I'm 49 years old and I grew up on a steady diet of Billy Joel,but I never new he played guitar!😮😮😮

When I was a para educator in semi-retirement. I remember playing this song for a class of young teenagers. We talked about different parts of it for several class periods. As part of their contemporary history. You are right, the world has always been on first in my lifetime. But we still keep fighting it. Now the younger generation gets to take up that fight.

Un clásico un grande empesaste bien el año gracias Beth

We saw BJ in Portland, OR in 1999 (want to say late March 1999). We got seats at the back of the stage and he would sometimes come back that way. Then he started playing Goodnight Saigon. He was a few bars in when he stopped the bad. He said a certain 4 letter word and said what a song to mess up on. He started it over. Wonderful experience for us.

It was Julian Lennon, John's son, who said to Billy that things were easier for him in his time. That's what prompted Billy to write this song.

Billy Joel has said this is the only song he ever wrote the lyrics first and then came up with a melody for it. He went further to say that it's his least interesting song musically. Billy was also going through a phase where he wanted to write songs on guitar. He was always a Paul McCartney fan and was interested in how McCartney wrote differently for the piano and the guitar. Elvis Costello said that when he was songwriting with Burt Bacharach and Paul McCartney they would never sacrifice their melody for his words. I think Billy would say the same thing. If you want to listen to a song with dense lyrics, try Costello's "Beyond Belief". Very interesting non-traditional song structure.

one of my all time favs since Billy released it . . ty Beth for doing a reaction for it!

❤❤❤ Beth

I remember this came out when I was in 6th grade and the teachers printed out all the lyrics and our some of our history lessons were tied back into the song.

Someone already mentioned It's the End of the World for throwing in a lot of history, could also add American Pie and for art Vincent

On the Russia tour documentary, he plays solo on an acoustic guitar, check it out!

One of the things that makes Billy Joel unique is ability to make all of his music different. No two songs sound the same. Also, there used to be a version of this song here on YT that he gets lost near the middle of the song and stops the band.

Just the movies, books and personalities are worth a look at.

Can you do a live version of For the Longest time?? Quartet harmonies would be cool to breakdown!

Here are a couple to check out: “Matter of Trust” official video - another of the few songs Joel performed with guitar in hand. The other to look at is “Angry Young Man” live from NY. He burns the piano keys up.

This song came over in 1989, not the 70's. He wrote it around his 40th birthday (he was born in '49, referenced in the song Leningrad on the same album).

GO listen to Laura from his 1982 album Nylon Curtain. That very clever song is about his mother driving him crazy. BJ is incredible! Nothing he can't do musically!

One of my favorites by him is The Downeaster Alexa.

@christineg8151

Жыл бұрын

Definitely underappreciated!

There’s been a lot of parodies of this song using recent events.

You mentioned that Billy Joel was talking to a younger guy. That younger person was Sean Lennon (John Lennon and Yoko Ono's son)

I haven't heard this performance, but as a kid, I know my brother and I played the heck out of this song, even if we were too young to understand all of the references.

I don't think you were "outside of music" at all! You're often reminding us that music isn't always about perfect technique, and much more often it is about conveying emotion and message. And that is EXACTLY what the song did to you; as it was intended. So I for one say your 'tangent' was perfectly relevant to music, I thank you for sharing, and I totally agree with you as well!!! If the world had more Beth Roars's it might just have fewer fires to sing about!! 🌍♥🧯 ::rar::

When I was a kid I actually sat down to learn the lyrics by heart, verse by verse. I still struggle with a couple of the later verses, mostly because I didn't repeat them as often as the first few, but also probably because most of the references meant very little to me as a kid in the 90s. I often had the same urge, to sit down and find out about each of the references, though I never got around to it, lol.

You should review Billy Joel's live version of "This Night", from London, June 1984 . Amazing vocals!

I love his song "Honesty". It has two long notes following each other.

When you asked rhetorically if there was any other song that's so information-dense, my first thought was Yakko Warner's Countries of the World from Animaniacs, or its inspiration-- "The Elements" by Tom Lehrer.

Check out the podcast “ We Didn’t Start the Fire” where the hosts dive into each historically significant lyric with experts to add to the knowledge bank. Fascinating podcast and concept.

This song is a lyrical masterpiece. I've never been able to pay attention to the vocals because I'm always tring to catch all the historical/cultural references.

We were the baby boomers, the generation born from the great generation of WW2 who won the war and designed the new world for global peace and prosperity free of hunger and disease. Then the Korean War started and the Vietnam war sucked up my generation. This is the store of America on the world stage. It is now your world, do a good job and make us proud.

It was actually Julian Lennon who said to Billy Joel that nothing had happened in his time

Billy Joel said that if hadn’t become a musician he would have been a History Teacher.

a list of happenings on planet Earth. We could add a lot more now, sadly. An artist I would love for you to react to would be Arthur Brown (The Crazy World Of:-) his rock hit "Fire" is worth a listen but the one that really impressed me was his version of the Hippy song "Kites" (originally by Simon Dupree & the Big Sound). There is such power in his voice & as his manager says, he was Opera trained.

Beat Billy Joel song ever

REMs It's the end of the world as we know it is superior - this from a billy joel fan (although I cut him off in 1982, his music turned from at best bittersweet to happy)

Billy Joel dressed to emulate Born to Run era Springsteen

You need to check out Ben Howard. I'd love to see a reaction of him.

Sympathy for the Devil has a lot to consider. Thanks for your videos!

Beth great song and as always great brake down and reaction take a lisson to the great John lennon song give peace a chance which is in a very similar vain but in John's own way is a call for peace which he wrote during his honeymoon bedding a very happy new year to you and yours rock 🎸🤟

Not as many references in number, but Al Stewart's 'Nostradamus' has the same idea. Also by Stewart "Roads to Moscow", very narrow song about historic events, world war two in Russia. Try em!

Does anyone else think it feels weird that The Piano Man is playing guitar in this video? Also, the only other song I can think of that is similar to a lot of words where the only lyrics most people know are the emphasis words and chorus, is R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World".

@christopherallen9580

Жыл бұрын

i agree

@Steve_Gee74

Жыл бұрын

Another one like this and the R.E.M track is "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by ~Reunion. That turns the lyric speed up to 11

Lots of fan covers around using more recent events in the lyrics. :)

Another great history lesson song/video is Land of Confusion by Genesis. Watch the video and see how many characters you can identify!

Nice song, I been a following Billy since I can remember. He has other songs were you can hear without a doubt how good of a singer he is. Not that this performance isn't great, but there are better out there.

The other song that has similar cultural references is Don Mclean’s American Pie very similar but totally different

07:03 The first half of the vocal run sounds amazing.

This would have been the late 80s. It starts when he was born (1949) until the song was written (1989).

Would you react to the Fall Out Boy cover?? It covers updated events and is actually quite good!

You should really check out And So It Goes, Billy said it his favourite in a recent interview

Please give your reaction to an Indonesia best female singer "Vanny Vabiola", they call her an Indonesia Celine Dion. Her best cover song : 1). The Power Of Love. 2). Easy On Me. 3). Al By Myself. Wish to see your reaction to Vanny Vabiola soon. 🙂

He was in his 40’s in the 1980’s. I know this bc we are the same age. Song ends in 1989.

@tonyh9875

Жыл бұрын

Thirties, Patrick. He turned 40 in May 1989. So did you, around then, and so did I ;-)

Pretty sure one of his musician friends made him a bet he couldn't do it live......which is why it made its way into his set list to this day

Consider listening to Conceta Wurst

Please do more Jilly Boel! Youre gr8! World Peace!

I wonder how long it took him to memorize these lyrics. 😲

Saxon. Dallas 1 PM.

fun thing you can do with Billy Joel is to compare his version of a song with another artist who more famously performed it. The River by Garth Brooks is one of my favorite examples but Brooks has more songs written by Joel and many other artists have performed songs he's written.

I dare you to do Weird Al's Hardware Store :D

as a genuine old fart i often wonder how much of a shared history i have with my younger citizens of the planet.....for instance....just two names from the song......Syngman Rhee and Prokofiev

Do the new FOB version!

"I Saw it on T.V." by John Fogerty is similar, but not as detailed. "Time Marches On" by Tracy Lawrence has a more narrow and personal focus.

Belgians in Congo !

@Beth Roars Unfortunately you don't see him singing it, but this is a song that needs hearing from a guy that most have long forgotten. kzread.info/dash/bejne/i2iXw86EfNapoJc.html

📖 Get your signed copy of my album Fable here: www.bethroars.com/shop ☀ Pre-save my first single "Power Of The Wolf" on Spotify (it really helps me out!): distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bethroars/power-of-the-wolf 🥁 Become a Patreon Supporter: www.patreon.com/bethroars

hello Beth . where are you last night.?

I think its time that Beth checked out the 3 part harmonies of The Little River Band....

You might give a listen to Tom Lehrer's song "The Elements," not for vocal critique but for complexity of articulation. It is simply the name of all the elements, 104 at time of composition, set to a "vaguely recognizable tune." kzread.info/dash/bejne/c5eHlbCIgdHZgbA.html

@bscjake

Жыл бұрын

Then the Amateur Transplants took that and made the Drug Song about medications :) kzread.info/dash/bejne/kZyEvK6Qnc2qdJs.html

You should take a listen to the recorded version and video. It's a little different. Better in my opinion.