Top 20 Billy Joel Songs

To his credit score, Billy Joel by no means actually stayed the place he was speculated to.

As a New York-based singer-songwriter within the early ’70s, he reduce his first file, which no person heard. He then relocated to Los Angeles, rebooted, had a minor hit after which returned dwelling, the place he constructed a profession on two nice pop albums with jazz undertones, as you may see on the beneath checklist of the Prime 20 Billy Joel Songs.

He then shifted gears once more … and once more, releasing a string of data – a rock ‘n’ roll one, a politically aware one, one which paid tribute to the music he grew up on – earlier than halting his recording profession following the discharge of his fourth No. 1 album.

20. “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)” (From Turnstiles, 1976)

Joel was dwelling in Los Angeles when he wrote “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway),” however by the point it was launched, he was again in his hometown of New York Metropolis. It was written as form of a fable, a futuristic have a look at a metropolis inching towards whole collapse. After Sept. 11, the music took on a complete new that means.

READ MORE: When Billy Joel Adopted Up His Breakthrough With ’52nd Avenue’

19. “The Ballad of Billy the Child” (From Piano Man, 1973)

Early in his profession, Joel wrote loads about what he knew – which was himself. He additionally penned lengthier and extra formidable narratives again earlier than he started successful Grammys. “The Ballad of Billy the Child” wraps each of those in a five-and-a-half-minute epic in regards to the legendary gunslinger. The final verse brings it throughout to the current day, and though Joel has denied that he is the child from Lengthy Island right here, the details say in any other case.

18. “Captain Jack” (From Piano Man, 1973)

After his debut album tanked in 1971, Joel retreated whereas issues along with his file firm have been sorted out. He discovered inspiration and contemporary perspective throughout his break, writing a few of his most advanced and private songs – a lot of which ended up on his second album. The seven-minute “Captain Jack,” which caps the Piano Man LP, was written in New York a few neighborhood drug vendor. It is one in every of Joel’s earliest triumphs.

17. “You Could Be Proper” (From Glass Homes, 1980)

Considered one of Joel’s hardest rockers kicked off his 1980 album Glass Homes, his second No. 1 and first LP to be recorded after he reached famous person heights (he wasn’t but a confirmed star when he made 1978’s 52nd Avenue). The remainder of the file tries a bit of too onerous to interrupt from Joel’s singer-songwriter and jazz-inflected earlier work; “You Could Be Proper” is the one music that will get it utterly proper.

16. “Solely the Good Die Younger” (From The Stranger, 1977)

Joel’s “pro-lust” music is not precisely delicate (“Ultimately it comes all the way down to destiny, I’d as nicely be the one“), however it’s his most playful hit. Powered by hand claps, shuffling acoustic guitar and one in every of Joel’s most successful vocals, “Solely the Good Die Younger” broke down among the levity surrounding The Stranger. However that did not cease Catholic teams from calling for a widespread radio ban.

15. “Inform Her About It” (From An Harmless Man, 1983)

After the heaviness of 1982’s The Nylon Curtain, Joel lightened up with a set of latest songs that paid tribute to his adolescence. An Harmless Man included musical homages to doo-wop, the 4 Seasons and ’60s R&B amongst its sweet-tooth nostalgia. “Inform Her About It,” the album’s greatest single and Joel’s second No. 1 single, nods to Motown, full with sunshine horns, in-step backing singers and a monster hook.

14. “Goodnight Saigon” (From The Nylon Curtain, 1982)

Following 1980’s back-to-rock-‘n’-roll-basics album Glass Homes, Joel took a extra purposeful activate his eighth LP, steering The Nylon Curtain into extra musically adventurous territory. He additionally went deeper along with his lyrics, tackling all the things from Reaganomics to working-class struggles to – within the album’s finest reduce, “Goodnight Saigon” – the Vietnam Conflict.

13. “I’ve Liked These Days” (From Turnstiles, 1976)

The second single from 1976’s Turnstiles album was a string-guided ballad that pointed the best way towards Joel’s extra profitable future. A private quantity tied to Joel’s transfer from Los Angeles to New York, “I’ve Liked These Days” is among the most unsung tracks in his catalog.

12. “My Life” (From 52nd Avenue, 1978)

The primary single from Billy Joel’s first post-breakthrough album 52nd Avenue gave a great indication of the place Joel was heading now that he lastly had a Prime 10 hit. “My Life” was half playful, half defiant, and well-earned after 5 albums right into a decade-long profession. The music reached No. 3, the identical place as “Simply the Method You Are” a yr earlier.

11. “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Track)” (From The Stranger, 1977)

The opening music on Joel’s fifth album, The Stranger, was an extension of his earlier work: a personality research rooted in his private life. However this time the file clicked with file patrons, who despatched the album to No. 2 (his highest-charting LP as much as that time was a No. 27 exhibiting for Piano Man). Greater issues have been ready.

READ MORE: How Billy Joel Lastly Hit the Massive Time With ‘The Stranger”

10. “It is Nonetheless Rock and Roll to Me” (From Glass Homes, 1980)

Like many music veterans working on the flip of the last decade, Billy Joel was sensing a tide turning as punk gave option to new wave because the ’70s grew to become the ’80s. “It is Nonetheless Rock and Roll to Me” was his becoming, and considerably snotty, response to rising tendencies in music. It was additionally his first No. 1 single.

9. “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” (From Turnstiles, 1976)

Joel wrote “Say Goodbye to Hollywood” for Ronnie Spector, going so far as replicating the well-known opening drum rhythm from “Be My Child.” She ended up recording the music with the E Avenue Band in 1977. In 1981, after a pair of No. 1 albums, Joel included the music on his LP of unheralded reside tracks, Songs From the Attic, and launched the music as a single.

8. “The River of Desires” (From River of Desires, 1993)

Following the discharge of his 1993 album River of Desires, Joel stop recording rock and pop music full-time. He nonetheless toured and made a classical recording, however River of Desires stays his final album of up to date music. The album’s lead single and title observe made it to No. 3, his final Prime 10 hit.

7. “The Longest Time” (From An Harmless Man, 1983)

Joel’s 1983 album-length homage to oldies music ran the gamut – from 4 Seasons-styled New Jersey group harmonies to Motown soul stirrers. “The Longest Time” was his nod to street-corner wop. The primary three singles from An Harmless Man made it to the Prime 10; “An Harmless Man” stopped at No. 14.

6. “Allentown” (From The Nylon Curtain, 1982)

Billy Joel used his business clout to make a political file for his eighth album. The Nylon Curtain scoped such Reagan-era points as Vietnam PTSD, financial downturns and the Chilly Conflict. “Allentown” took a working-class Pennsylvania city hit onerous as its topic and shifted by way of the financial fallout of producers leaving the area on its residents.

5. “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” (From The Stranger, 1977)

Essentially the most formidable music on Joel’s breakthrough 1977 album The Stranger unspools as a seven-and-a-half-minute, three-part suite patterned after the Beatles’ side-two Abbey Street medley. It additionally serves as a bridge of kinds between the longer story songs Joel wrote pre-fame and the extra tightly centered numbers that anchored his pop profession. Both means, it is one in every of his biggest musical and lyrical achievements.

4. “New York State of Thoughts” (From Turnstiles, 1976)

1976’s Turnstiles was a turning level for Joel, who had made 4 albums at that time that hadn’t accomplished a lot on the charts. Whereas Turnstiles stalled at No. 122, it started Joel’s period of sharper songwriting that will serve him nicely within the years to come back. “New York State of Thoughts” has solely grown in stature through the years – a live performance favourite that grew to become a key music through the post-9/11 period. The Stranger was proper across the nook.

3. “Uptown Woman” (From An Harmless Man, 1983)

Billy Joel laid out his intentions for his An Harmless Man album from the beginning: It was designed as a tribute to the songs of his adolescence. And no music higher captured that feeling (and period) than “Uptown Woman,” a 4 Seasons tribute that was virtually higher than the true factor.

2. “Simply the Method You Are” (From The Stranger, 1977)

Six years and 5 albums into his profession, Joel lastly landed a Prime 10 hit with this quintessentially ’70s ballad. It instantly pegged him as a traditional singer-songwriter and made him a star. It stays some of the completely constructed songs in Joel’s catalog, a valentine to his then-wife and enterprise supervisor – though he was by no means all that keen on it (and even much less so after they divorced).

1. “Piano Man” (From Piano Man, 1973)

After Chilly Spring Harbor was launched, and bombed, in 1971, Joel took consolation by enjoying piano at a lounge in Los Angeles, the place he had relocated from New York to file his debut album. Evening after night time he’d see the identical characters, a lot of whom would present up in his first single a pair years later. “Piano Man” reached solely No. 25, however its stature grew through the years, as Joel grew to become an even bigger star. It has been his signature music ever since.