0:00

This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening

0:02

to Here's the thing, My

0:04

chance to talk with artists and writers,

0:07

policymakers and performers, to hear

0:09

their stories, what inspired their creations,

0:12

what decisions changed their careers,

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and what relationships influenced

0:16

their work. Billy

0:19

Joel's fans have gotten to know him

0:22

quite well over the past four decades.

0:24

Don't go change

0:28

to try and please me. You

0:32

never led meet down before.

0:35

From the open hearted declarations of old

0:38

fashioned love and She's Got Away

0:40

and just the way you are to the hard rocking

0:43

social commentaries we didn't start

0:45

the fire and Allentown

0:56

how sad

1:07

it's like me. You grew up listening to Billy

1:10

Joel's music. You can chart phases

1:12

of your life by each of his albums.

1:15

Maybe that's because Billy Joel's songs

1:17

are so passionately connected to who he

1:19

was at the time he wrote them. Jack

1:21

want you to get more level, Hello,

1:24

Hello, Hello, And

1:26

when you're actually sitting in the same room as

1:29

him with a piano nearby, well,

1:32

you can't help yourself. I want you to play me something if

1:35

you don't mind, because your fans would demand that. I

1:37

still remember you said that to me years ago, how

1:40

predictable it was wherever you were that

1:42

there was a piano. But it was like, Billy, could

1:45

you do you mind? Right? We just

1:47

a couple of songs. It's

1:50

it's just birthday, it's Christmas,

1:52

and we were wondering if you could

1:54

play there. It is it's and

1:57

it's just had it. We just

1:59

just it's such fans. Yeah, you

2:01

know mine, right, that's your life, yes, but

2:04

it's it's you know, it's fun. You can't have act

2:06

alongs. You're an act you can't act along, but

2:08

you're gonna have sing alongs. I can always

2:10

sit down at the party play and everybody starts

2:13

singing. I go to a pub in England, I'm out, Benny

2:15

Giby's having his zones there. You go there, it's

2:17

uptown girl up and they all

2:19

sit around he sing and everybody has a plass. It's

2:21

fun. It creates a community instantly.

2:24

Billy Joel is the third best selling

2:26

solo artist of all time in the United

2:29

States, where he sold more records

2:31

than The Stones, Bruce Springsteen,

2:33

and Madonna, but he admits

2:35

there's still room for improvement. I

2:38

know what good piano playing is and I'm not good.

2:40

My left hand is lame. I'm

2:42

a two finger left hand piano player, as

2:45

opposed to post somebody who knows what they're doing

2:47

with the left hand. I never practiced

2:49

enough to use all my fingers

2:51

on my left hand, so I just play octaves, bass

2:53

notes. My right hand tries

2:56

to compensate from my left hand being so gimpy,

2:59

so I overplay my right hand. My technique

3:01

is horrible. I can't read music. I

3:03

never really don't read music. I used

3:05

to, but I don't anymore. I forgot

3:07

how so I took a piece of

3:10

music that you didn't know. If I got

3:12

a score, I wouldn't and I put in videos to play

3:14

this. You would not it would be Chinese. It would be Chinese.

3:16

Yet I don't know how did that happen. I started taking

3:19

lessons when I was about four or five, and

3:21

I went up till I was about sixteen, so

3:24

it was almost twelve years of classical

3:27

piano lessons. I loved it, but

3:29

I just when you become a teenager, everything

3:31

changes. I didn't want to read other

3:33

people's dots anymore. And

3:35

I also realized early on I'm not going to be a concert

3:38

pianist. I don't have the

3:40

rocketmaning off hands, the harrowits hands.

3:42

I had strong hands, but the

3:44

short fingers you were Johnny Friendly's

3:46

hands. Who's Johnny Friendly from on the waterfront

3:49

reunion boss doing the shape up down to the

3:51

dock and and hopeboken. Yeah, yeah, you're not, You're

3:54

not, you said,

3:56

taking better accad of me, Charlie. He should have

3:58

looked down for me just a little bit, a

4:00

little bit. So what did I get

4:02

one way to get? I'm

4:06

a bum jolly, Let's face it, that's what I am.

4:08

That's when I am. So you're a kid?

4:11

Was there an intimation in your household?

4:13

There was a pissical music right? My father was music.

4:16

Yeah, he was a classically trained pianist. He

4:18

grew up in Nuremberg, Germany. He

4:20

also went to school in Switzerland. His father was

4:22

quite well off. They had a mailo out, a textile

4:25

business. Joel mocked fabric. So

4:27

he had learned to play the piano. It was a very

4:30

musical family. He could play Chopini,

4:32

could play all the great stuff. He should have become a musician.

4:34

He became an engineer, worked for Chee and

4:36

then he was in promotion he was never really happy

4:39

because he didn't become a musician. We had

4:41

an old, upright piano in the house, a Leicester

4:43

piano, real piece of junk, and

4:45

ended up being a planter in the garden. My

4:47

mom used it to grow a honeysuckle. She

4:50

sang. Her family were all singing Gilbert

4:53

and Sullivan, English music hall people.

4:55

So I grew up in a very musical home. I

4:57

heard musical all the time. My father was playing

4:59

my that would saying radio is

5:01

always on, listening to Milton Cross

5:04

and the opera. On Sunday,

5:07

Leonora enters learning a light. So

5:11

I used to bang on the piano. My mom got sick of hearing

5:13

me bang, and she dragged me down the street and I started taking

5:15

lessons and I took to it. Now,

5:17

where was the family when your father was there? And the

5:19

piano? Where were you? Were you and the

5:21

lester and your mother and your father? Where is this brother

5:24

in Hicksville? My family moved with me

5:26

out of the Bronx when I was a baby and maybe

5:29

a year old. Basically grew up on the on the Island. I

5:31

grew up on the island and the Levittown section

5:33

of Hicksville, We had a levitt

5:35

house, the cape cod on the quarter

5:37

raker. Everybody's house looked the same. Started

5:40

out looking the same. Now it doesn't look anything

5:42

like Levittown, like my town. Yeah,

5:44

sixteen years old, Hicksville, Long Island,

5:47

Vietnam War going on, yes, very very

5:49

tumultuous times, and all of a sudden, what

5:51

do you decide you want to do well? I

5:53

joined a band when I was fourteen.

5:56

I was asked to be in a band, the Echos. This

5:58

is the Echoes band. Well,

6:01

guitars, because there really weren't no

6:03

keyboards that you could amplify.

6:06

I played the piano. I never played the organ. Finally

6:09

figured out how to amplify

6:11

keyboards. I think that Dave Clark

6:13

five was the first band that had a an

6:15

organ. You could hear vox organ.

6:17

It was pieces, bits

6:20

and pieces and I'm feeling

6:23

good. It's the most unglad

6:25

sounding song. Yeah,

6:29

so you amplify the keyboard. We we got

6:31

an organ and I and I was They

6:34

decided I had the best voice in the band, which

6:36

isn't really saying much because nobody could sing all

6:38

that well in the band. We couldn't even harmonize.

6:41

We're very bad singers, but they decided

6:43

you really got the best voice, you'll sing the songs.

6:45

Okay, how did you feel about that? I felt

6:47

a little funny about it because I'm not a front man.

6:50

Where you stand with Mick Jagger, I didn't have to Mick

6:52

jaggon moves. I had a keyboard. You kind

6:54

of locked in. You can't move around. You

6:57

can't carry a keyboard around unless you were acordion

6:59

player. And that looks like Lawrence Welcome Havan.

7:01

Then the two. So I stood

7:04

at the piano or I sat at the piano. And but

7:06

then I realized, you know, that girl I always

7:08

had a crush on, is actually looking at

7:10

me. She never looked at me twice all

7:13

those years in school. And uh, we're playing at

7:15

the Holy Family Church, the

7:17

church dance that was about fifteen.

7:20

Virginia is looking at me, you know, come out Virginia

7:22

at that Virginia and the band sounded

7:24

great. I love what I was doing.

7:27

The crowd went yea when we finished

7:29

every song, and at the end of the night, the priest gave us each

7:32

fifteen dollars, which in nineteen was

7:36

that was it? The door locked behind

7:38

me. This is what I'm gonna do. I

7:40

don't want to go to Carner all anymore. I ended up on

7:43

corn anyway. And what music were you performing

7:45

covers of other people? Tuke Bux bands

7:47

were playing early Beatles, Stones, Sam,

7:50

the Sham and the Finger. At that time, when you're seeing

7:53

Tommy James and the shan Del's and all

7:55

that music, who were you saying to yourself,

7:57

I want to have his career? Well, I like the

8:00

had a different kind of music. I already came out of a classical

8:02

background, and I really dug

8:04

jazz when I was in my early teens. They

8:07

brew back, Oscar Peterson, ar Taanum,

8:09

Jimmy Smith, Bill Evans. I loved jazz,

8:13

but I realized I ain't gonna be one of those guys

8:15

either, because

8:18

I wasn't a good enough pianist. I mean, these guys

8:20

are as virtuostic, virtualistic

8:23

whatever, juostic, virtuostic, as

8:26

the classical as a religion.

8:28

Yeah is it? Yeah? That's a really darm kidding. They're

8:30

good. They're

8:33

just really good. I mean, the top of the line guys, at

8:35

the top of the line in classical and jazz.

8:38

They could have gone either way. The top line classical

8:40

guys, how they decided to be jazz guys could have been just

8:42

as good as the top jazz guys, and vice versa.

8:45

I was good enough to play rock

8:47

and roll and pop. But when I

8:49

really fell in love with as a teenager with

8:51

girls and stuff was first out like soul music,

8:54

James Brown, Wilson, Pickett, Otis

8:57

Redding, the Temptations, Marvin

9:00

Marvin Gay, Smokey Robinson,

9:03

Gladys No. I mean I just loved well,

9:06

I tried to, you know, well,

9:10

it was you know, they were they were all white

9:12

people, and there weren't Long Island.

9:15

There wasn't anybody but white people in my school.

9:17

I think there were a couple of Jews, some

9:19

Latinos. That was sprinklings.

9:22

But everybody's white. But everybody likes

9:24

the music a twist and shout or everybody

9:26

would do come on now, shout, come on and

9:29

Louis Louis, I think that was the kingsman. What

9:31

I say, Ray Charles, So you're a

9:33

girl all dressed in green, and you'd make up really

9:35

dirty words to that. We came up with some really

9:38

good stuff. So I love that

9:40

stuff. And then the Beatles came around and

9:43

there was Boom four. Working class

9:45

guys from Liverpool, which is as

9:47

close to Levittown in England,

9:49

I think and sounding anyway, Okay,

9:52

if what guys from Liverpool,

9:56

Yeah, Liverpool, it's possible.

9:58

It's possible. They don't look like Frankie am Along, they

10:00

don't look like Bobby Rydell.

10:02

They look like four working class guys from

10:04

anywhere. They could be from Micksville, from

10:06

love It Town. So I said, that's

10:08

that's possible. That's what I want to do. I want

10:10

to write my own songs. I want to play

10:13

in my own band, do our own arrangements and

10:15

make our own way. When did that

10:17

start? This is before the

10:19

Echoes, before before I joined the band,

10:22

the Beatles came out. You were a kid. I was a

10:24

kid. I was thirteen. You started

10:26

writing music. Yes, I started writing air

10:28

Zots Beatles songs. But

10:31

I climbed the highest mountain.

10:33

Ye hold your perse

10:37

like that. I want to hold your

10:39

purse. Trying to sound live Napoleon

10:42

Puglian. Puglian, Yeah, you know, she

10:45

don't love me like before my

10:47

own song she don't love me any more.

10:51

I believed all the l she told

10:53

me. Uh uh, you

10:56

know that kind of thing. Trying to sound like the

10:58

early Beatles. It was fun. It

11:00

was a lot of fun. I was asked to join the band

11:02

after the Beatles came out. And now you gotta remember. November

11:05

of sixty three, John F. Kennedy

11:07

is assassinated. The country

11:09

goes into the dumps. Even though we didn't

11:12

know that much about politics government.

11:15

He was our guy. He was the young, vigorous

11:17

progressive and he was bump.

11:19

He was shot taken away. Everybody

11:21

just turned off, like a switch turned off.

11:24

We became very cynical, the whole nation

11:26

and the blues. February of sixty

11:28

four, who comes out? The Beatles

11:31

come to America. We took

11:33

them in. We just embraced that.

11:36

They walked into that spaceful

11:38

funny, it was. They were warm everything,

11:43

everything that's taken away from us. Great, let's

11:45

go have a party. Let's party. So

11:47

you start writing songs and you're saying air sets

11:49

Beatles songs. What's the first song you write

11:52

that you can remember? Was called

11:55

My Journey's End. I could play

11:57

it in film me too. Let's hear it whill

12:06

I climb the highest mountain

12:09

and I swim the deep scene.

12:13

If I knew you were there at

12:15

my journeys and waiting

12:19

for me. Let

12:21

me tell now much that you love

12:23

me, sign the letters

12:26

that you say Jesus

12:29

anywhere,

12:31

And you were waiting

12:34

there at my journeys. And

12:38

so what's

12:40

the first song you wrote? So

12:43

what's the first song? Which was one that you wrote? Well,

12:46

it was probably in the Hassles, the Hassle sould

12:48

records a few on Long

12:50

Island problems, maybe Jersey exactly

12:54

on the turn policies at the Woodrow Wilson

12:56

rest stop. Yes, I think it was the coffee

12:59

chock full nuts in Paramus

13:01

because we opened it. We kind of has played

13:03

at the opening. Um the

13:06

first thing I we sold anything.

13:09

So I was signed originally with the Echoes

13:11

to Mercury Records, and

13:13

we changed the name to the Lost Souls. Were

13:16

the Lost Souls for a while, we made a couple of

13:18

records, nothing ever happened. H was the

13:20

other one, she

13:22

don't love me before, she don't love

13:24

me anymore. I

13:27

believe all the last she told

13:30

me, don't you know it's

13:32

true that she stole me away from

13:34

my true love and now my Lula

13:37

doesn't love me any email most

13:40

like Mr Um

13:44

And then we became the Lost Souls, and it turns out

13:46

there was an English band called the

13:48

Lost Souls, so we had to change our name. So

13:51

the president of Mercury Records, brilliant

13:53

guy at the time, said Okay, we're gonna give

13:55

you a new name, the Commandos

13:58

Vietnams. At the put time,

14:00

you're gonna be the Commandos. We

14:02

hate that name, nobody likes or

14:06

yeah, we likes that stuff. You

14:08

know, you're gonna be the Commander's gonna be great, and we're gonna get your

14:10

outfits. And so that lasted

14:12

about fifteen minutes and we got

14:14

dumped off the label. So it's Echoes, Echoes,

14:17

Lost Souls, Souls and then Commandos

14:20

for a weekend. For a weekend, opened up

14:22

one quick choc full of nuts. And then I there

14:24

was a band on Long Island which was making a lot

14:26

of local noise called the Hassles. They

14:29

asked me to join. The guys in

14:31

my band and the Echoes, Lost Souls Commandos.

14:33

They were all going on to either the military or

14:36

college. None of them were really seriously going to be musicians

14:38

except the bass player, and I

14:41

I said I'll join all right, I'll join the Hassles.

14:43

They wanted me to play organ. I'll join

14:45

if I can bring my bass player with me, because they didn't

14:47

have a bass player, and they said okay. So

14:49

that became the Hassles. And then there

14:52

was another guy. He got with a lot of Mick Jagger

14:54

moves, Little John. His name was great

14:57

Hair, good looking guy, couldn't sing

14:59

to save it didn't matter. He

15:03

was gorgeous and women just went nuts

15:05

and I'm I'm in the back doing death. Well,

15:08

but they had eyes, you know, they could

15:10

see, they could see the music video

15:14

killed the radio absolutely glad

15:16

I came up in an air where it wasn't that prep. So

15:19

then I was in the Hassles. Now the Hassles

15:21

were a band, blue white soul band. There

15:23

were a bunch of them. The Vagrants was another

15:25

one. Uh. They used to play at the Action House

15:27

all the time on Long Island. We made two

15:30

albums with the United Artists and they both bombed

15:32

out. That that's the first time

15:34

we started selling anything. Every

15:36

step I take, but the first song

15:39

that I wrote that actually sold something.

15:50

Everything I do, I

15:56

don't know. The course went every step,

15:59

every move I make. You know

16:01

I'm trying to do enough without

16:04

you. I turned eye run eye

16:06

hide really bitlers, but I know deep

16:09

inside a part of me has

16:11

died. Yeah, like

16:16

Popeye, He's gonna I

16:26

didn't know you wrote that. That's great. That's how my father

16:28

used to start. It sounded like Popeye. Yeah.

16:30

So that was probably the first thing that saw I was in the first

16:32

Hassle's album. I think we saw a dozen copies.

16:35

But our big single was actually a

16:37

cover of a Salmon Dave record, You

16:40

got Me humming, Uh,

16:55

I don't know what you got,

16:59

but it's dead man,

17:01

you got me and you got Me on and it's

17:03

a big song by Sam and Dave. Everybody

17:06

was covering soul records

17:08

and doing them psychedelic or doing their

17:10

own arrangements of them. That was the Hassle's

17:13

hit. First album was horrible, the

17:15

second hal was really horrible. And

17:17

then I, me and the drummers split

17:20

off from the Hassles to form a power

17:22

duo. We were gonna

17:24

destroy the world with amplification. It's just like the

17:26

heavy metal thing we heard Zeppelin. It

17:28

blew our minds, Iron Butterfly, I

17:39

gotta divid, don't

17:43

you know that? I Love you?

17:47

Went on and on and on. So when you

17:49

get to this point where you say,

17:51

a couple of albums, the hassles, and

17:53

then when is it you? Well,

17:56

like the band's got someone was smaller and smaller until

17:58

I became a two man. And

18:01

so when you and he went off, until

18:03

it was the two of you, until it was just the two What did

18:05

he play? He played drums? I played

18:07

Hammond Oregan wired directly

18:10

through hand. So we're getting closer to Lawrence welk. Now

18:12

the more we go, it's getting closer. You almost got

18:14

the according but it was louder. It was much louder.

18:16

And we got signed to Epic, and

18:19

we were on Epic from one album and it was a colossal

18:22

failure. We played one gig I

18:24

think it was an Unas on the West Side

18:26

in Manhattan, and people went

18:28

fleeing from the place. We were so loud

18:31

he could see blood coming out of ears. Horrible.

18:34

Thank god it didn't happen, because I would have screamed

18:36

myself out of the right, out of the business.

18:39

So after you nearly kill a room full of people at onn

18:41

what happened then that we broke up and

18:43

I decided I don't longer want to be a

18:46

rock and roll star. I got that out

18:48

of got that out of my system. I was about nineteen

18:50

or twenty. I want to write songs

18:52

now coming

18:57

up. How this kid from Long Island

18:59

adjusted to life in Los Angeles,

19:01

chicks coming and stuff from

19:03

the beach, rubbing your neck and shoulders while you're

19:06

playing. Yeah, that's what it looks like in the movies. And

19:08

why even so he was able to say

19:10

goodbye to Hollywood. This

19:12

is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's

19:15

the thing. This

19:23

is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's

19:25

the thing. Billy Joel never

19:27

set out to be a rock star. He

19:29

just wanted to write songs like this

19:31

one. Baby, all the lights are turned

19:33

on you. Now

19:35

you're in the center of the stage. And

19:38

sometimes he heard his songs in

19:40

a voice other than his own. Baby

19:43

on a lance attend on you. You're

19:46

in the center of the stage. Everything

19:49

revolves on what you do. You're

19:52

in your prim coming. Did

19:55

you send him that song to record? I wanted

19:57

him too, But Bob writes his own stuff. He's not

19:59

gonn do covers. He doesn't buy songs from the

20:01

people. No, he does not. But I

20:04

no longer wanted to be the guy on stage. I wanted

20:06

to be the guy behind the scenes. This just

20:08

happened to coincide with the era of

20:11

the singers songwriter Harry

20:13

Chape and Jim Croce. James

20:16

Taylor was huge at the time. So

20:18

the advice I got was, what do you want people to hear these

20:20

songs? Why don't you make your own album?

20:22

Okay, I got a record deal, Family

20:25

Records, This guy named already RiPP, perfect

20:28

name, like I was like Pinocchio. Yeah.

20:31

I fell in with the you know, Hydride

20:33

Lidy an actor's life for me, for those

20:36

people. And I recorded an album in l

20:38

A. I lived in l A for a little while. They

20:40

said, okay, then you made the album. Now now

20:43

you got an album, you need to promote it. You need to go on the road

20:45

and play and promote the albums. Oh

20:48

okay. It's a kind of a strange way to

20:50

be a songwriter. But that's what other

20:52

people were doing. You know, other people be

20:54

interested in my material. If I promoted it, promote

20:56

the album, you'll hear it. Well, the album

20:58

was mastered at the

21:00

wrong speed. So a

21:03

song like this, She's

21:08

got away about her,

21:13

I don't know what it is, but

21:15

I know that I can't live without

21:19

played like this, She's got away.

21:24

I don't know what it is, but

21:26

I know that I can't live without it.

21:28

So if you hear that recording, I sound like the Chipmunks,

21:31

well speed it up kind of. It's

21:33

terrible. The album never went anywhere.

21:36

Nothing happened, and I went

21:38

on the road. I promoted it and never

21:40

saw it in the stores. But that was

21:42

when I was me. That was just Billy Joel.

21:44

So when you when people buy that album, there's album

21:47

has been rereleased where it's not at that speed. It's

21:49

been remastered, but it's still there's

21:52

something wrong with it. It just doesn't sound. I would

21:54

advise people don't buy it. If

21:56

you can steal it, steal it. So Cold

21:58

Spring Harper is the first album. It's you how

22:00

many band members guitar, bassed,

22:02

drums, and there was some violins

22:04

that were put in by Auady ripping. You know, he

22:07

was trying to be Phil Specter. It got

22:09

all glopped up. It was supposed to be more of a folky

22:11

recorded that in l A, recorded it in l A. How

22:13

long were you in l A? Three years? What

22:16

was that like for you? Weird? Yeah?

22:18

How I went there and

22:22

I stayed on Santa Marca Boulevard. It's

22:24

just dumpy. A little place called the Tropicana

22:26

Motel right there on Santi the

22:29

Duke's with the Duke's Duke's coffee shop.

22:31

Maybe the huge sandwiches for the poor. You have

22:33

breakfast the Duke's. It was great. You

22:35

know a buck you could eat like a king. The

22:38

place was a dump, but the postcards said

22:40

the Tropic Canna and it had like a palm tree

22:42

on it. So I said postcards, all my friends, I've

22:45

made it here. I'm in Hollywood, coming

22:47

together. Cat. I'm having on what's

22:49

on Santa Monica Boulevard for a dollar, I

22:53

mean to play in my song with a Chipmunk speed.

22:55

Well, if it's all going great, Yeah,

22:57

if you're from Long Island, you get a postcard pumped

22:59

you the Tropic can It's oh

23:02

my god, he's made it because

23:04

you and I are from the same background. Yes, I mean from

23:06

SAA. Your friends you grew up with a propate like

23:08

mine where they probably get that post like like

23:11

Joey, come here. I got a postcard from

23:13

Billy. He's the Tropicana here.

23:15

Wow, he's on the beach with girls like the

23:17

beach boys. He's driving cars.

23:19

But I would make movies that coul my friends be like, they say, let

23:21

me ask you a question. You do a love scene

23:23

with it brought the movie, Like do you ever get excited

23:26

like yourself? You know what I mean? There's always

23:28

a weird you know, to make love to a woman in front of olden

23:30

people? Can you pick who you make out with? Yeah? Like

23:33

do you enjoy that? It was it fun? You

23:35

mean he groupies out there and I'm like, you know, it's not funn

23:37

because it's a hundred and people staring at you while

23:39

you're doing it, Like, oh yeah, I forgot about that. I forgot.

23:41

We got those questions. What's it like in a student? I mean like

23:44

a lot of drugs and girls and stuff. No,

23:46

you're actually in a factory. He's surrounded

23:48

by equipment, and you know you don't have like big

23:50

fish thanks full of cocaine and everything, like chicks

23:53

coming and stuff from the beach

23:55

rubbing your neck and shoulders while you're playing. Yeah,

23:57

that's what it looks like in the movies. Did

23:59

you movie stars some of a musician? I'm every

24:02

night you haven't been with who? All the big stars? Right?

24:04

And a fish tankful of blow when chicks and bikinis

24:06

rubbing the shoulders right,

24:08

And that's what people think now

24:10

when you did you did Cold Spring Harbor?

24:12

There, did you do the next album

24:14

out there? Actually I got a job after

24:17

I did the Cold Spring Harbor album. I dropped

24:19

that aside. I had to get out of this horrible deal and I signed.

24:22

I signed away everything, copyrights, publishing,

24:24

record royalties, everything, my first child.

24:27

I gave away at all. And I said that I gotta get

24:29

out of this deal. And I hid in l

24:31

A and I worked in a piano bar under

24:33

the name Bill Morton. It's just down in the Wilshire district.

24:36

And it was no, it's not a real bar

24:39

town l A. Uh. You know, Long

24:41

Island is a pub on every corner. It's a

24:43

pub culture. So when people close

24:45

their eyes and they think of piano, man, I

24:47

think of a guy bending over a piano, and I think of

24:49

a guy in a in a place on

24:52

Long Island or in New York. But you recorded

24:54

that out of Los Angeles. I recorded in l A. And

24:56

that's where I worked. Some people think I did it for

24:58

years. I worked in this piano for six

25:00

months. I needed to make some money. I made

25:02

Union scale, I get tips. Mostly

25:05

played, you know, Major seventh Chords anything

25:17

but but but how does piano

25:19

man start that

25:29

kind of thing? And that guy in the hotel a lot love. They

25:32

would request songs I didn't even know the song. Can

25:34

you play what's that? Jogi

25:36

carn Michael's song startus?

25:39

And I would go, sure you

25:47

play mr. And

25:54

everybody was drinking pretty heavy

25:56

because in an l A bar, these were all

25:58

people who lost it the track losers.

26:01

I just like drinking like fish and

26:03

I got free drinks. Oh my god. But

26:06

so then you do piano man, what's the next

26:08

album after that? You do? In l A? Uh? We did

26:10

Piano Man in l A. And there was an album

26:13

that wasn't a hit album. People perceived that to be

26:15

a hit. It was not a hit piano man. But

26:17

this is back in the early seventies. In

26:19

those days they still had FM, progressive

26:21

radio. Dis jockeys could spend whatever they want.

26:23

W L A R. Dennis McNamara him,

26:26

I was a kid home. I was smoking,

26:28

you know what, leaning out the windows. So my mom didn't

26:30

know. And on the video we'd hear w L I R

26:33

this Dennis McNamara, Jackson

26:35

Brown right, I listened to this

26:37

guy. He was my childhood Dennis McNamara.

26:39

We grew up with these disc jockeys at night Allison Steven

26:41

Allison the night Bird and Roscoe

26:44

Zaccharly was Vin Skels,

26:46

and my favorite guy was Scott Muni

26:48

coming at you, Scott Muny, a little spooky tooth

26:56

from from England. Spooky

26:58

tooth Scot Munick and at you right now. They

27:01

played whatever they wanted. They didn't have program

27:03

directors, they didn't have consultants, and

27:05

people would call in. If they got enough requests,

27:07

they would play a track. So piano Man got

27:09

requested all the time. It

27:11

was a five five and a half minute record. I mean,

27:13

he's not an am hit an amount of

27:15

time. It's too long, and it was in three

27:18

quarter time pop

27:24

pop

27:26

and it's and it's not really lyrics. Dellimerates.

27:28

John at the Bar is a friend of mine. He gets my drinks

27:31

for free. He's quick with the joke of a lot. Have you smoke

27:33

with it? Some said he rather big, could be one of the girl

27:35

from Nantucket the Puppa.

27:38

So it's still limericks. And if anybody

27:40

said this is gonna be a hit record. I tell him, right of their mind.

27:43

The next album comes out, Street Life Serenade.

27:45

It's the sophomore jinks. I did not have enough

27:48

time to write new material

27:50

after the Piano Man album came out. Piano Man got made

27:52

a lot of noise, got a lot of attention paid to it.

27:54

Record company wanted another follow up right away.

27:57

Okay, new album now, but

27:59

on the road. I haven't a chance to write now, needing

28:01

now. I didn't have any material and you

28:03

can hear it. So what do you do? What do you do when you got

28:05

nothing? What do you play? I had nothing. I was empty.

28:08

I was running on empty. But there's not nothing on the

28:10

album. Where did that come from? Well? I had one song

28:12

that I thought, which was the Entertainer. Which

28:14

is that? Uh? Another

28:22

folks song? I am the entertain

28:24

them, I know, just swear eyes

28:26

done, not surenator.

28:30

I don't know a long haired band today.

28:33

I am your champion. I

28:35

may won your hearts, but

28:37

I know in the game you're forgetting my name.

28:40

I won't be here and another year

28:42

if I don't stay on the chart. I

28:44

wrote it on a guitar, actually, but that was

28:47

it. That was probably the one song that I had

28:49

finished and the boom in the studio. The

28:51

clock is ticking. So there's two

28:53

instrumentals on that album, the root beer

28:55

Rag, which is just the piano ragtime

28:57

thing, and this uh Air's's

29:00

Western movie theme called the Mexican Connection.

29:02

Because I was living in l A. Was fascinated

29:05

with westerns, bum bum bums.

29:10

What are the songs came off a street

29:12

Life that were nothing that We're memorable?

29:15

Nothing, The egg that We're pretty is the only

29:17

one. Uh There was a song about a hooker

29:20

I was in love with. I wanted her to

29:22

leave her profession and be with me, but she made too

29:24

much money and I couldn't afford her. It was called Roberta.

29:27

What else was on that album? Souvenirs?

29:29

Next song a

29:43

picture postcon a

29:46

folded stub, a

29:49

program, the play

29:56

full away the

29:59

photograph ups of

30:02

your and

30:09

your moment? Doesn't it only like another fifteen

30:11

seconds of it? That was a nice song, but it was like

30:13

this short and other than that is

30:15

the Mexican Connection, rut beer Rag. It

30:18

was okay, and you finished street life and you're in l

30:20

A. And then what do you do? I finished street Life and it comes out

30:22

and it goes, you know, Pump dives right off the charts.

30:25

The album after that was Turnstiles. I moved

30:27

back to New York. I

30:29

said, I'm going back to New York. Mid seventies,

30:32

New York was in the dumps. They were gonna default

30:34

forward to New York dropped dead for to New

30:36

York dropped. I saw that headline and people in

30:39

l A Were like, ha ha, screw New York.

30:41

We can't wait to New York goes down to dumps. And

30:43

I said, that was down with that. If you're act going

30:45

down the tubes, I'm going back. I want to be there

30:47

for this, and I'm picturing this apocalypse.

30:49

I actually wrote a song called Miami seventeen,

30:52

think about the year twenty seventeen. I'm an old man. I'm

30:54

telling my grandchildren I was there. I saw the lights go

30:56

out on Broadway. Seeing

30:59

the lights go out on Broadway,

31:04

I saw the Empire state later

31:09

life went on beyond the Palaceades.

31:14

We all bought cadillacs and

31:16

left there long ago. And I'm

31:19

picturing I'm I'm an old man in the year seventeen.

31:22

I'm living in Miami, which I'm closing

31:24

in I'm

31:26

kind of fulfilling my own prophecy here so

31:29

and the other song, which is, some

31:32

folks like to get away,

31:34

take a holiday from the

31:37

neighborhood, have

31:39

a flight to Miami Beach on

31:42

the Hollywooo. I'm

31:46

taking a gray Hound on

31:49

the Hudson River line. I'm

31:54

in the New York state of mind. We

31:57

could do it like this, some

32:00

oaks like get away, Tony,

32:02

come on, Chicken, a holiday

32:05

from the neighborhood, a

32:08

flight to flight to Miami Beach,

32:11

all the Hollywood. Yeah,

32:15

I'm taking the ghown huts

32:19

and yeah,

32:23

I'm in New York. Yeah.

32:33

And he'd recorded it, and

32:35

that was I was hoping other people would do

32:37

that song. But I was back in New York. I was home. Are

32:39

you glad you were? I was thrown so leaving l

32:41

A, which just was meant to be home. Say

32:43

goodbye to Hollywood, right exactly, you know, say

32:45

goodbye to Hollywood. Thanks, it's been

32:48

great, but goodbye. After three years,

32:50

it went sour on me. And when I first

32:52

moved out to the weather is great and all the chicks

32:55

and the palm trees. After three

32:57

years, everybody's full crap. Here,

33:00

I'm a producer Prince loved what you know.

33:02

We all produced gas. We produced something.

33:05

When when you go back to New York, the where do you go the city?

33:08

I moved to Highland Falls, which is right

33:10

up to Hudson. Why we weren't

33:12

ready to move Lockstock and Barrow was waiting the

33:14

city. I was married at the time. My first

33:16

X one where is she from?

33:18

From sayaset? So she

33:20

went out there with you and came back. She went out there with me and

33:23

came back with me. And this was Turnstiles

33:26

was recorded in New York. I produced it

33:28

myself. Are you glad you did? I'm

33:30

I was glad I did at the time because I needed to

33:32

use my own musicians. I didn't want to use session

33:34

man. I didn't want to use studio players. I want on my

33:36

road band. It was a long island band and

33:39

we were doing great on the road. We weren't selling any

33:41

records, but the crowds were going crazy.

33:43

We were blowing headliners off the stage and Dooby

33:45

Brothers everywhere we played the Beach

33:47

Boys. We would get better plus than the This is

33:49

when Turnstiles came out. Yes, but turns out

33:52

no, Trench Styles didn't sell anything. You

33:55

gotta be kidding, No, no, no, hits New

33:57

York. State of Mind is now perceived to be a

33:59

hit, But wasn't it say about Hollywood

34:01

wasn't a hit? None of the Ruggets. But I

34:04

love all those songs, not until the Stranger,

34:06

which was the next album, and seventies and

34:09

Off that Comes, how many HiT's four which

34:11

were just the Way you Are moving

34:13

out only the good Day Young and She's Always

34:16

a Woman, so she's always a woman, and just

34:18

the way you Are our love songs. Well,

34:21

She's always a woman is a love so not perceived.

34:23

Remember I'm just saying, but they're very romantic songs.

34:26

Well, i'd had romantic ballads before that, from

34:29

the Cold Spring Harbor, She's Got Away, Piano

34:31

man if I only had the words to tell you You're my

34:33

home and then turnstyles

34:36

Summer Highland Falls, no

34:38

thematic depression, but about a relationship.

34:41

But I was writing ballads I've loved

34:44

these Days about a

34:46

man and a woman, and then the Stranger

34:48

just the Way you Are, which is just a

34:50

pure, out and out love song, She's Always a

34:52

Woman, which is kind of a double edged sword

34:54

there. I had no idea

34:57

it was such a big record just the way you are became

34:59

this mon stir like the Beatles. Yeah,

35:02

once after the Stranger. After

35:04

the Stranger, we started playing colosseums

35:07

and arena's, the big, big rooms, and

35:09

I went right back on the road again and I started

35:11

writing again. Um, you start

35:13

writing for bigger rooms. Yes, yeah,

35:16

I had to be. I was aware. Now we're playing the big

35:18

places and we got to write bigger songs.

35:21

I gotta have bigger numbers energy.

35:24

You can't play to a colosseum with a

35:26

handful of ballots. You gotta knock them

35:28

out. It got bigger, It got rounder,

35:31

fatter, fuller,

35:33

fuller, faster, you know, more

35:35

high energy stuff, harder, faster,

35:38

deeper, as they say in the adult film in His Dream.

35:40

Yeah, that was it. Pretty much went into the triple X.

35:42

You started going triple x. More

35:49

Billy Joe raw, but

35:52

uncensored. After the break, you're

35:54

listening to Here's the Thing, and you can

35:57

hear more conversations, sing a song

35:59

with me, Chris and Okay, more singing

36:01

with other artists, policymakers and performers.

36:04

I bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow,

36:10

fun take a listen

36:12

to earlier episodes at Here's the

36:14

thing dot Org. Okay, that's enough.

36:19

I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's

36:21

the Thing Billy. Joel recorded

36:23

five albums with a band that consisted

36:25

of the same four guys, Liberty

36:28

de Vito, Russell, Javor's, Doug

36:30

steg Meyer and Richie Kannada. Kannada

36:33

left the band in eight one. At that

36:35

point, Joel was also ready

36:37

to try something new. I wanted to

36:39

write my masterpiece, my Sergeant

36:41

Pepper as it were. Instead of

36:43

writing from the from the inside

36:46

out, like having starting with the seed of a song,

36:48

we started with sound ideas

36:51

and thoughts and studio techniques

36:54

and we didn't really know what we had until almost the final

36:56

mix. What is this thing? We're experimenting

36:59

with stuff? And it was? It took a year.

37:01

Were you still producing? No? No, he

37:03

was producing sil Vermon who started a stranger

37:05

NW. When when you have someone

37:08

like Ramon, what did he do for you? How

37:10

did he help you? Well? Phil Ramon he was a

37:12

child prodigy on the violin. He

37:14

was from South Africa. Actually he

37:16

knew music and now he had

37:18

years and years in the trenches as an engineer.

37:21

He he recorded JFK speeches

37:24

when you see the Marilyn Monroe thing, A mount

37:26

of the Square God, Happy birthday, Mr. President. That's Phil

37:28

Ramon. He was the engineer on those

37:30

things. I mean he's when when with some amazing recordings,

37:33

but never got credited as a producer. So I

37:35

who's this guy? Phil Remona keep Simon

37:38

Ramone. Paul Simon used him as

37:40

an engineer, and I said, I want to use I want to work

37:42

with this guy because he looks like he knows what he do. He knows how to get

37:44

good sound, he knows how to deal with sonic things

37:47

sonic. And when he came in

37:49

Boom, we knew we had a professional.

37:51

Guy. Was like working with another great musician. He

37:54

knows how to play the studio like we know how to play our

37:56

instruments. Everything changed, The

37:58

band just rose to the occasion. Uh.

38:00

We were having a blast. So like a great producer.

38:03

Very often in films, like anywhere anything, any

38:05

creative enterprise, I find the people

38:07

that are the most successful and talented

38:09

producers are the ones who, although they may

38:11

not be able to do it themselves, they know what you need to

38:13

do. They cut to what

38:16

the synergy should be. They know what the dynamics

38:18

should be in the studio because he come to you and go, don't

38:20

do that doesn't work, and you listen to him. I would

38:22

listen to him, and we tried his wife, We tried

38:24

his way, his mutual respect. When we did just the

38:27

way you are. Originally, the drumma was playing

38:29

it like a cha cha don't

38:41

go change when too. We

38:43

hated it, hated

38:47

drummer, couldn't figure out what to play. Phil

38:49

actually told play it back with samba boom

38:52

boom bop, boom

38:54

boom,

39:00

and it worked. It was like a backwards sign up. What are

39:02

we doing? We didn't know what we're doing, but Phil was right.

39:05

I came in with the idea of playing only the

39:07

good. Diana is a reggae come

39:09

out do, let me

39:11

wait, let us stop.

39:13

Much Liberty

39:16

throws his sticks at me, because why are

39:18

you doing Because closest you've been to Jamaica

39:20

as queens, what are you

39:23

doing is changing trains to go down

39:25

to see for change that Jamaica, Change

39:27

that Jamaica, the train to spe On. That's

39:29

it. He said, I'm not playing this,

39:31

I'm not playing what are we gonna do it? So Phil came

39:34

up with this shuffle

39:37

against straight forwards and

39:41

the gas are going banana banana,

39:44

bob banana, and we're

39:47

playing and

39:49

it worked. It was like j two things jammed into

39:51

each other and Phil knows how to do that. And

39:53

when we would get tired and we get discouraged,

39:56

he says, just stay, stay a little long, try

39:58

one more. All right, take a break, let's have some

40:00

Chinese. Okay, go back in the

40:03

post. Chinese food takes were always good.

40:05

I don't know why that was that MSG man,

40:07

it gets right into the fingertips. It worked,

40:11

but he could wear Mozart would have been if they had MSG

40:13

back then. Oh wow, he did pretty

40:15

good. He did. He

40:17

went as far as you could go without MSG. I yes,

40:20

And then you do Nylon Curtain. That's eight two

40:22

eight two was the Nylon and you said you wanted to be your

40:24

Sergeant Pepper and what was it? It

40:27

was. It's my favorite album because

40:29

I could hear all the work that went

40:31

into it, all the textures, all the layers.

40:34

It's a song that you're particularly fond of. From that, it's

40:40

very obscure. Don't get excited,

40:44

don't say well, nobody

40:48

noticed, nothing was.

40:51

It was committed discreetly

40:54

it was handled so needly,

40:57

and it shouldn't surprise you

40:59

out Oh, you

41:02

know, break

41:05

all the records, but

41:08

the cassettes. I'd be

41:10

lying in the fact on you that I

41:12

had no regrets. There was

41:15

so many mistakes, but what

41:17

a difference it makes, and now

41:20

it shouldn't surprise you at

41:22

all. No hits. Allentown

41:25

was kind of a hit off. That album didn't

41:27

really sell a lot of records. What did

41:29

you do after Nylon Curtain? Um? After

41:32

the Nylon Curtain? Because

41:34

it was such an intensive

41:36

labor, the Nylon Curtain something very

41:38

dense and very complex. I

41:41

wanted to do something simple and dumb and happy,

41:44

and I did an Innocent Man, which

41:46

is really an homage to all the music of my

41:48

teenage years. Frankie Valley in the Four

41:50

Seasons was Uptown Girl, and

41:53

that was a hit that was a big hig It

41:55

was a joke. It was gen

41:58

girl trying to second. She

42:00

been living in her up town world

42:03

app but she never had a backstreet

42:05

guy and he had this impossibly

42:08

highway Ever told her why I'm

42:11

gonna track you? And

42:15

I realized something like remember the

42:17

song rag Doll Ye,

42:27

And then the first was I love

42:30

you just the way you are

42:34

is that where I heard that before, just the way you were? And

42:37

then there was a song. Um, I was trying

42:39

to do little Antonine Imperials. Didn't

42:42

not say shoot up? I wasn't ready

42:45

for romance, shoop shoot up?

42:47

Didn't we promise we would

42:50

only be friends? And

42:53

so we danced, though it was only

42:56

a slow dance. I

42:59

start a breaking. My promise is

43:01

right there, and you'll recognize

43:04

the chorus because it goes

43:06

like this, This night

43:09

is my It's

43:12

only you, and

43:15

night to

43:18

my road is

43:21

a long time away. This

43:25

night can last for it, which

43:28

is the pathetique by Beethoven. And

43:38

I gave I gave credit and back at l V Beethoven.

43:41

So so Bill he's co writing with somebody

43:44

LV Beto Beethoven for Coming Out. But

43:46

that was a fun album. I just I had met Christie.

43:49

I had just gotten divorced from X

43:51

one, and here I am meeting

43:54

Whitney Houston when she was a model.

43:57

El mcpheerson, I'm dating her. I'm dating Christie

43:59

Brinkley. This is fantastic. I

44:01

feel like I'm sixteen years old again, going

44:04

we girls. It's all going great, and I'm

44:06

a rock star. I got a pad

44:08

the old sand Maritz on Central Park Sunday,

44:10

which is now that I think the rich Carlton. So

44:13

this music was me being a teenager,

44:15

roll over again, falling in love, having romance and all

44:17

that great stuff. So why did you get married? I

44:20

don't know you're asking me exactly?

44:23

Is that a part of your makeup? Which is married?

44:26

Family? Was marriage the right thing to do?

44:29

I was madly in love and when William

44:31

loves you, marry him. That's it. That's how I feel. But

44:34

I still feel like I can be madly

44:36

in love and not be married. Yes, but I was married

44:38

three times. When did you go to Russia?

44:42

And how did that happen? Well, we played

44:44

in Cuba in nineteen seventy nine, played

44:46

the Karl Marx Theater in

44:49

Havana, and everybody gets up on stage,

44:51

the other American artists Steven Still's

44:53

Viva Evolution, Viva Fidel, Chris

44:56

Kristofferson Viva Revolution, Riva. The only's

44:58

talking in Spanish. I get up on stage him in the last act.

45:02

You know, it's a big

45:04

shot and

45:07

they

45:10

don't want to hit even we hit his crap all the time. We

45:12

want to hit big shot. I

45:14

said, we got something going here. We're being subversive

45:17

with rock and roll. This is what I love.

45:20

How did that feel to you? What was the first

45:22

place you played a big concert at when

45:25

you were a star. You're a big music

45:27

star, you're one of the biggest music stars

45:30

ever, and you go to a foreign country and you realize

45:32

music just transcends all of it. To Germany,

45:35

I think it was in Frankfurt here seventy

45:37

seven. I played

45:39

in England and the English they're

45:42

kind of fickle. They like you for about a month and

45:44

then you're yesterday's papers. Oh we like

45:46

that, Billy joe Ll, Billy joe Ll. But Germany

45:48

we had a couple of and the Germans went

45:51

berserk lot. They don't

45:53

have seats. You're getting a standing ovation

45:55

when you walk on the stage. Billy, Billy,

45:58

I'm thinking, they don't know what

46:00

they did to my family. Yeah, Billy,

46:03

but I'm thinking, so this is how Adolf

46:06

felt, ripping

46:09

at my hands and tearing my clothes. This is great.

46:11

The trip to Russia in eighties seven? Was that your first

46:14

time there? First time? Everyone? How was that? How do they

46:16

take to it? Was the first time they had ever had

46:18

a major act from the West America. People

46:21

have gone there before, but played with small p A systems

46:23

in little private rooms. We played

46:25

at the Lenin Stadium, the Olympic Stadium,

46:28

and we brought a Western p A

46:30

system, same with past and we'd use at Madison Square

46:32

Garden. You know, the helicopters come in at the beginning of good

46:34

Nights and they're looking around for the helicopters, and

46:36

then the hard rock is hitting and the drums

46:38

and they started going berserk. There

46:41

were security guards going around giving people

46:44

sedatives because they thought they were having

46:46

fits. The Cold War ended for me

46:48

right then. This is still when it was. The Reagan was

46:50

calling with the Evil Empire, and we're

46:53

not gonna have a war with these people. They can't even get toilet

46:55

paper, right, you know, we're not gonna have afore,

46:57

We're not gonna fight with them. I don't want to fight them. They

46:59

dont They love us everywhere I went Viva America,

47:02

Live America. This is great co war randed.

47:05

I was thrilled that went the way

47:07

it did. Let me ask you a question. You're

47:09

funny. Everything it takes

47:11

to be an actor. You could have done. You never wanted to do that. Never.

47:13

I never was comfortable in front of a camera.

47:16

Really, I became a musician because

47:19

I never felt I was photogenic. I was never happy

47:21

with how I looked. I was very

47:23

comfortable in the studio. I'm very comfortable far

47:26

away on a stage. Whenever

47:28

there was a camera, it kind of destroyed

47:31

what I was trying to create. It took

47:33

away the imagination you

47:35

could. I could look however I want. I could look like Carrie

47:37

Grint. But I saw it reduced

47:40

to an image. I went, no, no, no, no, no no, that's not

47:42

a way to look at that guy. Well, I

47:44

always say acting is what you do when you have no

47:46

musical ability. If I could do what

47:48

you do, I would never do what I That's what actors

47:50

said that I would never, ever,

47:53

ever, ever waste five minutes of

47:55

doing what I do if I could do with you. That's a lot of actors

47:58

which is so good at what you do. If I could do what

48:00

you do. Music, music,

48:02

it is saying if I could play, if I could write a

48:05

film or a television program, you have to make an

48:07

appointment with that and watch that. May

48:09

me listen to music while you're jogging, while

48:11

you're at the gym, while you're making love, while you're

48:13

having dinner, while you're in the car. It can

48:15

be the soundtrack to your life all

48:17

day long, if you wanted in church anywhere.

48:20

Music is everywhere, Music is everything, and

48:22

acting is, like I said, what you do when you have no musical

48:25

talents. So you got divorced

48:27

the second time? Yes, and got

48:29

remarried and divorced a third time. And

48:32

when you have these things happened, do you write

48:34

songs about that? No? I stopped

48:36

writing songs about it when I

48:38

got divorced the second time. That was ye,

48:42

actually ninety four. The divorce happened, the

48:44

album River Dreams came out, and

48:46

I realized, you know what, I'm spinning out the story of

48:48

my life to all these strangers. I'm kind of

48:51

sick and tired everybody knowing my personal life

48:53

and how I feel about one and that one. Did you

48:55

resent that? I didn't resent it. I

48:57

just decided to clam up. I feel

48:59

like I have given away pieces of myself, maybe

49:02

something I should have given to the relationship. I

49:04

gave to the work. It's all consuming.

49:06

If you're gonna do it right, you have to jump in with

49:08

both of you. Do it a hundred percent music will do.

49:11

That was a very harsh mistress music,

49:13

you have to do it all the way. And maybe

49:15

I didn't do things I should have done, or maybe I didn't

49:18

take care of business the way I should have. Think here because

49:20

the music and so I stopped writing

49:22

songs about my personal relationships, but I

49:25

kept writing music. And after the third

49:27

marriage didn't work, I

49:29

tried marriage. It's you know, three times. I tried

49:32

three times. I never gave up on it.

49:34

I just realized that this just doesn't I don't

49:36

know, it doesn't work. People don't appreciate

49:39

how it's like to

49:41

have a relationship in this business that works.

49:44

You gotta be really lucky, man, It's got to

49:46

be. It's so much luck, you know, because, like you

49:48

said, the career is the mistress and you're

49:50

out there working like like I would look

49:52

at my ex wife or ex girlfriends and I think, what

49:55

would the alternative be? You want me to have no options

49:57

and no work and I'm staying home all the time. Yeah,

50:00

But on the other hand, how much of you are they

50:02

getting? If you're in a part, you take on the

50:04

role. It doesn't come off at five o'clock in

50:06

the afternoon. And work. Most people leave their jobs.

50:10

You have to be that character through the whole project.

50:13

Now when I'm writing, I mean, I've got to stay

50:15

in harness. I've got to be that songwriter

50:18

guy. I'm preoccupied. Maybe I should

50:20

change that to a B flat. You know that quarterback,

50:22

don't. I'm obsessed with it. I wonder

50:24

how much of me they're not getting

50:27

because of that. I don't know if you if you

50:29

were like that when you're doing a part. I find

50:31

that in film it's different because

50:34

film you don't really have a chance unless

50:36

you work with a tremendously intense

50:39

group of people. Now, when I've done play is

50:41

it's different. When you do it. Well, you can sit

50:43

back and you light up a cigarette. You're like, well, well, well,

50:45

well we nail that way. I just just write

50:48

it down in the books. You really feel

50:50

some satisfaction. Yeah, you feel

50:52

that way when you perform. When we perform, we got to

50:54

do a show. Do a show. Do you come off stage

50:56

after a show and you sit there and go, well, there

50:58

it is. But that was a good and gentlemen,

51:01

Billy Joe. They'll

51:04

be talking about this for a while for a few

51:06

days. But we also know when We Stuck,

51:09

We Come Over were

51:11

terrible. Don't remember that one right? Right?

51:13

Why did they applaud you know? Last

51:15

play at Shay Yeah? Do you think he did

51:18

well? Yeah? That was good. They were both good

51:20

shows. That the double last Double Player

51:22

show we did the two nights. Yes, that

51:24

was exhilarating the

51:27

hometown crowd, and it's

51:29

just it was exhilarating. And we were on stage

51:31

with three and a half hours and I didn't

51:33

realize how hot it was, and it was sweating.

51:36

I'm watching the movie of me. Somebody

51:39

give that guy a towel. I was.

51:41

He's like soaking luck, he's so wet and

51:43

slimy. Wipe him off. We're having

51:45

such a good time. We walked off, and for weeks after

51:47

they were kind of amping from it. New

51:50

York loves you, I know, I

51:52

know, and I love New York. That's why I live here. But

51:54

I put away the recording part of my career, and

51:57

I put away for the time

51:59

being. Performed what's

52:01

that music? That's my telephone? Yeah?

52:04

Yeah, the

52:06

theme from the Godfather. Is your ring tone on your

52:08

phone? Yes, that's amazing. Well, like I got to think about

52:10

what my ring toe to get the guys on the road called

52:13

me godfather. Why

52:15

do you come to me, Sarah

52:19

Bonna Sara? When

52:21

have I haven't done respect?

52:25

You'll never invite me the house for a couple

52:27

off. Do you

52:30

appreciate who you are? People

52:33

who love you, they adore you. You

52:35

are so talented, you

52:38

are so like it makes me want to choke up. How talented

52:40

you are? Do you know who you are? I

52:43

know I have a talent from music.

52:45

I don't think I'm all that good. I think

52:48

I have a good perspective

52:50

on it. I can separate the

52:53

star stuff from the musician stuff.

52:56

The music is really impy. Have to stay separate

52:58

there. Well, one is a job and one

53:01

is a life. The job thing I can

53:03

take off at five o'clock and after another rock star

53:05

thing, I go, I go shopping. I cook my

53:07

own food, I washed the dishes, I take out

53:09

the garbage. I know who that guy is.

53:12

And the music is has nothing to do with money

53:14

or career or it's just part

53:17

of me. It's like love, music,

53:19

love food, friendship,

53:22

my daughter and all these great things. How's

53:24

your daughter? She's great? Um? You

53:27

know. I know how to take the job hat

53:29

off and just kind of be

53:32

a normal It took a long time to

53:34

separate them out. Okay, I can

53:36

be a musician and not be a rock star.

53:39

You know, I'm still trying to convince people I'm not a

53:41

rock star, and then though, yes you are, you

53:43

are a rock star. You okay, fine,

53:46

But a lot of that is it has a job aspect to

53:48

it. I worked very hard at what and

53:50

writing because that's my deepest love.

53:53

I think that's really where I belong. The

53:55

rock star thing I've never really been comfortable with because I

53:57

don't think I look like a rock star. I didn't really

53:59

set out to be a rock star. I became a

54:01

rock star serendipitously.

54:04

You became a rock star in spite of yourself,

54:06

in spite of myself. As

54:09

as much as you try to kill it. Yeah, I

54:11

mean, I don't put that camera too close to me, exactly.

54:14

I don't want to make a good video. Let make a bad

54:16

video. I don't want to be in a photo session. I

54:18

hate taking pictures. I don't want to go to this

54:21

opening. I don't want to go to that schmooze fest. I

54:23

just didn't do any of that stuff. But I'm

54:26

comfortable with it now. Do me a favor. What's

54:29

a song that you think yourself? You know, I really

54:31

still enjoy hearing that song. It

54:33

doesn't have to be a hit. What's one you just like

54:36

that you haven't, But do you really really like this? Really?

54:38

I've been doing masterclasses at colleges and

54:41

I get to play all these obscure songs. Played

54:43

one the other night, and I said, that's a really

54:45

good song. It is no rhyme, not

54:48

till the very end is when rhyme comes, but the lyrics

54:51

work. It's from the Nylon curtain,

54:53

and it's called Where's the Orchestra? Where

55:08

the orchestra? Wasn't

55:11

this supposed to be a

55:14

musical? Here

55:17

I am in

55:20

the balcony. How

55:23

the hell could I have missed the

55:26

overture? I

55:29

love the

55:31

scenery, even

55:35

though I have so

55:39

loudly know I

55:43

did all Billy

55:47

Joel says he doesn't look back on his life

55:49

that much. Last year, he decided

55:51

not to publish his long awaited memoir,

55:54

entitled The Book of Joel. He

55:56

said, instead of quote, the best expression

55:58

of my life and it's up and downs, has

56:00

been and remains my music

56:03

unquote. Lines for

56:06

an extended version of my interview with

56:08

Billy Joel, listen to our podcast

56:11

and Here's the Thing dot Org. This

56:14

is Alec Baldwin. Here's the Thing is

56:16

produced by Emily Botin and Kathy Russo,

56:18

with support from Jim Briggs, Brian

56:21

Cosgrove, ed Herbstman, Melanie

56:23

Hoops and Monica Hopkins. This

56:30

is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's

56:33

the Thing. You're

56:53

the King. Thank you, No

56:56

really, you're the King man. Thank you, Thank you for

56:58

coming. Thanks